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| Turnout | 86.16%[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 County results Municipality results
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The1968 United States presidential election in Massachusetts took place on November 5, 1968, as part of the1968 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all 50 states andD.C. Voters chose 14 representatives, or electors to theElectoral College, who voted forpresident andvice president.
Massachusetts voted overwhelmingly for theDemocratic nominee, incumbent Vice PresidentHubert H. Humphrey ofMinnesota, over theRepublican nominee, former Vice PresidentRichard Nixon ofCalifornia. Humphrey's running mate wasSenatorEdmund Muskie ofMaine, while Nixon ran withGovernorSpiro Agnew ofMaryland.
Humphrey carried Massachusetts in a landslide, taking 63.01% of the vote to Nixon’s 32.89%, a Democratic victory margin of 30.12%. This made it the second most Democratic state in the nation, afterRhode Island. TheAmerican Independent candidate,Southern populistGovernorGeorge Wallace ofAlabama, did not have a serious impact on the race. While taking 13.53% nationally and winning electoral votes from fiveDeep South states, ABoston Globe poll in October had Wallace with 8% support but had collapsed to take only 3.73% of the vote in Massachusetts.[2] Wallace’s base of support was in the South, and he had little appeal inNew England states. Massachusetts would be Wallace’s fourth weakest state in the nation.
As Nixon eked out a narrow win of the White House nationally in theElectoral College, Humphrey’s landslide win in Massachusetts made the state a whopping 31% more Democratic than the national average. Massachusetts had been a Democratic-leaning state since1928, and a Democratic stronghold since1960 — and the 1960s would prove to be a decade of Democratic dominance in Massachusetts. Prior to 1960, Massachusetts had usually been aswing state, and RepublicanDwight D. Eisenhower had carried it by 19 points in1956. However, in 1960 Massachusetts nativeJohn F. Kennedy would become the first Democrat ever to win Massachusetts with over 60% of the vote, taking 60.22%. In the midst of the1964 nationwide Democratic landslide, PresidentLyndon B. Johnson had carried the state in a historically massive landslide, taking over 76% of the vote in Massachusetts to RepublicanBarry Goldwater’s 23%. While Humphrey did not reach Johnson’s level of support, his 63.01% outperformed JFK and remains the third highest vote share any Democratic presidential candidate has ever received in the state — even though Humphrey was losing the election nationally, thus establishing the state’s reputation as a Democratic stronghold in the modern era.
Despite the scale of Humphrey’s statewide landslide, he did not sweep every county in Massachusetts. Humphrey won 10 of the state’s 14 counties, while Nixon won 4. However, Humphrey performed especially well in the most heavily populated parts of the state surrounding the large cities ofBoston,Worcester, andSpringfield, while Nixon won the lowest populated counties, including Franklin County, Cape Cod, and the islands.
Nevertheless, Nixon became the first Republican ever to win the White House without carryingNorfolk, Essex, Hampshire, Middlesex, Plymouth, and Worcester counties. Four years later, Massachusetts would be the only state in the nation to remain Democratic and vote forGeorge McGovern over Nixon in1972. Having also voted for John F. Kennedy over Nixon in1960, Massachusetts would ultimately be the only state in the nation to never vote for Richard Nixon in any of his three presidential campaigns. To date, this is the last time that the towns ofLeverett,Shutesbury, andWest Tisbury voted Republican.
| 1968 United States presidential election in Massachusetts[3] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes | |
| Democratic | Hubert H. Humphrey | 1,469,218 | 63.01% | 14 | |
| Republican | Richard Nixon | 766,844 | 32.89% | 0 | |
| American Independent | George Wallace | 87,088 | 3.73% | 0 | |
| Socialist Labor | Henning A. Blomen | 6,180 | 0.27% | 0 | |
| Prohibition | E. Harold Munn | 2,369 | 0.10% | 0 | |
| Write-ins | Write-ins | 53 | 0.00% | 0 | |
| Totals | 2,331,752 | 100.00% | 14 | ||
| Voter Turnout (Voting age/Registered) | 67%/86% | ||||
| County | Hubert Humphrey Democratic | Richard Nixon Republican | George Wallace American Independent | Various candidates Other parties | Margin | Total votes cast | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Barnstable | 16,546 | 39.24% | 24,296 | 57.63% | 1,242 | 2.95% | 78 | 0.19% | -7,750 | -18.39% | 42,162 |
| Berkshire | 38,497 | 59.72% | 23,078 | 35.80% | 2,593 | 4.02% | 297 | 0.46% | 15,419 | 23.92% | 64,465 |
| Bristol | 119,439 | 65.06% | 56,672 | 30.87% | 6,999 | 3.81% | 459 | 0.25% | 62,767 | 34.19% | 183,569 |
| Dukes | 1,540 | 48.19% | 1,576 | 49.31% | 75 | 2.35% | 5 | 0.16% | -36 | -1.12% | 3,196 |
| Essex | 171,901 | 61.03% | 99,721 | 35.40% | 9,236 | 3.28% | 827 | 0.29% | 72,180 | 25.63% | 281,685 |
| Franklin | 12,072 | 47.55% | 12,345 | 48.63% | 893 | 3.52% | 76 | 0.30% | -273 | -1.08% | 25,386 |
| Hampden | 111,376 | 62.52% | 55,783 | 31.31% | 9,846 | 5.53% | 1,145 | 0.64% | 55,593 | 31.21% | 178,150 |
| Hampshire | 26,666 | 58.72% | 16,270 | 35.83% | 2,314 | 5.10% | 162 | 0.36% | 10,396 | 22.89% | 45,412 |
| Middlesex | 370,310 | 64.11% | 188,304 | 32.60% | 16,561 | 2.87% | 2,421 | 0.42% | 182,006 | 31.51% | 577,596 |
| Nantucket | 744 | 41.52% | 991 | 55.30% | 52 | 2.90% | 5 | 0.28% | -247 | -13.78% | 1,792 |
| Norfolk | 160,513 | 60.30% | 95,858 | 36.01% | 9,080 | 3.41% | 755 | 0.28% | 64,655 | 24.29% | 266,206 |
| Plymouth | 67,771 | 52.96% | 54,644 | 42.70% | 5,342 | 4.17% | 220 | 0.17% | 13,127 | 10.26% | 127,977 |
| Suffolk | 203,406 | 75.62% | 48,952 | 18.20% | 15,121 | 5.62% | 1,498 | 0.56% | 154,454 | 57.42% | 268,977 |
| Worcester | 168,437 | 63.52% | 88,354 | 33.32% | 7,734 | 2.92% | 654 | 0.25% | 80,083 | 30.20% | 265,179 |
| Totals | 1,469,218 | 63.01% | 766,844 | 32.89% | 87,088 | 3.73% | 8,602 | 0.37% | 702,374 | 30.12% | 2,331,752 |
Humphrey won a majority of the vote in all of the state's congressional districts.[4]
| District[4] | Humphrey | Nixon | Wallace |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 57.9% | 37.6% | 4.5% |
| 2nd | 63.7% | 31.3% | 5% |
| 3rd | 62.9% | 34.1% | 3% |
| 4th | 62.5% | 34.7% | 2.8% |
| 5th | 63.5% | 33.3% | 3.2% |
| 6th | 59.9% | 37% | 3.1% |
| 7th | 66.8% | 29.9% | 3.3% |
| 8th | 75.9% | 20.5% | 3.5% |
| 9th | 78% | 15.8% | 15.8% |
| 10th | 58.5% | 38.2% | 3.3% |
| 11th | 65.6% | 29.7% | 4.7% |
| 12th | 53.2% | 42.9% | 3.8% |
State and district results of the1968 United States presidential election | ||
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