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 County results
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The1972 United States presidential election in Washington took place on November 7, 1972, as part of the1972 United States presidential election. State voters chose nine representatives, or electors, to theElectoral College, who voted forpresident andvice president.
Washington voted for theRepublican incumbent,Richard Nixon, over theDemocratic challenger,South DakotaSenatorGeorge McGovern. Nixon took 56.92% of the vote to McGovern's 38.64%, a margin of 18.28%, which still made the state 4.87% more Democratic than the nation at-large.
Nixon won every county except heavily unionized Grays Harbor and Pacific Counties, in the process being the first Republican to carryWahkiakum County (another heavily unionized timber county),Kitsap County andSnohomish County sinceHerbert Hoover in1928.[1]
Nixon's victory was the first of four consecutive Republican presidential victories in the state, as Washington would not vote for a Democratic candidate again untilMichael Dukakis in1988, after which the state has always gone Democratic.
| 1972 United States presidential election in Washington[2] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes | |
| Republican | Richard Nixon (incumbent) | 837,135 | 56.92% | 9 | |
| Democratic | George McGovern | 568,334 | 38.64% | 0 | |
| American Independent | John G. Schmitz | 58,906 | 4.00% | 0 | |
| Independent | Benjamin Spock | 2,644 | 0.18% | 0 | |
| Libertarian | John Hospers | 1,537 | 0.10% | 0 | |
| Socialist Labor | Louis Fisher | 1,102 | 0.07% | 0 | |
| Socialist Workers | Linda Jenness | 623 | 0.04% | 0 | |
| Communist | Gus Hall | 566 | 0.04% | 0 | |
| Totals | 1,470,847 | 100.00% | 9 | ||
| Voter turnout | — | ||||
| County | Richard Nixon Republican | George McGovern Democratic | John G. Schmitz American Independent | Various candidates Other parties | Margin | Total votes cast[2] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Adams | 3,083 | 68.22% | 1,110 | 24.56% | 316 | 6.99% | 10 | 0.22% | 1,973 | 43.66% | 4,519 |
| Asotin | 2,911 | 50.36% | 2,559 | 44.27% | 301 | 5.21% | 9 | 0.16% | 352 | 6.09% | 5,780 |
| Benton | 18,517 | 61.02% | 9,824 | 32.37% | 1,911 | 6.30% | 94 | 0.31% | 8,693 | 28.65% | 30,346 |
| Chelan | 10,470 | 60.13% | 5,889 | 33.82% | 971 | 5.58% | 83 | 0.48% | 4,581 | 26.31% | 17,413 |
| Clallam | 9,372 | 58.25% | 5,620 | 34.93% | 1,056 | 6.56% | 41 | 0.25% | 3,752 | 23.32% | 16,089 |
| Clark | 28,775 | 49.13% | 27,179 | 46.41% | 2,416 | 4.13% | 199 | 0.34% | 1,596 | 2.72% | 58,569 |
| Columbia | 1,445 | 69.47% | 533 | 25.63% | 102 | 4.90% | 0 | 0.00% | 912 | 43.84% | 2,080 |
| Cowlitz | 14,431 | 51.21% | 12,682 | 45.00% | 959 | 3.40% | 110 | 0.39% | 1,749 | 6.21% | 28,182 |
| Douglas | 4,512 | 60.31% | 2,420 | 32.35% | 538 | 7.19% | 11 | 0.15% | 2,092 | 27.96% | 7,481 |
| Ferry | 815 | 53.37% | 560 | 36.67% | 145 | 9.50% | 7 | 0.46% | 255 | 16.70% | 1,527 |
| Franklin | 5,972 | 56.75% | 3,867 | 36.75% | 655 | 6.22% | 29 | 0.28% | 2,105 | 20.00% | 10,523 |
| Garfield | 1,004 | 65.45% | 481 | 31.36% | 46 | 3.00% | 3 | 0.20% | 523 | 34.09% | 1,534 |
| Grant | 9,370 | 59.25% | 5,487 | 34.70% | 908 | 5.74% | 49 | 0.31% | 3,883 | 24.55% | 15,814 |
| Grays Harbor | 10,839 | 45.65% | 11,786 | 49.64% | 1,000 | 4.21% | 120 | 0.51% | -947 | -3.99% | 23,745 |
| Island | 7,495 | 68.12% | 3,149 | 28.62% | 316 | 2.87% | 43 | 0.39% | 4,346 | 39.50% | 11,003 |
| Jefferson | 2,770 | 53.49% | 2,096 | 40.47% | 277 | 5.35% | 36 | 0.70% | 674 | 13.02% | 5,179 |
| King | 298,707 | 56.39% | 212,509 | 40.12% | 15,624 | 2.95% | 2,854 | 0.54% | 86,198 | 16.27% | 529,694 |
| Kitsap | 25,831 | 56.84% | 17,011 | 37.43% | 2,429 | 5.34% | 175 | 0.39% | 8,820 | 19.41% | 45,446 |
| Kittitas | 5,464 | 53.96% | 4,299 | 42.46% | 327 | 3.23% | 36 | 0.36% | 1,165 | 11.50% | 10,126 |
| Klickitat | 3,061 | 54.20% | 2,293 | 40.60% | 276 | 4.89% | 18 | 0.32% | 768 | 13.60% | 5,648 |
| Lewis | 12,071 | 58.64% | 6,946 | 33.74% | 1,520 | 7.38% | 48 | 0.23% | 5,125 | 24.90% | 20,585 |
| Lincoln | 3,647 | 69.14% | 1,453 | 27.55% | 161 | 3.05% | 14 | 0.27% | 2,194 | 41.59% | 5,275 |
| Mason | 4,873 | 53.10% | 3,907 | 42.57% | 363 | 3.96% | 34 | 0.37% | 966 | 10.53% | 9,177 |
| Okanogan | 5,796 | 56.09% | 3,835 | 37.11% | 655 | 6.34% | 48 | 0.46% | 1,961 | 18.98% | 10,334 |
| Pacific | 3,349 | 46.73% | 3,585 | 50.03% | 204 | 2.85% | 28 | 0.39% | -236 | -3.30% | 7,166 |
| Pend Oreille | 1,746 | 59.57% | 1,071 | 36.54% | 104 | 3.55% | 10 | 0.34% | 675 | 23.03% | 2,931 |
| Pierce | 84,265 | 56.91% | 56,933 | 38.45% | 6,189 | 4.18% | 678 | 0.46% | 27,332 | 18.46% | 148,065 |
| San Juan | 1,786 | 63.90% | 906 | 32.42% | 86 | 3.08% | 17 | 0.61% | 880 | 31.48% | 2,795 |
| Skagit | 14,212 | 58.13% | 9,233 | 37.77% | 911 | 3.73% | 92 | 0.38% | 4,979 | 20.36% | 24,448 |
| Skamania | 1,288 | 48.70% | 1,153 | 43.59% | 189 | 7.15% | 15 | 0.57% | 135 | 5.11% | 2,645 |
| Snohomish | 60,032 | 57.27% | 39,471 | 37.66% | 4,803 | 4.58% | 515 | 0.49% | 20,561 | 19.61% | 104,821 |
| Spokane | 74,320 | 59.37% | 44,337 | 35.42% | 6,129 | 4.90% | 399 | 0.32% | 29,983 | 23.95% | 125,185 |
| Stevens | 4,839 | 61.26% | 2,390 | 30.26% | 647 | 8.19% | 23 | 0.29% | 2,449 | 31.00% | 7,899 |
| Thurston | 22,297 | 57.48% | 14,596 | 37.63% | 1,722 | 4.44% | 177 | 0.46% | 7,701 | 19.85% | 38,792 |
| Wahkiakum | 818 | 47.39% | 796 | 46.12% | 108 | 6.26% | 4 | 0.23% | 22 | 1.27% | 1,726 |
| Walla Walla | 12,579 | 67.87% | 5,364 | 28.94% | 515 | 2.78% | 75 | 0.40% | 7,215 | 38.93% | 18,533 |
| Whatcom | 22,585 | 58.21% | 15,027 | 38.73% | 1,031 | 2.66% | 158 | 0.41% | 7,558 | 19.48% | 38,801 |
| Whitman | 9,548 | 58.70% | 6,248 | 38.41% | 398 | 2.45% | 72 | 0.44% | 3,300 | 20.29% | 16,266 |
| Yakima | 32,240 | 58.93% | 19,729 | 36.06% | 2,598 | 4.75% | 138 | 0.25% | 12,511 | 22.87% | 54,705 |
| Totals | 837,135 | 56.92% | 568,334 | 38.64% | 58,906 | 4.00% | 6,472 | 0.44% | 268,801 | 18.28% | 1,470,847 |
State and district results of the1972 United States presidential election | ||
|---|---|---|
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