 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 County Results Bryan 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% 90–100%
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Elections in Idaho | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| ||
The1896 United States presidential election in Idaho took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the1896 United States presidential election. State voters chose three electors to theElectoral College, which selected thepresident andvice president.
Idaho, upon its organization as a territory was overwhelmingly Democratic,[1] but had been increasingly dominated by the Republican Party in the years leading up to statehood, as ex-Southern and Mormon mining settlers were increasingly outweighed by those from the Midwest.[2] The state Democratic Party would regroup and its pro-silver, anti-Mormon faction under MarshalFred T. Dubois would bring the state into the Union in the late 1880s.[1]
Upon statehood, Idaho was shaken by a wave of strikes in thesilver-mining regions[3] and even deeper conflict whereby an idled ore concentrator was destroyed inGem.[4] This, alongside opposition to Republican GovernorNorman Bushnell Willey’s declaration ofmartial law upon the miners, and against the absentee ownership of Idaho's land and water,[5] would turn the state's electorate strongly towards the Populist leaderJames B. Weaver, who carried the state in1892 in an election whereGold Democrat and former PresidentGrover Cleveland was not even on the ballot.
As the 1896 election approached, it was clear that silver politics would be the determining factor in Idaho's vote,[6] and that the state would not vote for any candidate opposing free silver. Senator Fred T. Dubois, who had been a critical player in giving Idaho statehood,[1] confirmed this in June. When William Jennings Bryan gained the Democratic nomination on a platform favoring the coinage of silver at 16:1 relative to gold, the Populist Party supported him throughout the country.[7]
Idaho was won by theDemocratic/Populist nominees,William Jennings Bryan ofNebraska and his running mateArthur Sewall ofMaine. Bryan won the state by a landslide margin of 56.78%. He also won every county, and only in three of twenty-one did McKinley crack a quarter of the vote. Despite half a century of overwhelming Republican dominance, no presidential nominee of either party has ever equaled Bryan's performance in the state. Bryan would later defeat McKinley again in Idahofour years later but would later lose the state toWilliam Howard Taft in1908. This is one of two elections where the Republican candidate won without the state, the other being in 1900.
| 1896 United States presidential election in Idaho[8] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes | |
| Democratic | William Jennings Bryan | 23,135 | 78.10% | 3 | |
| Republican | William McKinley | 6,314 | 21.32% | 0 | |
| Prohibition | Joshua Levering | 172 | 0.58% | 0 | |
| Totals | 29,621 | 100.00% | 3 | ||
| Voter turnout | — | ||||
| County | William Jennings Bryan Democratic | William McKinley Republican | Joshua Levering Prohibition | Margin | Total votes cast[9] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Ada | 1,531 | 63.55% | 851 | 35.33% | 27 | 1.12% | 680 | 28.23% | 2,409 |
| Bannock | 1,363 | 85.29% | 228 | 14.27% | 7 | 0.44% | 1,135 | 71.03% | 1,598 |
| Bear Lake | 851 | 77.29% | 249 | 22.62% | 1 | 0.09% | 602 | 54.68% | 1,101 |
| Bingham | 1,232 | 85.56% | 194 | 13.47% | 14 | 0.97% | 1,038 | 72.08% | 1,440 |
| Blaine | 1,228 | 95.19% | 59 | 4.57% | 3 | 0.23% | 1,169 | 90.62% | 1,290 |
| Boise | 862 | 78.87% | 226 | 20.68% | 5 | 0.46% | 636 | 58.19% | 1,093 |
| Canyon | 1,178 | 78.38% | 303 | 20.16% | 22 | 1.46% | 875 | 58.22% | 1,503 |
| Cassia | 579 | 81.43% | 129 | 18.14% | 3 | 0.42% | 450 | 63.29% | 711 |
| Custer | 599 | 95.08% | 29 | 4.60% | 2 | 0.32% | 570 | 90.48% | 630 |
| Elmore | 535 | 81.06% | 124 | 18.79% | 1 | 0.15% | 411 | 62.27% | 660 |
| Fremont | 1,526 | 92.21% | 121 | 7.31% | 8 | 0.48% | 1,405 | 84.89% | 1,655 |
| Idaho | 1,127 | 74.59% | 377 | 24.95% | 7 | 0.46% | 750 | 49.64% | 1,511 |
| Kootenai | 1,432 | 80.49% | 334 | 18.77% | 13 | 0.73% | 1,098 | 61.72% | 1,779 |
| Latah | 1,870 | 64.00% | 1,036 | 35.46% | 16 | 0.55% | 834 | 28.54% | 2,922 |
| Lemhi | 1,065 | 83.92% | 202 | 15.92% | 2 | 0.16% | 863 | 68.01% | 1,269 |
| Lincoln | 305 | 80.26% | 74 | 19.47% | 1 | 0.26% | 231 | 60.79% | 380 |
| Nez Perce | 1,089 | 60.97% | 675 | 37.79% | 22 | 1.23% | 414 | 23.18% | 1,786 |
| Oneida | 1,092 | 77.23% | 315 | 22.28% | 7 | 0.50% | 777 | 54.95% | 1,414 |
| Owyhee | 1,140 | 92.16% | 97 | 7.84% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,043 | 84.32% | 1,237 |
| Shoshone | 1,760 | 77.84% | 497 | 21.98% | 4 | 0.18% | 1,263 | 55.86% | 2,261 |
| Washington | 828 | 79.62% | 204 | 19.62% | 8 | 0.77% | 624 | 60.00% | 1,040 |
| Totals | 23,192 | 78.12% | 6,324 | 21.30% | 173 | 0.58% | 16,868 | 56.82% | 29,689 |
.jpg)
.jpg)
