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 County results Nixon 50–60% 60–70% 70–80%
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The1972 United States presidential election in Nevada took place on November 7, 1972. All fifty states andthe District of Columbia were part of the1972 United States presidential election. State voters chose three electors to theElectoral College, who voted forpresident andvice president.
Since being won for thethird time byWilliam Jennings Bryan whose populism had attracted a state heavily dependent upon silver mining,[1]Nevada had been a consistentbellwether swing state, although it had been trending Republican sinceWorld War II as air conditioning led to the development ofLas Vegas as a “Sun Belt” city.Richard Nixon had narrowly lost this heavily Catholic state toJohn F. Kennedy in1960, but would comfortably defeat bothHubert Humphrey andGeorge Wallace in1968. However, the Democrats had rebounded in1970 to regain the governorship, although the party lostthe attorney general position for the first time since 1890.[2]
Nevada held no Democratic primary in 1972, and onceSouth Dakota SenatorGeorge McGovern secured the nomination, every poll suggested that incumbent President Nixon would win the state very easily,[3] typically by around a two-to-one margin.[4]
Nixon carried Nevada with 63.68% of the vote to McGovern's 36.32%, a victory margin of 27.36%. In a state that would reflect McGovern's national results, the Democratic nominee did not win a single county in Nevada, making Nixon only the second Republican afterTheodore Roosevelt in1904 to sweep all Nevada's counties.[5]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Richard Nixon (incumbent) | 115,750 | 63.68% | |
| Democratic | George McGovern | 66,016 | 36.32% | |
| Total votes | 181,766 | 100% | ||
| County | Richard Nixon Republican | George McGovern Democratic | Margin | Total votes cast[6] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Carson City | 5,396 | 71.79% | 2,120 | 28.21% | 3,276 | 43.58% | 7,516 |
| Churchill | 2,970 | 74.10% | 1,038 | 25.90% | 1,932 | 48.20% | 4,008 |
| Clark | 53,101 | 59.06% | 36,807 | 40.94% | 16,294 | 18.12% | 89,908 |
| Douglas | 2,898 | 74.67% | 983 | 25.33% | 1,915 | 49.34% | 3,881 |
| Elko | 3,886 | 72.59% | 1,467 | 27.41% | 2,419 | 45.18% | 5,353 |
| Esmeralda | 273 | 68.25% | 127 | 31.75% | 146 | 36.50% | 400 |
| Eureka | 371 | 72.75% | 139 | 27.25% | 232 | 45.50% | 510 |
| Humboldt | 1,659 | 69.94% | 713 | 30.06% | 946 | 39.88% | 2,372 |
| Lander | 798 | 63.03% | 468 | 36.97% | 330 | 26.06% | 1,266 |
| Lincoln | 841 | 68.77% | 382 | 31.23% | 459 | 37.54% | 1,223 |
| Lyon | 2,813 | 74.58% | 959 | 25.42% | 1,854 | 49.16% | 3,772 |
| Mineral | 2,111 | 73.32% | 768 | 26.68% | 1,343 | 46.64% | 2,879 |
| Nye | 1,287 | 61.61% | 802 | 38.39% | 485 | 23.22% | 2,089 |
| Pershing | 853 | 70.03% | 365 | 29.97% | 488 | 40.06% | 1,218 |
| Storey | 508 | 69.21% | 226 | 30.79% | 282 | 38.42% | 734 |
| Washoe | 33,539 | 66.22% | 17,106 | 33.78% | 16,433 | 32.44% | 50,645 |
| White Pine | 2,446 | 61.27% | 1,546 | 38.73% | 900 | 22.54% | 3,992 |
| Totals | 115,750 | 63.68% | 66,016 | 36.32% | 49,734 | 27.36% | 181,766 |
State and district results of the1972 United States presidential election | ||
|---|---|---|
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