1968 United States presidential election in Nevada

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Nominee Richard Nixon Hubert Humphrey George Wallace Party Republican Democratic American Independent Home state New York[a] Minnesota Alabama Running mate Spiro Agnew Edmund Muskie S. Marvin Griffin Electoral vote 3 0 0 Popular vote 73,188 60,598 20,432 Percentage 47.46% 39.29% 13.25%

County Results Nixon   30–40%   40–50%   50–60%   60–70% Humphrey   40–50%   50–60%

President before election Lyndon B. Johnson Democratic Elected President Richard Nixon Republican

The1968 United States presidential election in Nevada took place on November 5, 1968, as part of the1968 United States presidential election. State voters chose three^[2] representatives, or electors, to theElectoral College, who voted forpresident andvice president.

SinceWilliam Jennings Bryan'sthreeelections,Nevada had been abellwether state voting for every winner since1912. However, relative to the nation, Nevada had trended Republican since the end ofWorld War II when Populist radicalism gave way to small-town and rural conservatism due to demographic and technological change.^[3] Although Democrats had a large advantage in registration,the 1966 midterm elections saw RepublicanLieutenant GovernorPaul Laxalt take most of the Mormon and Catholic vote in traditionally DemocraticClark County,^[4] which was becoming the center of the state's rapid demographic growth. This Republican trend was aided by a fall in demand for construction work inLas Vegas and several major strikes across the state.^[4]

In the early stages of the campaign, the Democratic Party viewed Nixon – despite losing strongly Catholic Nevada toKennedy in1960 – as much more dangerous in Nevada thanRonald Reagan orGeorge Romney.^[5] As a part of his national third partysegregationist campaign, formerAlabama GovernorGeorge Wallace became the first third-party candidate to obtain the necessary eight thousand signatures to geton the ballot in Nevada sincethe "Progressive Party" in 1948.^[6]

In the earliest polls Nevada's past Republican trend was confirmed, with it being given clearly to Nixon in the second week of September,^[7] and confirmed by further polls^[8] until the last few days before the election. During this period Humphrey made a brief visit to Nevada^[9] and came back substantially nationwide, whilst a strong poll for Wallace made the state doubtful.^[10]

Ultimately formerVice PresidentRichard Nixon, with 47.46% of the popular vote,^[11] won Nevada more substantially than predicted by the last polls, though by less than thought likely in September and early October."Independent American" candidateGeorge Wallace finished with 13.25% of the popular vote, close to his national average but his best performance outsidethe Confederacy andBorder States. Wallace's success was largely due to his endorsement by state congressmanWalter S. Baring Jr., a conservative "States' Rights Democrat" who consistently managed huge majorities in Nevada's rural 'Cow Counties' (the 14 counties apart from Clark,Washoe, andCarson City).^[12]

• Ormsby
• Elko
• Esmeralda
• Eureka
• Humboldt
• Lander
• Lincoln
• Nye
• Pershing
• Storey
• Washoe

• United States presidential elections in Nevada

• 1968 United States presidential election by state
• United States presidential elections in Nevada
• 1968 Nevada elections

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