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531 members of theElectoral College 266 electoral votes needed to win | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 49.2%[1] 12.6pp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Presidential election results map.Red denotes states won by Harding/Coolidge,blue denotes those won by Cox/Roosevelt. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Presidential elections were held in theUnited States on November 2, 1920. TheRepublican ticket of senatorWarren G. Harding of Ohio and governorCalvin Coolidge of Massachusetts defeated theDemocratic ticket of governorJames M. Cox of Ohio andassistant secretaryFranklin D. Roosevelt of New York. It was the first election held after the end of theFirst World War, and the first election after the ratification of theNineteenth Amendment gave nationwide suffrage to women. It was the first presidential election to have its results broadcast by radio.[2]
Incumbent presidentWoodrow Wilson, a Democrat who had served since 1913, privately hoped for a third term despite severe physical and mental disabilities from astroke, but he had very little support. Former presidentTheodore Roosevelt had been the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, but he died in 1919 without leaving an obvious heir to hisprogressive legacy. The major parties turned to little-knowndark horse candidates from the state of Ohio, a populousswing state with many electoral votes. Cox won on the 44th ballot at the1920 Democratic National Convention, defeatingWilliam Gibbs McAdoo (Wilson's son-in-law),A. Mitchell Palmer, and several other candidates. Harding emerged as a compromise candidate between theconservative and progressive wings of the Republican party, and he clinched his nomination on the tenth ballot at the1920 Republican National Convention.
The election was dominated by the American social and political environment in theaftermath of World War I, which was marked by a hostile response to certain aspects of Wilson's foreign policy and a massive reaction against the reformist zeal of theProgressive Era. The wartime economic boom had collapsed and the country was deep in arecession. Wilson's advocacy for America's entry into theLeague of Nations, in the face of a return tonon-interventionist opinion, challenged his effectiveness as president, and there were wars and revolutions overseas. At home, the year 1919 was marked by major strikes in the meatpacking and steel industries and large-scalerace riots in Chicago and other cities. Additionally, the September 16, 1920,Wall Street bombing arousedfears of radicals and terrorists. The Irish Catholic and German communities were outraged at Wilson's perceived support of their traditional enemy, Great Britain, and his political position was critically weakened after he suffered a stroke in 1919 that left him severely disabled.
Harding all but ignored Cox in the race, and essentially campaigned against Wilson by calling for a "return to normalcy". Harding won alandslide victory, sweeping every state outside of theSouth and becoming the first Republican since the end ofReconstruction to win a former state of theConfederacy:Tennessee. Harding's victory margin of 26.2 percent in the popular vote remains the largestpopular-vote percentage margin ever since widespread popular elections began in the 1820s. (However, subsequent winning candidates in1936,1964 and1972 exceeded his share of the popular vote.)[3] Cox won just 34.1 percent of the popular vote, andSocialistEugene V. Debs won 3.4 percent, despite being in prison at the time. It was the first election in whichwomen had the right to vote in all 48 states, which caused the total popular vote to increase dramatically, from 18.5 million in 1916 to 26.8 million in 1920.[4]
It was the third presidential election in which both major party candidates were registered in the same home state (the others have been in1860,1904,1940,1944, and2016). Coincidentally, the election was held on Harding's 55th birthday. Both major-party vice-presidential nominees would later succeed to the presidency:Calvin Coolidge (Republican) upon Harding's death in 1923 andFranklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic) after defeating Republican presidentHerbert Hoover in 1932.
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| Warren G. Harding | Calvin Coolidge | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| for President | for Vice President | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| United States Senator fromOhio (1915–1921) | 48th Governor of Massachusetts (1919–1921) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ID: 39 votes[5] HCV: 692.2 votes 144,762 votes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Candidates in this section are sorted by their highest vote count on the nominating ballots | ||||||
| Leonard Wood | Frank Orren Lowden | Hiram Johnson | William Cameron Sproul | Nicholas Murray Butler | Calvin Coolidge | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
_(14802115243).jpg) | .jpg) |  | .jpg) |  | .jpg) | |
| Chief of Staff of the Army fromNew Hampshire (1910–1914) | Governor ofIllinois (1917–1921) | U.S. Senator fromCalifornia (1917–1945) | Governor ofPennsylvania (1919–1923) | Columbia University President fromNew York (1902–1945) | Governor ofMassachusetts (1919–1921) | |
| ID: 145 votes[5] HCV: 314.5 votes 710,863 votes | ID: 78 votes[5] HCV: 311.5 votes 389,127 votes | ID: 110 votes[5] HCV: 148 votes 965,651 votes | ID: 0 votes[5] HCV: 84 votes 0 votes | ID: 0 votes[5] HCV: 69.5 votes 0 votes | ID: 0 votes[5] HCV: 34 votes 0 votes | |
| Robert M. La Follette | Jeter Pritchard | Miles Poindexter | Howard Sutherland | Herbert Hoover | ||
 |  | .jpg) |  | .jpg) | ||
| U.S. Senator fromWisconsin (1906–1925) | Court of Appeals Judge fromNorth Carolina (1904–1921) | U.S. Senator fromWashington (1911–1923) | U.S. Senator fromWest Virginia (1917–1923) | Director of theU.S. Food Administration fromCalifornia (1917–1918) | ||
| ID: 0 votes[5] NFN HCV: 24 votes 0 votes | ID: 17 votes[5] HCV: 21 votes 0 votes | ID: 14 votes[5] HCV: 20 votes 3,806 votes | ID: 0 votes[5] HCV: 17 votes 33,849 votes | ID: 0 votes[5] HCV: 10.5 votes 303,815 votes | ||
Following the return of former presidentTheodore Roosevelt to the Republican Party after the previous election, speculation quickly grew as to whether he would make another run for the presidency. Roosevelt's health declined seriously in 1918, however, and he died on January 6, 1919. Attention then turned to the party's unsuccessful 1916 candidate,Charles Evans Hughes, who had run Wilson close that year, but Hughes remained aloof as to the prospect of another run, and ultimately ruled himself out following the death of his daughter early in 1920.
On June 8, theRepublican National Convention met inChicago. The race was wide open, and soon the convention deadlocked between Major GeneralLeonard Wood and GovernorFrank Orren Lowden of Illinois.
Other names placed in nomination included SenatorsWarren G. Harding from Ohio,Hiram Johnson from California, andMiles Poindexter from Washington, GovernorCalvin Coolidge of Massachusetts, philanthropistHerbert Hoover from California, andColumbia University PresidentNicholas M. Butler. SenatorRobert M. La Follette from Wisconsin was not formally placed in nomination, but received the votes of his state delegation nonetheless. Harding was nominated for president on the tenth ballot, after some delegates shifted their allegiances. The results of the ten ballots were as follows:
| Presidential Balloting, Republican National Convention 1920 | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballot | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 Before shifts | 10 After shifts |
| Warren G. Harding | 65.5 | 59.0 | 58.5 | 61.5 | 78.0 | 89.0 | 105.0 | 133.0 | 374.5 | 644.7 | 692.2 |
| Leonard Wood | 287.5 | 289.5 | 303.0 | 314.5 | 299.0 | 311.5 | 312.0 | 299.0 | 249.0 | 181.5 | 156.0 |
| Frank Orren Lowden | 211.5 | 259.5 | 282.5 | 289.0 | 303.0 | 311.5 | 311.5 | 307.0 | 121.5 | 28.0 | 11.0 |
| Hiram Johnson | 133.5 | 146.0 | 148.0 | 140.5 | 133.5 | 110.0 | 99.5 | 87.0 | 82.0 | 80.8 | 80.8 |
| William Cameron Sproul | 84.0 | 78.5 | 79.5 | 79.5 | 82.5 | 77.0 | 76.0 | 76.0 | 78.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nicholas Murray Butler | 69.5 | 41.0 | 25.0 | 20.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Calvin Coolidge | 34.0 | 32.0 | 27.0 | 25.0 | 29.0 | 28.0 | 28.0 | 30.0 | 28.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Robert M. La Follette | 24.0 | 24.0 | 24.0 | 22.0 | 24.0 | 24.0 | 24.0 | 24.0 | 24.0 | 24.0 | 24.0 |
| Jeter Connelly Pritchard | 21.0 | 10.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Miles Poindexter | 20.0 | 15.0 | 15.0 | 15.0 | 15.0 | 15.0 | 15.0 | 15.0 | 14.0 | 2.0 | 0 |
| Howard Sutherland | 17.0 | 15.0 | 9.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Herbert Hoover | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.0 | 6.0 | 5.0 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 6.0 | 10.5 | 9.5 |
| Scattering | 11.0 | 9.0 | 7.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 5.0 | 5.5 | 3.5 |
Harding's nomination, said to have been secured in negotiations among party bosses in a "smoke-filled room," was engineered byHarry M. Daugherty, Harding's political manager, who becameUnited States Attorney General after his election. Before the convention, Daugherty was quoted as saying, "I don't expect Senator Harding to be nominated on the first, second, or third ballots, but I think we can afford to take chances that about 11 minutes after two, Friday morning of the convention, when 15 or 12 weary men are sitting around a table, someone will say: 'Who will we nominate?' At that decisive time, the friends of Harding will suggest him and we can well afford to abide by the result." Daugherty's prediction described essentially what occurred, but historians Richard C. Bain and Judith H. Parris argue that Daugherty's prediction has been given too much weight in narratives of the convention.
Once the presidential nomination was finally settled, the party bosses and Sen. Harding recommended Wisconsin Sen.Irvine Lenroot to the delegates for the second spot, but the delegates revolted and nominated Coolidge, who was very popular over his handling of theBoston Police Strike from the year before. The tally:
| Vice Presidential Balloting, Republican Nat'l Convention 1920 | |
|---|---|
| Calvin Coolidge | 674.5 |
| Irvine Lenroot | 146.5 |
| Henry Justin Allen | 68.5 |
| Henry W. Anderson | 28 |
| Asle Gronna | 24 |
| Hiram Johnson | 22.5 |
| Jeter Connelly Pritchard | 11 |
| Abstaining | 9 |
Source for convention coverage: Richard C. Bain and Judith H. Parris,Convention Decisions and Voting Records (Washington DC: Brookings Institution, 1973), pp. 200–208.
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| James M. Cox | Franklin D. Roosevelt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| for President | for Vice President | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 46th & 48th Governor of Ohio (1913–1915 & 1917–1921) | Assistant Secretary of the Navy (1913–1920) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ID: 74 votes[6] HCV: 699.5 votes 86,194 votes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Candidates in this section are sorted by their highest vote count on the nominating ballots | ||||||
| William Gibbs McAdoo | Mitchell Palmer | Al Smith | John W. Davis | Edward Edwards | Robert Latham Owen | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) | .jpg) | .jpg) |  |  | .jpg) | |
| U.S.Secretary of the Treasury fromCalifornia (1913–1918) | U.S.Attorney General fromPennsylvania (1919–1921) | Governor ofNew York (1919–1920) | Ambassador to Britain fromWest Virginia (1918–1921) | Governor ofNew Jersey (1920–1923) | U.S. Senator fromOklahoma (1907–1925) | |
| ID: 0 votes[6] HCV: 467 votes 74,987 votes | ID: 104 votes[6] HCV: 267 votes 140,010 votes | ID: 0 votes[6] HCV: 109 votes 0 votes | ID: 0 votes[6] HCV: 71.5 votes 0 votes | ID: 28 votes[6] HCV: 42 votes 28,470 votes | ID: 20 votes[6] HCV: 41 votes 0 votes | |
| Thomas Marshall | Edwin T. Meredith | Carter Glass | Homer Cummings | Furnifold Simmons | James Gerard | |
 | .jpg) |  |  | .jpg) |  | |
| U.S.Vice President fromIndiana (1913–1921) | U.S.Secretary of Agriculture fromIowa (1920–1921) | U.S. Senator fromVirginia (1920–1946) | Chair of theDNC fromConnecticut (1919–1920) | U.S. Senator fromNorth Carolina (1901–1931) | Ambassador to Germany fromNew York (1913–1917) | |
| ID: 0 votes[6] NFN HCV: 37 votes 0 votes | ID: 0 votes[6] HCV: 28 votes 0 votes | ID: 24 votes[6] HCV: 27 votes 0 votes | ID: 0 votes[6] HCV: 27 votes 0 votes | ID: 0 votes[6] HCV: 25 votes 0 votes | ID: 10 votes[6] HCV: 21 votes 4,706 votes | |
| John Sharp Williams | Gilbert Hitchcock | Francis Harrison | ||||
 | .jpg) |  | ||||
| U.S. Senator fromMississippi (1911–1923) | U.S. Senator fromNebraska (1911–1923) | Philippine Governor-General fromNew York (1913–1921) | ||||
| ID: 0 votes[6] NFN HCV: 20 votes 0 votes | ID: 0 votes[6] HCV: 18 votes 37,452 votes | ID: 0 votes[6] HCV: 6 votes 0 votes | ||||
It was widely accepted prior to the election that President Woodrow Wilson would not run for a third term, and certainly would not be nominated if he did so. While Vice PresidentThomas R. Marshall long had desired to succeed Wilson, his indecisive handling of the situation around Wilson's illness and incapacity destroyed any credibility he had as a candidate, and in the end he did not formally put himself forward for the nomination.
AlthoughWilliam Gibbs McAdoo (Wilson's son-in-law and former Treasury Secretary) was the strongest candidate, Wilson blocked his nomination in hopes a deadlocked convention would demand that he run for a third term, even though he was seriously ill, physically immobile, and in seclusion at the time. The Democrats, meeting inSan Francisco between June 28 and July 6 (the first time a major party held itsnominating convention in an urban center on the Pacific coast), nominated another newspaper editor from Ohio, GovernorJames M. Cox, as their presidential candidate, and 38-year-old Assistant Secretary of the NavyFranklin D. Roosevelt, a fifth cousin and nephew by marriage of the late president Theodore Roosevelt, for vice-president.
Early favorites for the nomination had included McAdoo and Attorney GeneralAlexander Mitchell Palmer. Others placed in nomination included New York governorAl Smith, United Kingdom ambassadorJohn W. Davis, New Jersey governorEdward I. Edwards, and Oklahoma senatorRobert Latham Owen. (The party would nominate Davis and Smith, in that order, as its next two presidential candidates.)
| (23–44) | Presidential Ballot | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23rd | 24th | 25th | 26th | 27th | 28th | 29th | 30th | 31st | 32nd | 33rd | 34th | 35th | 36th | 37th | 38th | 39th | 40th | 41st | 42nd | 43rd | 44th | ||||
| James M. Cox | 425 | 429 | 424 | 424.5 | 423.5 | 423 | 404.5 | 400.5 | 391.5 | 391 | 380.5 | 379.5 | 376.5 | 377 | 386 | 383.5 | 468.5 | 490 | 497.5 | 540.5 | 568 | 699.5 | |||
| William Gibbs McAdoo | 364.5 | 364.5 | 364.5 | 371 | 371.5 | 368.5 | 394.5 | 403.5 | 415.5 | 421 | 421 | 420.5 | 409 | 399 | 405 | 405.5 | 440 | 467 | 460 | 427 | 412 | 270 | |||
| A. Mitchell Palmer | 181.5 | 177 | 169 | 167 | 166.5 | 165.5 | 166 | 165 | 174 | 176 | 180 | 184 | 222 | 241 | 202.5 | 211 | 74 | 19 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 1 | |||
| John W. Davis | 50.5 | 54.5 | 58.5 | 55.5 | 60.5 | 62.5 | 63 | 58 | 57.5 | 55.5 | 56 | 54 | 33 | 28 | 50.5 | 50 | 71.5 | 76 | 55.5 | 49.5 | 57.5 | 52 | |||
| Robert L. Owen | 34 | 33 | 34 | 33 | 34 | 35.5 | 33 | 33 | 34 | 34 | 34 | 37 | 38.5 | 36 | 33 | 33 | 32 | 33 | 35 | 34 | 34 | 34 | |||
| Carter Glass | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 12.5 | 9.5 | 13 | 7.5 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 24 | 5.5 | 1.5 | |||
| Homer Cummings | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | |||
| Champ Clark | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | |||
| Annette Abbott Adams | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Eugene C. Bonniwell | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| William Jennings Bryan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Laura Clay | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Irvin S. Cobb | 1.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Bainbridge Colby | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Josephus Daniels | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Walker Hines | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Andrieus A. Jones | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Ring Lardner | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| James H. Lewis | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Thomas R. Marshall | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| John J. Pershing | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Joseph T. Robinson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Cora Wilson Stewart | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Oscar Underwood | 0 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Eugene V. Debs | Seymour Stedman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| for President | for Vice President | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Indiana state representative (1885–1887) | Illinois state representative (1913–1915) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Socialist Party candidateEugene V. Debs was incarcerated at theAtlanta federal penitentiary at the time for advocating non-compliance with the draft during World War I. He received the largest number of popular votes ever received by a Socialist Party candidate in the United States, although not the largest percentage of the popular vote. Debs received double this percentage in1912.[7] The 1920 election was Debs's fifth and last attempt to become president.[8]
In 1919, members of the Socialist Party who had come from Russian language federation of the party and other more radical groups within the party started to create their own papers and membership dues and cards. These members supported a platform that was similar to theCommunist International and elected twelve of their members to the fifteen-member National Executive Committee. However, there was accusations of election irregularities and an Emergency Convention held on August 30, 1919, suspended seven of the party's twelve language federations and expelled the party affiliates in Michigan, Massachusetts, and Ohio. The more radical members of the party held a convention inNew York City in June 1919, which was attended by 94 delegates from twenty states. A vote to create a new party was defeated by a vote of 55 to 38, causing 31 delegates to withdraw from the convention. These 31 delegates held their own convention in Chicago on September 1, where they founded theCommunist Party USA.[9] TheCommunist Party USA attempted to give its presidential nomination to Debs, but he declined the nomination.[8]
The Socialist Party held its 1919 convention in Chicago with 140 delegates in attendance. Twenty-six delegates, who were members of the party's left wing, left the convention. These delegates attempted to unite with the Communist Party USA, but formed theCommunist Labor Party of America on September 2, after those attempts failed.[9]
The Socialist Party had 100,000 members before the splits, but it fell to 55,000 members while the Communist Party had 35,000 members and the Communist Labor Party had 10,000 members. The Communist Party claimed to have 60,000 members while the Communist Labor Party claimed to have 30,000 members. The United Communist Party was formed in May 1920 between the Communist Labor Party and some members of the Communist Party. The United Communist Party and the Communist Party united in December 1921 to form theWorkers Party of America.[9]
Edward Henry, who was a friend of Debs,Lena Morrow Lewis, andOscar Ameringer, nominated Debs for the party's nomination on May 13, 1920, and the 134 delegates to the national convention voted unanimously to give him the nomination.Kate Richards O'Hare, who was also in prison, was considered for the vice-presidential nomination, butSeymour Stedman was selected by a vote of 106 to 26, which was later made unanimous, to have one of the candidates campaign.James H. Maurer was also considered for the vice-presidential nomination, but he declined due to his duties as head of the Pennsylvania Federation of Labor. Debs accepted the presidential nomination in an Atlanta prison on May 29, after being notified by Seymour,James Oneal, andJulius Gerber.[8][10][11][12]
During the campaign the Socialists had four airplanes drop socialist literature overToledo, Ohio. The wife ofCharles Edward Russell claimed that the ghost ofSusan B. Anthony told her to vote for Debs. Over 60,000 people donated to the Socialist Party's campaign fund. Gerber predicted that Debs would receive three million votes and that five Socialists would be elected to Congress. Debs received 913,693 votes with his largest amount of support coming fromNew York. His vote total was over 50 percent more than whatAllan L. Benson had received in the 1916 election. Debs later chose to not run for president in the 1924 election and instead supportedRobert M. La Follette.[8][13]
| Presidential Ballot | |
| Eugene V. Debs | 132 |
|---|---|
| 1920 Farmer-Labor Party ticket | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Parley P. Christensen | Max S. Hayes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| for President | for Vice President | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| State Representative fromUtah (1915–1917) | Editor of theCleveland Citizen fromOhio | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Candidates in this section are sorted by their highest vote count on the nominating ballots | ||||||
| Dudley Field Malone | Eugene V. Debs | Henry Ford | Lynn Frazier | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | .jpg) | _-_Hartsook_photo_LCCN94506959_Trim.jpg) |  | |||
| Collector of the Port of New York fromNew York (1913–1913) | State Representative fromIndiana (1885–1887) | President of the Ford Motor Company fromMichigan (1906–1919) | Governor ofNorth Dakota (1917–1921) | |||
| HCV: 174.6 votes | HCV: 68 votes | HCV: 12.3 votes | DN HCV: 9 votes | |||
| Herbert S. Bigelow | Louis F. Post | Jane Addams | Robert M. La Follette | |||
 |  |  | | |||
| Clergyman fromOhio | AsstU. S. Secretary of Labor fromNew York (1913–1921) | Co-founder ofHull House fromIllinois | U.S. Senator fromWisconsin (1906–1925) | |||
| HCV: 7 votes | HCV: 1.7 votes | HCV: 0 votes | DN | |||
 1920 Prohibition Party ticket | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| for President | for Vice President | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.jpg) |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Professor andMethodist Minister fromOhio | American politician fromNew York | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Campaign | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Candidates in this section are sorted by their highest vote count on the nominating ballots | ||||||
| Robert H. Patton | Daniel A. Poling | Charles Hiram Randall | William Jennings Bryan | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  | .jpg) | ||||
| Prohibition Party Convention Chair (1916) | Itinerant Minister fromPennsylvania | Congressman fromCalifornia (1915–1921) | U.S. Secretary of State fromNebraska (1913–1915) | |||
| HCV: 85 votes | HCV: 28 votes | HCV: 9 votes | DN | |||
Meeting inLincoln, Nebraska, there was some question whether the Prohibition Party would field an independent ticket as opposed to endorsing either Harding or Cox, but this was predicated on either making a clear statement that they would not move to weaken theEighteenth Amendment; neither chose to make any such commitment.[14] The ticket favored by most present was that ofWilliam Jennings Bryan for president andWilliam "Billy" Sunday for vice president, and indeed when a motion was made to nominate Bryan by acclamation, of the more than two hundred present it was only opposed by six.[15] Upon hearing of his nomination, however, Bryan declined the gesture, not wishing to remain singularly focused on the prohibition question or to sever his ties with the Democratic Party entirely.[16] Some had considered Billy Sunday a possible substitute but Sunday was "satisfied" with Republican nominee Warren Harding, while others thought about potentially nominatingHenry Ford as their standard-bearer. With the nomination thrown wide open, the party ultimately opted to nominate keynote speaker and Methodist ministerAaron Watkins of Ohio, over other candidates such as 1916 Convention Chair Robert Patton of Illinois, itinerant minister Daniel Poling of Pennsylvania, and CongressmanCharles Randall of California. HistorianDavid Leigh Colvin ofNew York was nominated for the vice presidency.
| Presidential Balloting | Vice-Presidential Balloting | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballot | 1 | 2 | Ballot | 1 |
| Aaron S. Watkins | 85.0 | 108.0 | D. Leigh Colvin | 108.0 |
| Robert H. Patton | 85.0 | 74.0 | Herman P. Faris | 47.0 |
| Daniel A. Poling | 28.0 | 24.0 | Frank S. Regan | 15.0 |
| Charles H. Randall | 9.0 | 2.0 | James H. Woertendyke | 12.0 |
James E. Ferguson, a formergovernor of Texas, announced his candidacy on April 21, 1920, inTemple, Texas, under the badge of "American Party".[17] Ferguson was opposed to Democrats whom he saw as too controlled by elite academic interests as seen when Woodrow Wilson endorsed rivalThomas H. Ball in the gubernatorial primary, and hoped to help the Republicanscarry Texas for the first time (Texas never went Republican duringReconstruction).[18] Initially Ferguson and running mate William J. Hough hoped to carry their campaign to other states,[19] but Ferguson was unable to get on the ballot anywhere outside of Texas. Ferguson did manage to gain almost 10 percent of the vote in Texas, and won eleven counties in the southeast of the state.[20]
Warren Harding spoke of "return to normalcy", playing upon the weariness of the American public after the social upheaval of theProgressive Era,World War I, and theSpanish flu. Additionally, the international responsibilities engendered by the Allied victory in World War I and theTreaty of Versailles proved deeply unpopular, causing a reaction against Wilson, who had pushed especially hard for the latter.
Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party, and groups such asClan na Gael opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of theEaster Rising of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. Wilson had won the presidential election of 1916 with strong support fromGerman Americans and Irish Americans, largely because of his slogan "He kept us out of war" and the longstanding American policy ofisolationism. At theParis Peace Conference in 1919, however, he reneged on his commitments to the Irish-American community, who vehemently denounced him. His dilemma was that Britain was his war ally. Events such as the anti-BritishBlack Tom andKingsland explosions in 1916 on American soil (in part the result of wartime Irish and German co-ordination) and theIrish anti-conscription crisis of 1918 were all embarrassing to recall in 1920.[21][22]
Britain had already passed an IrishHome Rule Act in 1914, suspended for the war's duration. However the1916 Easter Rising in Dublin had led to increased support for the more radicalSinn Féin who in 1919 formed theFirst Dáil, effectively declaring Ireland independent, sparking theIrish War of Independence. Britain would pass theGovernment of Ireland Act in late 1920, by which Ireland would have two home-ruled states within the British empire. This satisfied Wilson. The provisions of these were inadequate to the supporters of theIrish Republic, however, which claimed fullsovereignty. This position was also supported by many Irish Americans. TheAmerican Committee for Relief in Ireland was set up in 1920 to assist victims of theIrish War of Independence of 1919–21. Some Irish-American senators joined the "irreconcilables" who blocked the ratification of theTreaty of Versailles and United States membership in theLeague of Nations.
Wilson blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for his unsuccessful campaign to have the United States join theLeague of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say—I cannot say too often—any man who carries a hyphen about with him [i.e., ahyphenated American] carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready."[23]
Of the $5,500,000 raised by supporters of the Irish Republic in the United States in 1919–20, the Dublin parliament (Dáil Éireann) voted in June 1920 to spend $500,000 on the American presidential election.[24] How this money was spent remains unclear. Ironically, the lawyer who had advised the fundraisers was Franklin D. Roosevelt[citation needed], the losing vice-presidential candidate. In any case, the Irish American city machines sat on their hands during the election, allowing the Republicans to roll up unprecedented landslides in every major city.[citation needed] Many German-American Democrats voted Republican or stayed home, giving the GOP landslides in the rural Midwest.
Wilson had hoped for a "solemn referendum" on theLeague of Nations, but did not get one. Harding waffled on the League, thereby keepingIdaho senatorWilliam Borah and other Republican "irreconcilables" in line. Cox also hedged. He went to theWhite House to seek Wilson's blessing and apparently endorsed the League, but—upon discovering its unpopularity among Democrats—revised his position to one that would accept the League only with reservations, particularly on Article Ten, which would require the United States to participate in any war declared by the League (thus taking the same standpoint as Republican Senate leaderHenry Cabot Lodge). As reporter Brand Whitlock observed, the League was an issue important in government circles, but rather less so to the electorate. He also noted that the campaign was not waged on issues: "The people, indeed, do not know what ideas Harding or Cox represents; neither do Harding or Cox. Great is democracy."[25] False rumors circulated that Senator Harding had "Negro blood," but this did not greatly hurt Harding's election campaign.
Governor Cox made a whirlwind campaign that took him to rallies, train station speeches, and formal addresses, reaching audiences totaling perhaps two million, whereas Senator Harding relied upon a "Front Porch Campaign" similar to that ofWilliam McKinley in1896. It brought thousands of voters toMarion, Ohio, where Harding spoke from his home. GOP campaign manager Will Hays spent some $8.1 million, nearly four times the money Cox's campaign spent. Hays used national advertising in a major way (with advice from admanAlbert Lasker). The theme was Harding's own slogan "America First". Thus the Republican advertisement inCollier's for October 30, 1920, demanded, "Let's be done with wiggle and wobble." The image presented in the ads was nationalistic, using catch phrases like "absolute control of the United States by the United States," "Independence means independence, now as in 1776," "This country will remain American. Its next President will remain in our own country," and "We decided long ago that we objected to foreign government of our people."[26]
On election night, November 2, 1920, commercial radio broadcast coverage of election returns for the first time. Announcers atKDKA-AM inPittsburgh read telegraph ticker results over the air as they came in. This single station could be heard over most of the Eastern United States by the small percentage of the population that had radio receivers.
Harding's landslide came from all directions except the South. Irish- and German-American voters who had backed Wilson and peace in1916 now voted against Wilson and Versailles. "A vote for Harding", said the German-language press, "is a vote against the persecutions suffered by German-Americans during the war". Not one major German-language newspaper supported Governor Cox.[27] Many Irish Americans, bitterly angry at Wilson's refusal to help Ireland at Versailles, simply abstained from voting in the presidential election. This allowed the Republicans to mobilize the ethnic vote, and Harding swept the big cities.
This was the first election in which women from every state were allowed to vote, following the passage of the19th Amendment to the Constitution in August 1920 (just in time for the general election).
Tennessee's vote for Warren G. Harding marked the first time since the end ofReconstruction that even one of the eleven states of the formerConfederacy had voted for a Republican presidential candidate. Tennessee had last been carried by a Republican whenUlysses S. Grant claimed it in1868.
Despite the magnitude of Cox's defeat, his running mate Franklin D. Roosevelt became a well-known political figure because of his active and energetic campaign (despite suffering an illness in August 1921 that left him paralyzed from the waist down). In 1928, he was electedGovernor of New York, and in1932 he was elected president. He remained in power until his death in 1945 as the longest-serving American president in history.
The total vote for 1920 was roughly 26,750,000, an increase of eight million from1916.[29] Harding won in all twelve cities with populations above 500,000. Harding won a net vote total of 1,540,000 from the twelve largest cities which was the highest amount for any Republican and fifth highest for any candidate from 1920 to 1948.[30] The Democratic vote was almost exactly the vote from 1916, but the Republican vote nearly doubled, as did the "other" vote. As pointed out earlier, the great increase in the total number of votes is mainly attributable to the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gave women the right to vote. However, Georgia and Mississippi refused to let any women vote in this election, claiming that the amendment's August ratification had given women insufficient time to complete their voter registration.[31]
Nearly two-thirds of the counties (1,949) were carried by the Republicans. The Democrats carried only 1,101 counties, a smaller number thanAlton Parker had carried in1904 and consequently the smallest number during theFourth Party System until that point (Al Smith would carry even fewer in1928). Not a single county was carried by the Democrats in the Pacific section, where they had carried 76 in 1916. In theMountain section Cox carried only thirteen counties, seven of them located in New Mexico bordering Texas, whereas Wilson carried all but twenty-one Mountain Section counties in 1916. At least one county was lost in every section in the Union and in every state exceptSouth Carolina andMississippi. Eleven counties inTexas recorded a plurality for Ferguson. With the tipping point state of Rhode Island being decided by a 31.2 percent margin, the 1920 election has the largest margin of victory in the tipping point state in American history.[20]
Wilson had won the support of Americans of German, Italian, Irish, or Jewish descent in the 1916 election, but Cox lost in all of those demographics and received less support from Jewish voters than Debs. Harding received support from over 90 percent of black voters.[30]
The distribution of the county vote accurately represents the overwhelming character of the majority vote. Harding received 60.35 percent of the total vote, the largest percentage in the Fourth Party System, exceedingFranklin D. Roosevelt's in1932. Although the Democratic share was 34.13 percent, in no section did its voting share sink below 24 percent, and in three sections, the Democrats topped the poll. The Democratic Party was still a significant opposition on national terms, even though Cox won only eleven states and had fewer votes in the electoral college than Parker had won in 1904. More than two-thirds of the Cox vote was in states carried by Harding. The distribution of the vote by counties, and the study of percentages in sections, states, and counties, seem to show that it was Wilson and foreign policies that received the brunt of attack, not the Democratic Party and the domestic proposals of the period 1896–1914.[32] This is one of three elections since the Civil War (along with 1924 and 1996) where national turnout was below 50 percent.
This was also the third presidential election in which both major party candidates were registered in the same home state; the others have been in1860,1904,1940,1944, and2016. The eleven states of the former Confederacy provided 5.83% of Harding's votes, with him taking 35.09% of the vote in that region.[33]
| Presidential candidate | Party | Home state | Popular vote | Electoral vote | Running mate | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | Percentage | Vice-presidential candidate | Home state | Electoral vote | ||||
| Warren G. Harding | Republican | Ohio | 16,166,126 | 60.35% | 404 | Calvin Coolidge | Massachusetts | 404 |
| James M. Cox | Democratic | Ohio | 9,140,256 | 34.12% | 127 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | New York | 127 |
| Eugene V. Debs | Socialist | Indiana | 914,191 | 3.41% | 0 | Seymour Stedman | Illinois | 0 |
| Parley P. Christensen | Farmer-Labor | Illinois | 265,395 | 0.99% | 0 | Max S. Hayes | Ohio | 0 |
| Aaron S. Watkins | Prohibition | Indiana | 188,709 | 0.70% | 0 | D. Leigh Colvin | New York | 0 |
| James E. Ferguson | American | Texas | 47,968 | 0.18% | 0 | William J. Hough | New York | 0 |
| William Wesley Cox | Socialist Labor | Missouri | 31,084 | 0.12% | 0 | August Gillhaus | New York | 0 |
| Robert Colvin Macauley | Single Tax | Pennsylvania | 5,750 | 0.02% | 0 | Richard C. Barnum | Ohio | 0 |
| Other | 28,746 | 0.11% | — | Other | — | |||
| Total | 26,788,225 | 100% | 531 | 531 | ||||
| Needed to win | 266 | 266 | ||||||
Source (Popular Vote):Leip, David."1920 Presidential Election Results".Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. RetrievedJune 10, 2023.
Source (Electoral Vote):"Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996".National Archives and Records Administration. RetrievedJuly 31, 2005.
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Source:[34]
| States/districts won byCox/Roosevelt |
| States/districts won byHarding/Coolidge |
| Warren G. Harding Republican | James Cox Democratic | Eugene Debs Socialist | Parley Christensen Farmer-Labor | Aaron Watkins Prohibition | James Ferguson American | William Cox Socialist Labor | Margin | Margin Swing[a] | State Total | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | electoral votes | # | % | electoral votes | # | % | electoral votes | # | % | electoral votes | # | % | electoral votes | # | % | electoral votes | # | % | electoral votes | # | % | electoral votes | # | % | % | # | |
| Alabama | 12 | 74,556 | 31.37 | - | 159,965 | 67.31 | 12 | 2,369 | 1.00 | - | - | - | - | 748 | 0.31 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | -85,409 | -35.94 | 29.54 | 237,638 | AL |
| Arizona | 3 | 37,016 | 55.61 | 3 | 29,546 | 44.39 | - | 222 | 0.33 | - | 15 | 0.02 | - | 4 | 0.01 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7,470 | 11.22 | 33.02 | 66,562 | AZ |
| Arkansas | 9 | 71,117 | 38.73 | - | 107,409 | 58.49 | 9 | 5,111 | 2.78 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | -36,292 | -19.76 | 19.73 | 183,637 | AR |
| California | 13 | 624,992 | 66.20 | 13 | 229,191 | 24.28 | - | 64,076 | 6.79 | - | - | - | - | 25,204 | 2.67 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 395,801 | 41.93 | 42.31 | 944,050 | CA |
| Colorado | 6 | 173,248 | 59.32 | 6 | 104,936 | 35.93 | - | 8,046 | 2.75 | - | 3,016 | 1.03 | - | 2,807 | 0.96 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 68,312 | 23.39 | 53.38 | 292,053 | CO |
| Connecticut | 7 | 229,238 | 62.72 | 7 | 120,721 | 33.03 | - | 10,350 | 2.83 | - | 1,947 | 0.53 | - | 1,771 | 0.48 | - | - | - | - | 1,491 | 0.41 | - | 108,517 | 29.69 | 26.54 | 365,518 | CT |
| Delaware | 3 | 52,858 | 55.71 | 3 | 39,911 | 42.07 | - | 988 | 1.04 | - | 93 | 0.10 | - | 986 | 1.04 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 12,947 | 13.65 | 11.22 | 94,875 | DE |
| Florida | 6 | 44,853 | 30.79 | - | 90,515 | 62.13 | 6 | 5,189 | 3.56 | - | - | - | - | 5,124 | 3.52 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | -45,662 | -31.34 | 19.90 | 145,681 | FL |
| Georgia | 14 | 41,089 | 27.72 | - | 107,162 | 72.28 | 14 | 465 | 0.31 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | -66,073 | -44.57 | 28.05 | 148,251 | GA |
| Idaho | 4 | 88,975 | 65.60 | 4 | 46,579 | 34.34 | - | 38 | 0.03 | - | - | - | - | 32 | 0.02 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 42,396 | 31.26 | 42.17 | 135,624 | ID |
| Illinois | 29 | 1,420,480 | 67.81 | 29 | 534,395 | 25.51 | - | 74,747 | 3.57 | - | 49,630 | 2.37 | - | 11,216 | 0.54 | - | - | - | - | 3,471 | 0.17 | - | 886,085 | 42.30 | 33.06 | 2,094,714 | IL |
| Indiana | 15 | 696,370 | 55.14 | 15 | 511,364 | 40.49 | - | 24,703 | 1.96 | - | 16,499 | 1.31 | - | 13,462 | 1.07 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 185,006 | 14.65 | 13.68 | 1,262,964 | IN |
| Iowa | 13 | 634,674 | 70.91 | 13 | 227,921 | 25.46 | - | 16,981 | 1.90 | - | 10,321 | 1.15 | - | 4,197 | 0.47 | - | - | - | - | 982 | 0.11 | - | 406,753 | 45.44 | 34.10 | 895,082 | IA |
| Kansas | 10 | 369,268 | 64.75 | 10 | 185,464 | 32.52 | - | 15,511 | 2.72 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 183,804 | 32.23 | 38.09 | 570,318 | KS |
| Kentucky | 13 | 452,480 | 49.25 | - | 456,497 | 49.69 | 13 | 6,409 | 0.70 | - | - | - | - | 3,322 | 0.36 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | -4,017 | -0.44 | 4.97 | 918,708 | KY |
| Louisiana | 10 | 38,538 | 30.49 | - | 87,519 | 69.24 | 10 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | -48,981 | -38.75 | 40.28 | 126,396 | LA |
| Maine | 6 | 136,355 | 68.92 | 6 | 58,961 | 29.80 | - | 2,214 | 1.12 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 77,394 | 39.12 | 35.10 | 197,840 | ME |
| Maryland | 8 | 236,117 | 55.11 | 8 | 180,626 | 42.16 | - | 8,876 | 2.07 | - | 1,645 | 0.38 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1,178 | 0.27 | - | 55,491 | 12.95 | 20.97 | 428,443 | MD |
| Massachusetts | 18 | 681,153 | 68.55 | 18 | 276,691 | 27.84 | - | 32,267 | 3.25 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3,583 | 0.36 | - | 404,462 | 40.70 | 36.77 | 993,718 | MA |
| Michigan | 15 | 762,865 | 72.76 | 15 | 233,450 | 22.27 | - | 28,947 | 2.76 | - | 10,480 | 1.00 | - | 9,646 | 0.92 | - | - | - | - | 2,539 | 0.24 | - | 529,415 | 50.50 | 42.46 | 1,048,411 | MI |
| Minnesota | 12 | 519,421 | 70.59 | 12 | 142,994 | 19.43 | - | 56,106 | 7.62 | - | - | - | - | 11,489 | 1.56 | - | - | - | - | 5,828 | 0.79 | - | 376,427 | 51.16 | 51.06 | 735,838 | MN |
| Mississippi | 10 | 11,576 | 14.03 | - | 69,277 | 83.98 | 10 | 1,639 | 1.99 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | -57,701 | -69.95 | 17.92 | 82,492 | MS |
| Missouri | 18 | 727,162 | 54.56 | 18 | 574,799 | 43.13 | - | 20,242 | 1.52 | - | 3,291 | 0.25 | - | 5,142 | 0.39 | - | - | - | - | 2,164 | 0.16 | - | 152,363 | 11.43 | 15.08 | 1,332,800 | MO |
| Montana | 4 | 109,430 | 61.13 | 4 | 57,372 | 32.05 | - | - | - | - | 12,204 | 6.82 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 52,058 | 29.08 | 48.37 | 179,006 | MT |
| Nebraska | 8 | 247,498 | 64.66 | 8 | 119,608 | 31.25 | - | 9,600 | 2.51 | - | - | - | - | 5,947 | 1.55 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 127,890 | 33.41 | 47.70 | 382,743 | NE |
| Nevada | 3 | 15,479 | 56.92 | 3 | 9,851 | 36.22 | - | 1,864 | 6.85 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5,628 | 20.70 | 37.66 | 27,194 | NV |
| New Hampshire | 4 | 95,196 | 59.84 | 4 | 62,662 | 39.39 | - | 1,234 | 0.78 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 32,534 | 20.45 | 20.51 | 159,092 | NH |
| New Jersey | 14 | 611,541 | 67.65 | 14 | 256,887 | 28.42 | - | 27,141 | 3.00 | - | 2,200 | 0.24 | - | 4,734 | 0.52 | - | - | - | - | 923 | 0.10 | - | 354,654 | 39.23 | 27.51 | 903,943 | NJ |
| New Mexico | 3 | 57,634 | 54.68 | 3 | 46,668 | 44.27 | - | - | - | - | 1,104 | 1.05 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 10,966 | 10.40 | 14.18 | 105,406 | NM |
| New York | 45 | 1,871,167 | 64.56 | 45 | 781,238 | 26.95 | - | 203,201 | 7.01 | - | 18,413 | 0.64 | - | 19,653 | 0.68 | - | - | - | - | 4,841 | 0.17 | - | 1,089,929 | 37.60 | 30.58 | 2,898,513 | NY |
| North Carolina | 12 | 232,848 | 43.22 | - | 305,447 | 56.70 | 12 | 446 | 0.08 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | -72,599 | -13.48 | 2.92 | 538,741 | NC |
| North Dakota | 5 | 160,072 | 77.79 | 5 | 37,422 | 18.19 | - | 8,282 | 4.02 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 122,650 | 59.60 | 61.10 | 205,776 | ND |
| Ohio | 24 | 1,182,022 | 58.47 | 24 | 780,037 | 38.58 | - | 57,147 | 2.83 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 401,985 | 19.88 | 27.55 | 2,021,653 | OH |
| Oklahoma | 10 | 243,831 | 50.11 | 10 | 217,053 | 44.61 | - | 25,726 | 5.29 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 26,778 | 5.50 | 22.90 | 486,610 | OK |
| Oregon | 5 | 143,592 | 60.20 | 5 | 80,019 | 33.55 | - | 9,801 | 4.11 | - | - | - | - | 3,595 | 1.51 | - | - | - | - | 1,515 | 0.64 | - | 63,573 | 26.65 | 24.08 | 238,522 | OR |
| Pennsylvania | 38 | 1,218,216 | 65.76 | 38 | 503,843 | 27.20 | - | 70,571 | 3.81 | - | 15,704 | 0.85 | - | 42,696 | 2.30 | - | - | - | - | 753 | 0.04 | - | 714,373 | 38.56 | 24.52 | 1,852,616 | PA |
| Rhode Island | 5 | 107,463 | 63.97 | 5 | 55,062 | 32.78 | - | 4,351 | 2.59 | - | - | - | - | 510 | 0.30 | - | - | - | - | 495 | 0.29 | - | 52,401 | 31.19 | 26.11 | 167,981 | RI |
| South Carolina | 9 | 2,610 | 3.91 | - | 64,170 | 96.05 | 9 | 28 | 0.04 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | -61,560 | -92.14 | 2.15 | 66,808 | SC |
| South Dakota | 5 | 110,692 | 60.74 | 5 | 35,938 | 19.72 | - | - | - | - | 34,707 | 19.04 | - | 900 | 0.49 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 74,754 | 41.02 | 37.12 | 182,237 | SD |
| Tennessee | 12 | 219,829 | 51.29 | 12 | 206,558 | 48.19 | - | 2,239 | 0.52 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 13,271 | 3.10 | 16.71 | 428,626 | TN |
| Texas | 20 | 114,538 | 23.54 | - | 288,767 | 59.34 | 20 | 8,121 | 1.67 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 47,968 | 9.86 | - | - | - | - | -174,229 | -35.80 | 23.67 | 486,641 | TX |
| Utah | 4 | 81,555 | 55.93 | 4 | 56,639 | 38.84 | - | 3,159 | 2.17 | - | 4,475 | 3.07 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 24,916 | 17.09 | 38.05 | 145,828 | UT |
| Vermont | 4 | 68,212 | 75.82 | 4 | 20,919 | 23.25 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 774 | 0.86 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 47,293 | 52.57 | 25.36 | 89,961 | VT |
| Virginia | 12 | 87,456 | 37.85 | - | 141,670 | 61.32 | 12 | 807 | 0.35 | - | 243 | 0.11 | - | 857 | 0.37 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | -54,214 | -23.47 | 11.25 | 231,033 | VA |
| Washington | 7 | 223,137 | 55.96 | 7 | 84,298 | 21.14 | - | 8,913 | 2.24 | - | 77,246 | 19.37 | - | 3,800 | 0.95 | - | - | - | - | 1,321 | 0.33 | - | 138,839 | 34.82 | 39.06 | 398,715 | WA |
| West Virginia | 8 | 282,007 | 55.30 | 8 | 220,789 | 43.30 | - | 5,618 | 1.10 | - | - | - | - | 1,528 | 0.30 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 61,218 | 12.00 | 11.07 | 509,942 | WV |
| Wisconsin | 13 | 498,576 | 71.10 | 13 | 113,422 | 16.17 | - | 80,635 | 11.50 | - | - | - | - | 8,647 | 1.23 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 385,154 | 54.92 | 48.63 | 701,280 | WI |
| Wyoming | 3 | 35,091 | 64.15 | 3 | 17,429 | 31.86 | - | - | - | - | 2,180 | 3.99 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 17,662 | 32.29 | 45.16 | 54,700 | WY |
| TOTALS: | 531 | 16,144,093 | 60.32 | 404 | 9,139,661 | 34.15 | 127 | 913,693 | 3.41 | - | 265,398 | 0.99 | - | 188,787 | 0.71 | - | 47,968 | 0.18 | - | 31,084 | 0.12 | - | 7,004,432 | 26.17 | 29.29 | 26,765,180 | US |
Margin of victory less than 1% (13 electoral votes):
Margin of victory less than 5% (12 electoral votes):
Margin of victory between 5% and 10% (10 electoral votes):
Tipping point state:
Counties with Highest Percentage of the Vote (Republican)
Counties with Highest Percentage of the Vote (Democratic)
Counties with Highest Percentage of the Vote (American)
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