1928 United States presidential election in Rhode Island

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Nominee Al Smith Herbert Hoover Party Democratic Republican Home state New York California Running mate Joseph Taylor Robinson Charles Curtis Electoral vote 5 0 Popular vote 118,973 117,522 Percentage 50.16% 49.55%

County Results Municipality Results Smith   50–60%   60–70% Hoover   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%

President before election Calvin Coolidge Republican Elected President Herbert Hoover Republican

The1928 United States presidential election in Rhode Island took place on November 6, 1928, as part of the1928 United States presidential election which was held throughout all contemporary 48 states. Voters chose five representatives, or electors to theElectoral College, who voted forpresident andvice president.

Rhode Island voted for theDemocratic nominee,GovernorAlfred E. Smith ofNew York, over theRepublican nominee, formerSecretary of CommerceHerbert Hoover ofCalifornia. Smith's running mate wasSenatorJoseph Taylor Robinson ofArkansas, while Hoover's running mate wasSenate Majority LeaderCharles Curtis ofKansas.

Smith won Rhode Island by a very narrow margin of 0.61%, making him the first Democratic presidential candidate sinceWoodrow Wilson in1912 to carry the state, as well as the first to win an absolute majority of the vote sinceFranklin Pierce in1852. Although Hoover won more counties than Smith, key to Smith's victory was his appeal to "ethnic white"Roman Catholic voters inProvidence County andBristol County. Rhode Island was the only state save adjacentMassachusetts (another state with a large Catholic population) outside the Democratic "Solid South" that voted for Smith in 1928. This was the second of three times that the state voted differently thanMinnesota, along with 1912 and 1984.

Despite winning in alandslide nationally, Hoover became the first Republican to ever win the presidency without carrying Rhode Island. Given the scale of Hoover's win, Rhode Island weighed in as 18 percentage points more Democratic than the United States at large. Hoover also became the first Republican to ever win without carrying Providence and Bristol counties. Beginning in 1928, Rhode Island would transition from a strongly Yankee Republican state into a Democratic-leaning state. Since then, Republicans have only carried the state four times, all in Republican landslide years: 1952, 1956, 1972, and 1984.

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