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| Turnout | 89.9%[1] 0.2pp | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 County Results
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Apresidential election was held inIndiana on November 3, 1908, as part of the1908 United States presidential election. TheRepublican ticket of theU.S. secretary of warWilliam Howard Taft and theU.S. representative fromNew York's 27th congressional districtJames S. Sherman defeated theDemocratic ticket of the former U.S. representative fromNebraska's 1st congressional districtWilliam Jennings Bryan and the formerU.S. senator from IndianaJohn W. Kern. Taft defeated Bryan in the national election with 321electoral votes.[2]
Partisan coalitions inIndiana at the turn of the century reflected the regional, ethnic, and religious roots of the settler population, with the descendants ofWhite Southerners,German Americans, andIrish Americans (especiallyCatholics) voting reliably Democratic, whileYankees,Nordic and Scandinavian Americans, andBritish Americans favored the Republican Party.Southern Indiana leaned Democratic andNorthern Indiana leaned Republican, in line with the loose correlation between ethnicity and geography. The state's notable concentration of German Catholics contributed to its closeness in presidential elections during theThird Party System relative to other Lower North states. Bryan's previous campaigns in1896 and1900 had seen the state move more securely into the Republican column, as German Catholics alienated by Bryan's outspokenEvangelicalism, conservatives unnerved by the candidate'sagrarianradicalism, and urban workers frightened by threats of mass layoffs in the event of a Bryan victory voted Republican for the first time.[3]
Indiana chose 15 electors on a statewidegeneral ticket. State law required voters to elect each member of the Electoral College individually, rather than as a group.[4] This sometimes resulted in small differences in the number of votes cast for electors pledged to the same presidential candidate, if some voters did not vote for all the electors nominated by a party.[5] The following table quotes the official returns published by thesecretary of state of Indiana, which list the votes for the first elector on each ticket.[6]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | William Howard Taft James S. Sherman | 348,993 | 48.40 |  5.58 | |
| Democratic | William Jennings Bryan John W. Kern | 338,262 | 46.91 | 6.69 | |
| Prohibition | Eugene W. Chafin Aaron S. Watkins | 18,036 | 2.50 | 0.94 | |
| Socialist | Eugene V. Debs Ben Hanford | 13,476 | 1.87 | 0.87 | |
| Populist | Thomas E. Watson Samuel Williams | 1,193 | 0.16 | 0.20 | |
| Socialist Labor | August Gillhaus Donald L. Munro | 643 | 0.09 | 0.14 | |
| Independence | Thomas L. Hisgen John Temple Graves | 514 | 0.07 | 0.07 | |
| Total votes | 721,117 | 100.00 | |||
| County | William H. Taft Republican | William J. Bryan Democratic | Eugene W. Chafin Prohibition | Eugene V. Debs Socialist | Others | Margin | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | ||
| Adams | 1,726 | 32.63% | 3,404 | 64.36% | 141 | 2.67% | 13 | 0.25% | 5 | 0.09% | -1,678 | -31.73% | 5,289 |
| Allen | 9,468 | 42.06% | 12,145 | 53.95% | 340 | 1.51% | 494 | 2.19% | 66 | 0.29% | -2,677 | -11.89% | 22,513 |
| Bartholomew | 3,306 | 46.13% | 3,637 | 50.75% | 151 | 2.11% | 59 | 0.82% | 14 | 0.20% | -331 | -4.62% | 7,167 |
| Benton | 1,936 | 53.48% | 1,566 | 43.26% | 103 | 2.85% | 15 | 0.41% | 0 | 0.00% | 370 | 10.22% | 3,620 |
| Blackford | 1,835 | 43.10% | 2,214 | 52.00% | 166 | 3.90% | 42 | 0.99% | 1 | 0.02% | -379 | -8.90% | 4,258 |
| Boone | 3,471 | 48.22% | 3,525 | 48.97% | 166 | 2.31% | 11 | 0.15% | 25 | 0.35% | -54 | -0.75% | 7,198 |
| Brown | 663 | 34.60% | 1,177 | 61.43% | 68 | 3.55% | 5 | 0.26% | 3 | 0.16% | -514 | -26.83% | 1,916 |
| Carroll | 2,546 | 47.46% | 2,590 | 48.28% | 152 | 2.83% | 68 | 1.27% | 9 | 0.17% | -44 | -0.82% | 5,365 |
| Cass | 4,700 | 45.44% | 5,234 | 50.60% | 349 | 3.37% | 38 | 0.37% | 23 | 0.22% | -534 | -5.16% | 10,344 |
| Clark | 3,706 | 46.56% | 4,085 | 51.33% | 82 | 1.03% | 68 | 0.85% | 18 | 0.23% | -379 | -4.76% | 7,959 |
| Clay | 3,766 | 43.79% | 4,204 | 48.88% | 110 | 1.28% | 499 | 5.80% | 22 | 0.26% | -438 | -5.09% | 8,601 |
| Clinton | 3,626 | 47.20% | 3,680 | 47.90% | 281 | 3.66% | 78 | 1.02% | 17 | 0.22% | -54 | -0.70% | 7,682 |
| Crawford | 1,403 | 44.50% | 1,539 | 48.81% | 126 | 4.00% | 82 | 2.60% | 3 | 0.10% | -136 | -4.31% | 3,153 |
| Daviess | 3,424 | 48.38% | 3,253 | 45.97% | 134 | 1.89% | 204 | 2.88% | 62 | 0.88% | 171 | 2.42% | 7,077 |
| De Kalb | 2,991 | 42.41% | 3,684 | 52.24% | 287 | 4.07% | 63 | 0.89% | 27 | 0.38% | -693 | -9.83% | 7,052 |
| Dearborn | 2,520 | 41.81% | 3,365 | 55.83% | 94 | 1.56% | 41 | 0.68% | 7 | 0.12% | -845 | -14.02% | 6,027 |
| Decatur | 2,838 | 50.62% | 2,564 | 45.73% | 159 | 2.84% | 39 | 0.70% | 7 | 0.12% | 274 | 4.89% | 5,607 |
| Delaware | 7,014 | 51.29% | 5,725 | 41.86% | 475 | 3.47% | 316 | 2.31% | 146 | 1.07% | 1,289 | 9.43% | 13,676 |
| Dubois | 1,397 | 28.88% | 3,344 | 69.12% | 36 | 0.74% | 58 | 1.20% | 3 | 0.06% | -1,947 | -40.24% | 4,838 |
| Elkhart | 6,245 | 48.19% | 5,697 | 43.96% | 596 | 4.60% | 400 | 3.09% | 21 | 0.16% | 548 | 4.23% | 12,959 |
| Fayette | 2,394 | 55.77% | 1,700 | 39.60% | 114 | 2.66% | 81 | 1.89% | 4 | 0.09% | 694 | 16.17% | 4,293 |
| Floyd | 3,431 | 43.85% | 4,064 | 51.94% | 94 | 1.20% | 226 | 2.89% | 10 | 0.13% | -633 | -8.09% | 7,825 |
| Fountain | 2,894 | 48.90% | 2,846 | 48.09% | 122 | 2.06% | 45 | 0.76% | 11 | 0.19% | 48 | 0.81% | 5,918 |
| Franklin | 1,670 | 38.23% | 2,616 | 59.89% | 74 | 1.69% | 7 | 0.16% | 1 | 0.02% | -946 | -21.66% | 4,368 |
| Fulton | 2,426 | 49.34% | 2,350 | 47.79% | 125 | 2.54% | 13 | 0.26% | 3 | 0.06% | 76 | 1.55% | 4,917 |
| Gibson | 3,753 | 48.44% | 3,656 | 47.19% | 241 | 3.11% | 86 | 1.11% | 11 | 0.14% | 97 | 1.25% | 7,747 |
| Grant | 7,181 | 49.42% | 5,819 | 40.05% | 1,140 | 7.85% | 339 | 2.33% | 52 | 0.36% | 1,362 | 9.37% | 14,531 |
| Greene | 4,145 | 44.17% | 4,172 | 44.45% | 84 | 0.90% | 930 | 9.91% | 54 | 0.58% | -27 | -0.29% | 9,385 |
| Hamilton | 4,421 | 56.48% | 2,947 | 37.65% | 435 | 5.56% | 24 | 0.31% | 1 | 0.01% | 1,474 | 18.83% | 7,828 |
| Hancock | 2,472 | 43.50% | 3,040 | 53.49% | 146 | 2.57% | 22 | 0.39% | 3 | 0.05% | -568 | -9.99% | 5,683 |
| Harrison | 2,419 | 46.17% | 2,646 | 50.51% | 100 | 1.91% | 67 | 1.28% | 7 | 0.13% | -227 | -4.33% | 5,239 |
| Hendricks | 3,231 | 54.28% | 2,571 | 43.19% | 146 | 2.45% | 0 | 0.00% | 5 | 0.08% | 660 | 11.09% | 5,953 |
| Henry | 4,358 | 54.63% | 3,197 | 40.07% | 332 | 4.16% | 61 | 0.76% | 30 | 0.38% | 1,161 | 14.55% | 7,978 |
| Howard | 4,423 | 50.60% | 3,497 | 40.01% | 550 | 6.29% | 255 | 2.92% | 16 | 0.18% | 926 | 10.59% | 8,741 |
| Huntington | 3,973 | 47.62% | 3,712 | 44.49% | 405 | 4.85% | 241 | 2.89% | 13 | 0.16% | 261 | 3.13% | 8,344 |
| Jackson | 2,631 | 39.93% | 3,783 | 57.41% | 140 | 2.12% | 30 | 0.46% | 5 | 0.08% | -1,152 | -17.48% | 6,589 |
| Jasper | 1,939 | 55.19% | 1,495 | 42.56% | 70 | 1.99% | 7 | 0.20% | 2 | 0.06% | 444 | 12.64% | 3,513 |
| Jay | 3,256 | 45.75% | 3,370 | 47.35% | 426 | 5.99% | 53 | 0.74% | 12 | 0.17% | -114 | -1.60% | 7,117 |
| Jefferson | 2,995 | 50.06% | 2,708 | 45.26% | 176 | 2.94% | 97 | 1.62% | 7 | 0.12% | 287 | 4.80% | 5,983 |
| Jennings | 2,100 | 51.23% | 1,871 | 45.65% | 101 | 2.46% | 21 | 0.51% | 6 | 0.15% | 229 | 5.59% | 4,099 |
| Johnson | 2,519 | 42.04% | 3,268 | 54.54% | 193 | 3.22% | 9 | 0.15% | 3 | 0.05% | -749 | -12.50% | 5,992 |
| Knox | 4,247 | 42.53% | 5,116 | 51.24% | 199 | 1.99% | 375 | 3.76% | 48 | 0.48% | -869 | -8.70% | 9,985 |
| Kosciusko | 4,377 | 54.45% | 3,362 | 41.82% | 233 | 2.90% | 54 | 0.67% | 13 | 0.16% | 1,015 | 12.63% | 8,039 |
| La Porte | 5,824 | 49.52% | 5,680 | 48.30% | 126 | 1.07% | 103 | 0.88% | 27 | 0.23% | 144 | 1.22% | 11,760 |
| Lagrange | 2,357 | 60.13% | 1,414 | 36.07% | 133 | 3.39% | 10 | 0.26% | 6 | 0.15% | 943 | 24.06% | 3,920 |
| Lake | 9,499 | 60.97% | 5,502 | 35.32% | 125 | 0.80% | 303 | 1.94% | 150 | 0.96% | 3,997 | 25.66% | 15,579 |
| Lawrence | 3,884 | 53.77% | 3,118 | 43.16% | 93 | 1.29% | 119 | 1.65% | 10 | 0.14% | 766 | 10.60% | 7,224 |
| Madison | 7,481 | 43.48% | 8,296 | 48.22% | 497 | 2.89% | 894 | 5.20% | 36 | 0.21% | -815 | -4.74% | 17,204 |
| Marion | 34,351 | 48.67% | 34,078 | 48.28% | 839 | 1.19% | 1,075 | 1.52% | 237 | 0.34% | 273 | 0.39% | 70,580 |
| Marshall | 2,947 | 45.31% | 3,287 | 50.54% | 199 | 3.06% | 55 | 0.85% | 16 | 0.25% | -340 | -5.23% | 6,504 |
| Martin | 1,667 | 48.35% | 1,733 | 50.26% | 34 | 0.99% | 11 | 0.32% | 3 | 0.09% | -66 | -1.91% | 3,448 |
| Miami | 3,820 | 45.26% | 4,176 | 49.48% | 233 | 2.76% | 187 | 2.22% | 24 | 0.28% | -356 | -4.22% | 8,440 |
| Monroe | 3,051 | 51.48% | 2,780 | 46.91% | 77 | 1.30% | 14 | 0.24% | 4 | 0.07% | 271 | 4.57% | 5,926 |
| Montgomery | 4,427 | 49.64% | 4,227 | 47.39% | 195 | 2.19% | 44 | 0.49% | 26 | 0.29% | 200 | 2.24% | 8,919 |
| Morgan | 3,074 | 50.98% | 2,789 | 46.25% | 121 | 2.01% | 44 | 0.73% | 2 | 0.03% | 285 | 4.73% | 6,030 |
| Newton | 1,645 | 56.47% | 1,190 | 40.85% | 65 | 2.23% | 8 | 0.27% | 5 | 0.17% | 455 | 15.62% | 2,913 |
| Noble | 3,507 | 50.72% | 3,249 | 46.99% | 120 | 1.74% | 29 | 0.42% | 9 | 0.13% | 258 | 3.73% | 6,914 |
| Ohio | 619 | 49.13% | 622 | 49.37% | 16 | 1.27% | 3 | 0.24% | 0 | 0.00% | -3 | -0.24% | 1,260 |
| Orange | 2,433 | 53.92% | 1,961 | 43.46% | 70 | 1.55% | 44 | 0.98% | 4 | 0.09% | 472 | 10.46% | 4,512 |
| Owen | 1,726 | 44.53% | 2,023 | 52.19% | 61 | 1.57% | 51 | 1.32% | 15 | 0.39% | -297 | -7.66% | 3,876 |
| Parke | 3,026 | 48.35% | 2,707 | 43.25% | 315 | 5.03% | 204 | 3.26% | 7 | 0.11% | 319 | 5.10% | 6,259 |
| Perry | 1,903 | 43.93% | 2,356 | 54.39% | 34 | 0.78% | 37 | 0.85% | 2 | 0.05% | -453 | -10.46% | 4,332 |
| Pike | 2,359 | 47.88% | 2,360 | 47.90% | 59 | 1.20% | 131 | 2.66% | 18 | 0.37% | -1 | -0.02% | 4,927 |
| Porter | 2,940 | 59.88% | 1,789 | 36.44% | 78 | 1.59% | 59 | 1.20% | 44 | 0.90% | 1,151 | 23.44% | 4,910 |
| Posey | 2,444 | 42.49% | 3,084 | 53.62% | 147 | 2.56% | 69 | 1.20% | 8 | 0.14% | -640 | -11.13% | 5,752 |
| Pulaski | 1,561 | 44.31% | 1,832 | 52.00% | 101 | 2.87% | 14 | 0.40% | 15 | 0.42% | -271 | -7.69% | 3,523 |
| Putnam | 2,626 | 44.31% | 3,131 | 52.83% | 121 | 2.04% | 36 | 0.61% | 12 | 0.20% | -505 | -8.52% | 5,926 |
| Randolph | 4,792 | 60.90% | 2,600 | 33.05% | 380 | 4.83% | 87 | 1.11% | 9 | 0.11% | 2,192 | 27.86% | 7,868 |
| Ripley | 2,660 | 47.65% | 2,749 | 49.25% | 88 | 1.58% | 76 | 1.36% | 9 | 0.16% | -89 | -1.59% | 5,582 |
| Rush | 3,102 | 52.96% | 2,544 | 43.44% | 191 | 3.26% | 13 | 0.22% | 7 | 0.12% | 558 | 9.53% | 5,857 |
| Scott | 979 | 42.96% | 1,243 | 54.54% | 51 | 2.24% | 3 | 0.13% | 3 | 0.13% | -264 | -11.58% | 2,279 |
| Shelby | 3,529 | 44.54% | 4,035 | 50.93% | 252 | 3.18% | 95 | 1.20% | 12 | 0.15% | -506 | -6.39% | 7,923 |
| Spencer | 2,920 | 51.54% | 2,662 | 46.98% | 61 | 1.08% | 18 | 0.32% | 5 | 0.09% | 258 | 4.55% | 5,666 |
| St. Joseph | 11,222 | 53.92% | 8,562 | 41.14% | 272 | 1.31% | 705 | 3.39% | 52 | 0.25% | 2,660 | 12.78% | 20,813 |
| Starke | 1,521 | 52.18% | 1,305 | 44.77% | 43 | 1.48% | 39 | 1.34% | 7 | 0.24% | 216 | 7.41% | 2,915 |
| Steuben | 2,704 | 62.00% | 1,453 | 33.32% | 182 | 4.17% | 13 | 0.30% | 9 | 0.21% | 1,251 | 28.69% | 4,361 |
| Sullivan | 2,942 | 35.67% | 4,657 | 56.46% | 225 | 2.73% | 398 | 4.83% | 26 | 0.32% | -1,715 | -20.79% | 8,248 |
| Switzerland | 1,444 | 47.27% | 1,537 | 50.31% | 58 | 1.90% | 14 | 0.46% | 2 | 0.07% | -93 | -3.04% | 3,055 |
| Tippecanoe | 6,164 | 53.42% | 4,984 | 43.19% | 289 | 2.50% | 65 | 0.56% | 37 | 0.32% | 1,180 | 10.23% | 11,539 |
| Tipton | 2,395 | 46.45% | 2,556 | 49.57% | 183 | 3.55% | 13 | 0.25% | 9 | 0.17% | -161 | -3.12% | 5,156 |
| Union | 1,066 | 54.25% | 808 | 41.12% | 73 | 3.72% | 18 | 0.92% | 0 | 0.00% | 258 | 13.13% | 1,965 |
| Vanderburgh | 9,116 | 49.43% | 8,033 | 43.56% | 135 | 0.73% | 1,034 | 5.61% | 125 | 0.68% | 1,083 | 5.87% | 18,443 |
| Vermillion | 2,568 | 50.83% | 1,844 | 36.50% | 217 | 4.30% | 407 | 8.06% | 16 | 0.32% | 724 | 14.33% | 5,052 |
| Vigo | 10,223 | 45.76% | 10,685 | 47.82% | 257 | 1.15% | 690 | 3.09% | 487 | 2.18% | -462 | -2.07% | 22,342 |
| Wabash | 4,091 | 53.55% | 3,116 | 40.79% | 337 | 4.41% | 87 | 1.14% | 9 | 0.12% | 975 | 12.76% | 7,640 |
| Warren | 2,092 | 65.09% | 1,045 | 32.51% | 70 | 2.18% | 3 | 0.09% | 4 | 0.12% | 1,047 | 32.58% | 3,214 |
| Warrick | 2,839 | 48.37% | 2,782 | 47.40% | 138 | 2.35% | 101 | 1.72% | 9 | 0.15% | 57 | 0.97% | 5,869 |
| Washington | 1,976 | 42.58% | 2,573 | 55.44% | 74 | 1.59% | 12 | 0.26% | 6 | 0.13% | -597 | -12.86% | 4,641 |
| Wayne | 6,731 | 57.34% | 4,503 | 38.36% | 179 | 1.52% | 308 | 2.62% | 17 | 0.14% | 2,228 | 18.98% | 11,738 |
| Wells | 2,185 | 35.92% | 3,345 | 54.99% | 482 | 7.92% | 65 | 1.07% | 6 | 0.10% | -1,160 | -19.07% | 6,083 |
| White | 2,423 | 49.26% | 2,326 | 47.29% | 144 | 2.93% | 19 | 0.39% | 7 | 0.14% | 97 | 1.97% | 4,919 |
| Whitley | 2,302 | 46.57% | 2,493 | 50.43% | 134 | 2.71% | 13 | 0.26% | 1 | 0.02% | -191 | -3.86% | 4,943 |
| TOTAL | 348,993 | 48.40% | 338,262 | 46.91% | 18,036 | 2.50% | 13,476 | 1.87% | 2,350 | 0.32% | 10,731 | 1.49% | 721,117 |
State and district results of the1908 United States presidential election | ||
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