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All 15Michigan votes to theElectoral College | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 County Results
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The1920 United States presidential election in Michigan took place on November 2, 1920, as part of the1920 United States presidential election. Voters chose 15[1] representatives, or electors, to theElectoral College, who voted forpresident andvice president.
Since thePanic of 1893 and thePopulist movement,Michigan had been a rigidly one-party polity dominated by the Republican Party.[2] In the 1894 elections, the Democratic Party lost all but one seat in the Michigan legislature,[3] and the party would never make major gains there over the four ensuing decades.[2]
The dominance of the culture ofthe Lower Peninsula by anti-slaveryYankees[4] would be augmented by the turn of formerly Democratic-leaning German Catholics away from that party as a result of the remodelled party's agrarian andfree silver sympathies, which became rigidly opposed by both the upper class and workers who followed them.[5] At the same time,the Populist movement eliminated Democratic ties with the business and commerce of Michigan and other Northern states.[6] Unlike the other states of theUpper Midwest, the Yankee influence on the culture of the Lower Peninsula was so strong that left-wing third parties did not provide significant opposition to the Republicans, nor was there more than a moderate degree of coordinated factionalism within the hegemonicMichigan Republican Party.[7]
Although by taking a substantial proportion of the 1912 “Bull Moose” vote, incumbent president Woodrow Wilson had managed the best performance in Michigan by a Democrat sinceGrover Cleveland in1888,[8] 1918 saw a major reaction against Wilson throughout the Midwest, due to supposed preferential treatment of Southern farmers:[9] Republicans would hold every seat inthe State Senate for over a decade after the fall election,[10] as they had between 1895 and 1897 and between 1905 and 1911.
During the 1920 election campaign, Michigan gained almost no attention because it had been so firmly Republican over the past quarter-century. A poll of four university students showed three voting forRepublican candidateWarren G. Harding and one forDemocratic opponentJames M. Cox.[11] A later poll in October showed that the very small August poll was not inaccurate, with Harding leading by slightly less than three-to-one.[12]The Post-Crescent’s expectations were fulfilled, as Harding won in a landslide, with almost 73 percent of the vote to only 22.27 percent for Cox. Harding nearly swept all of Michigan's 83 counties, only losingManistee County by a mere five votes, and carried more than 60% of the vote in every other county in the state.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Warren G. Harding | 762,865 | 72.76% | |
| Democratic | James M. Cox | 233,450 | 22.27% | |
| Socialist | Eugene Debs | 28,947 | 2.76% | |
| Farmer–Labor | Parley P. Christensen | 10,480 | 1.00% | |
| Prohibition | Aaron S. Watkins | 9,646 | 0.92% | |
| Socialist Labor | William Wesley Cox | 2,539 | 0.24% | |
| Single Tax | Robert Macauley | 484 | 0.05% | |
| Total votes | 1,048,411 | 100% | ||
| County | Warren Gamail Harding Republican | James Middleton Cox Democratic | Eugene Victor Debs Socialist | Parley Parker Christensen Farmer–Labor | Various candidates Other parties | Margin | Total votes cast[15] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Alcona | 1,043 | 75.85% | 264 | 19.20% | 39 | 2.84% | 5 | 0.36% | 24 | 1.75% | 779 | 56.65% | 1,375 |
| Alger | 1,263 | 66.09% | 468 | 24.49% | 143 | 7.48% | 23 | 1.20% | 14 | 0.73% | 795 | 41.60% | 1,911 |
| Allegan | 7,825 | 75.89% | 2,154 | 20.89% | 127 | 1.23% | 29 | 0.28% | 176 | 1.71% | 5,671 | 55.00% | 10,311 |
| Alpena | 3,467 | 63.38% | 1,893 | 34.61% | 84 | 1.54% | 7 | 0.13% | 19 | 0.35% | 1,574 | 28.78% | 5,470 |
| Antrim | 2,260 | 77.53% | 518 | 17.77% | 63 | 2.16% | 9 | 0.31% | 65 | 2.23% | 1,742 | 59.76% | 2,915 |
| Arenac | 1,521 | 66.36% | 669 | 29.19% | 55 | 2.40% | 12 | 0.52% | 35 | 1.53% | 852 | 37.17% | 2,292 |
| Baraga | 1,368 | 74.67% | 304 | 16.59% | 120 | 6.55% | 25 | 1.36% | 15 | 0.82% | 1,064 | 58.08% | 1,832 |
| Barry | 5,154 | 70.69% | 1,874 | 25.70% | 44 | 0.60% | 14 | 0.19% | 205 | 2.81% | 3,280 | 44.99% | 7,291 |
| Bay | 13,933 | 64.93% | 7,011 | 32.67% | 180 | 0.84% | 207 | 0.96% | 129 | 0.60% | 6,922 | 32.26% | 21,460 |
| Benzie | 1,520 | 72.00% | 422 | 19.99% | 88 | 4.17% | 28 | 1.33% | 53 | 2.51% | 1,098 | 52.01% | 2,111 |
| Berrien | 15,748 | 74.06% | 4,855 | 22.83% | 368 | 1.73% | 87 | 0.41% | 207 | 0.97% | 10,893 | 51.23% | 21,265 |
| Branch | 5,704 | 69.72% | 2,181 | 26.66% | 76 | 0.93% | 18 | 0.22% | 202 | 2.47% | 3,523 | 43.06% | 8,181 |
| Calhoun | 16,722 | 69.12% | 6,291 | 26.00% | 540 | 2.23% | 171 | 0.71% | 469 | 1.94% | 10,431 | 43.12% | 24,193 |
| Cass | 4,498 | 74.25% | 1,286 | 21.23% | 153 | 2.53% | 23 | 0.38% | 98 | 1.62% | 3,212 | 53.02% | 6,058 |
| Charlevoix | 3,079 | 77.07% | 704 | 17.62% | 135 | 3.38% | 12 | 0.30% | 65 | 1.63% | 2,375 | 59.45% | 3,995 |
| Cheboygan | 2,472 | 63.47% | 1,281 | 32.89% | 61 | 1.57% | 43 | 1.10% | 38 | 0.98% | 1,191 | 30.58% | 3,895 |
| Chippewa | 4,732 | 74.36% | 1,266 | 19.89% | 180 | 2.83% | 78 | 1.23% | 108 | 1.70% | 3,466 | 54.46% | 6,364 |
| Clare | 1,762 | 73.48% | 511 | 21.31% | 77 | 3.21% | 4 | 0.17% | 44 | 1.83% | 1,251 | 52.17% | 2,398 |
| Clinton | 6,019 | 78.91% | 1,464 | 19.19% | 39 | 0.51% | 13 | 0.17% | 93 | 1.22% | 4,555 | 59.71% | 7,628 |
| Crawford | 726 | 64.42% | 361 | 32.03% | 26 | 2.31% | 5 | 0.44% | 9 | 0.80% | 365 | 32.39% | 1,127 |
| Delta | 4,938 | 65.40% | 1,985 | 26.29% | 348 | 4.61% | 199 | 2.64% | 80 | 1.06% | 2,953 | 39.11% | 7,550 |
| Dickinson | 3,539 | 76.65% | 580 | 12.56% | 352 | 7.62% | 38 | 0.82% | 108 | 2.34% | 2,959 | 64.09% | 4,617 |
| Eaton | 7,343 | 70.99% | 2,727 | 26.36% | 92 | 0.89% | 28 | 0.27% | 154 | 1.49% | 4,616 | 44.62% | 10,344 |
| Emmet | 3,059 | 68.88% | 1,070 | 24.09% | 188 | 4.23% | 23 | 0.52% | 101 | 2.27% | 1,989 | 44.79% | 4,441 |
| Genesee | 24,543 | 74.66% | 7,408 | 22.54% | 538 | 1.64% | 85 | 0.26% | 299 | 0.91% | 17,135 | 52.12% | 32,873 |
| Gladwin | 1,687 | 78.68% | 313 | 14.60% | 81 | 3.78% | 6 | 0.28% | 57 | 2.66% | 1,374 | 64.09% | 2,144 |
| Gogebic | 5,486 | 79.72% | 823 | 11.96% | 364 | 5.29% | 70 | 1.02% | 139 | 2.02% | 4,663 | 67.76% | 6,882 |
| Grand Traverse | 4,056 | 74.04% | 1,158 | 21.14% | 155 | 2.83% | 20 | 0.37% | 89 | 1.62% | 2,898 | 52.90% | 5,478 |
| Gratiot | 6,578 | 77.41% | 1,846 | 21.72% | 41 | 0.48% | 15 | 0.18% | 18 | 0.21% | 4,732 | 55.68% | 8,498 |
| Hillsdale | 6,690 | 71.12% | 2,467 | 26.23% | 57 | 0.61% | 13 | 0.14% | 179 | 1.90% | 4,223 | 44.90% | 9,406 |
| Houghton | 14,938 | 80.20% | 3,088 | 16.58% | 381 | 2.05% | 117 | 0.63% | 101 | 0.54% | 11,850 | 63.62% | 18,625 |
| Huron | 8,354 | 82.57% | 1,581 | 15.63% | 93 | 0.92% | 20 | 0.20% | 69 | 0.68% | 6,773 | 66.95% | 10,117 |
| Ingham | 18,437 | 69.63% | 7,061 | 26.67% | 508 | 1.92% | 88 | 0.33% | 386 | 1.46% | 11,376 | 42.96% | 26,480 |
| Ionia | 7,977 | 67.59% | 3,395 | 28.77% | 93 | 0.79% | 23 | 0.19% | 314 | 2.66% | 4,582 | 38.82% | 11,802 |
| Iosco | 2,013 | 76.71% | 548 | 20.88% | 39 | 1.49% | 14 | 0.53% | 10 | 0.38% | 1,465 | 55.83% | 2,624 |
| Iron | 3,515 | 82.80% | 497 | 11.71% | 172 | 4.05% | 18 | 0.42% | 43 | 1.01% | 3,018 | 71.10% | 4,245 |
| Isabella | 5,089 | 73.82% | 1,627 | 23.60% | 73 | 1.06% | 10 | 0.15% | 95 | 1.38% | 3,462 | 50.22% | 6,894 |
| Jackson | 15,922 | 64.90% | 7,789 | 31.75% | 294 | 1.20% | 89 | 0.36% | 440 | 1.79% | 8,133 | 33.15% | 24,534 |
| Kalamazoo | 13,765 | 67.53% | 5,271 | 25.86% | 548 | 2.69% | 521 | 2.56% | 279 | 1.37% | 8,494 | 41.67% | 20,384 |
| Kalkaska | 890 | 73.19% | 224 | 18.42% | 38 | 3.13% | 9 | 0.74% | 55 | 4.52% | 666 | 54.77% | 1,216 |
| Kent | 40,802 | 70.14% | 14,763 | 25.38% | 973 | 1.67% | 783 | 1.35% | 854 | 1.47% | 26,039 | 44.76% | 58,175 |
| Keweenaw | 1,272 | 90.15% | 89 | 6.31% | 39 | 2.76% | 1 | 0.07% | 10 | 0.71% | 1,183 | 83.84% | 1,411 |
| Lake | 926 | 74.80% | 261 | 21.08% | 30 | 2.42% | 11 | 0.89% | 10 | 0.81% | 665 | 53.72% | 1,238 |
| Lapeer | 5,523 | 78.61% | 1,298 | 18.47% | 38 | 0.54% | 20 | 0.28% | 147 | 2.09% | 4,225 | 60.13% | 7,026 |
| Leelanau | 2,156 | 82.26% | 406 | 15.49% | 39 | 1.49% | 4 | 0.15% | 16 | 0.61% | 1,750 | 66.77% | 2,621 |
| Lenawee | 11,973 | 68.89% | 5,095 | 29.32% | 85 | 0.49% | 19 | 0.11% | 207 | 1.19% | 6,878 | 39.58% | 17,379 |
| Livingston | 4,639 | 64.10% | 2,437 | 33.67% | 12 | 0.17% | 8 | 0.11% | 141 | 1.95% | 2,202 | 30.43% | 7,237 |
| Luce | 708 | 76.54% | 187 | 20.22% | 6 | 0.65% | 2 | 0.22% | 22 | 2.38% | 521 | 56.32% | 925 |
| Mackinac | 1,685 | 62.87% | 932 | 34.78% | 37 | 1.38% | 8 | 0.30% | 18 | 0.67% | 753 | 28.10% | 2,680 |
| Macomb | 9,735 | 73.97% | 3,023 | 22.97% | 183 | 1.39% | 68 | 0.52% | 152 | 1.15% | 6,712 | 51.00% | 13,161 |
| Manistee | 2,179 | 47.68% | 2,184 | 47.79% | 150 | 3.28% | 14 | 0.31% | 43 | 0.94% | -5 | -0.11% | 4,570 |
| Marquette | 9,233 | 70.46% | 3,012 | 22.99% | 534 | 4.08% | 207 | 1.58% | 117 | 0.89% | 6,221 | 47.48% | 13,103 |
| Mason | 3,652 | 69.39% | 1,338 | 25.42% | 154 | 2.93% | 21 | 0.40% | 98 | 1.86% | 2,314 | 43.97% | 5,263 |
| Mecosta | 3,932 | 74.78% | 1,145 | 21.78% | 112 | 2.13% | 7 | 0.13% | 62 | 1.18% | 2,787 | 53.00% | 5,258 |
| Menominee | 5,045 | 72.41% | 1,560 | 22.39% | 239 | 3.43% | 66 | 0.95% | 57 | 0.82% | 3,485 | 50.02% | 6,967 |
| Midland | 4,115 | 78.88% | 959 | 18.38% | 79 | 1.51% | 12 | 0.23% | 52 | 1.00% | 3,156 | 60.49% | 5,217 |
| Missaukee | 1,801 | 82.46% | 345 | 15.80% | 14 | 0.64% | 2 | 0.09% | 22 | 1.01% | 1,456 | 66.67% | 2,184 |
| Monroe | 8,646 | 61.34% | 5,224 | 37.06% | 119 | 0.84% | 12 | 0.09% | 95 | 0.67% | 3,422 | 24.28% | 14,096 |
| Montcalm | 6,644 | 77.27% | 1,695 | 19.71% | 109 | 1.27% | 18 | 0.21% | 132 | 1.54% | 4,949 | 57.56% | 8,598 |
| Montmorency | 832 | 75.57% | 199 | 18.07% | 55 | 5.00% | 5 | 0.45% | 10 | 0.91% | 633 | 57.49% | 1,101 |
| Muskegon | 11,702 | 73.70% | 3,468 | 21.84% | 485 | 3.05% | 56 | 0.35% | 166 | 1.05% | 8,234 | 51.86% | 15,877 |
| Newaygo | 4,188 | 78.91% | 929 | 17.51% | 81 | 1.53% | 11 | 0.21% | 98 | 1.85% | 3,259 | 61.41% | 5,307 |
| Oakland | 19,321 | 70.98% | 6,421 | 23.59% | 916 | 3.37% | 112 | 0.41% | 450 | 1.65% | 12,900 | 47.39% | 27,220 |
| Oceana | 3,535 | 77.85% | 785 | 17.29% | 101 | 2.22% | 22 | 0.48% | 98 | 2.16% | 2,750 | 60.56% | 4,541 |
| Ogemaw | 1,687 | 75.55% | 444 | 19.88% | 43 | 1.93% | 7 | 0.31% | 52 | 2.33% | 1,243 | 55.67% | 2,233 |
| Ontonagon | 1,977 | 67.71% | 657 | 22.50% | 215 | 7.36% | 37 | 1.27% | 34 | 1.16% | 1,320 | 45.21% | 2,920 |
| Osceola | 3,603 | 80.84% | 769 | 17.25% | 33 | 0.74% | 11 | 0.25% | 41 | 0.92% | 2,834 | 63.59% | 4,457 |
| Oscoda | 439 | 83.78% | 75 | 14.31% | 5 | 0.95% | 3 | 0.57% | 2 | 0.38% | 364 | 69.47% | 524 |
| Otsego | 874 | 64.03% | 466 | 34.14% | 4 | 0.29% | 10 | 0.73% | 11 | 0.81% | 408 | 29.89% | 1,365 |
| Ottawa | 10,528 | 78.74% | 2,391 | 17.88% | 205 | 1.53% | 41 | 0.31% | 205 | 1.53% | 8,137 | 60.86% | 13,370 |
| Presque Isle | 2,522 | 80.76% | 525 | 16.81% | 36 | 1.15% | 22 | 0.70% | 18 | 0.58% | 1,997 | 63.94% | 3,123 |
| Roscommon | 652 | 75.29% | 182 | 21.02% | 21 | 2.42% | 3 | 0.35% | 8 | 0.92% | 470 | 54.27% | 866 |
| Saginaw | 20,425 | 68.24% | 8,494 | 28.38% | 578 | 1.93% | 240 | 0.80% | 195 | 0.65% | 11,931 | 39.86% | 29,932 |
| Sanilac | 7,256 | 84.66% | 1,146 | 13.37% | 59 | 0.69% | 7 | 0.08% | 103 | 1.20% | 6,110 | 71.29% | 8,571 |
| Schoolcraft | 1,776 | 71.33% | 428 | 17.19% | 226 | 9.08% | 26 | 1.04% | 34 | 1.37% | 1,348 | 54.14% | 2,490 |
| Shiawassee | 7,194 | 69.93% | 2,595 | 25.23% | 143 | 1.39% | 36 | 0.35% | 319 | 3.10% | 4,599 | 44.71% | 10,287 |
| St. Clair | 14,938 | 75.14% | 4,566 | 22.97% | 147 | 0.74% | 84 | 0.42% | 144 | 0.72% | 10,372 | 52.18% | 19,879 |
| St. Joseph | 6,035 | 66.59% | 2,725 | 30.07% | 121 | 1.34% | 24 | 0.26% | 158 | 1.74% | 3,310 | 36.52% | 9,063 |
| Tuscola | 7,282 | 82.67% | 1,269 | 14.41% | 62 | 0.70% | 29 | 0.33% | 167 | 1.90% | 6,013 | 68.26% | 8,809 |
| Van Buren | 6,904 | 75.11% | 1,988 | 21.63% | 162 | 1.76% | 17 | 0.18% | 121 | 1.32% | 4,916 | 53.48% | 9,192 |
| Washtenaw | 14,082 | 74.46% | 4,468 | 23.63% | 155 | 0.82% | 9 | 0.05% | 198 | 1.05% | 9,614 | 50.84% | 18,912 |
| Wayne | 220,482 | 74.75% | 51,773 | 17.55% | 14,531 | 4.93% | 5,827 | 1.98% | 2,330 | 0.79% | 168,709 | 57.20% | 294,943 |
| Wexford | 3,406 | 73.03% | 1,095 | 23.48% | 57 | 1.22% | 22 | 0.47% | 84 | 1.80% | 2,311 | 49.55% | 4,664 |
| Totals | 762,865 | 72.76% | 233,450 | 22.27% | 28,947 | 2.76% | 10,480 | 1.00% | 12,669 | 1.21% | 529,415 | 50.50% | 1,048,411 |
With 72.76 percent of the popular vote, Michigan proved to be Harding's third strongest state in the 1920 election terms of popular vote percentage afterNorth Dakota andVermont.[16]
Harding received the largest share of the popular vote in a presidential election for Michigan at the time, though that record would be brokenfour years later. Cox fell more than 3.5 percent below the previous worst Democratic showing byAlton B. Parker from 1904. This was the first of three consecutive elections where Michigan supported a Republican candidate with more than seventy percent of the vote and the only example of any presidential candidate receiving such a high share in the state.[8]
Concurrent with Harding's triumph in the state, the Republicans would win every single seat in the State Senate, andthe State House of Representatives.
State and district results of the1920 United States presidential election | ||
|---|---|---|
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