1972 United States presidential election in Maine
November 7, 1972
 
Nominee Richard Nixon George McGovern
Party Republican Democratic
Home state California South Dakota
Running mate Spiro Agnew Sargent Shriver
Electoral vote 4 0
Popular vote 256,458 160,584
Percentage 61.46% 38.48%
County Results
President before election

Richard Nixon
Republican

 Elected President

Richard Nixon
Republican

The 1972 United States presidential election in Maine took place on November 7, 1972, as part of the 1972 United States presidential election which was held throughout all fifty states and the District of Columbia. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Maine was won by the incumbent Republican president Richard Nixon by a landslide 23 point margin over his Democratic challenger, Senator George McGovern of South Dakota. Nixon took 61.46% of the vote, totaling up to 256,458 votes, to McGovern’s 38.48%, and 160,584 votes. In the midst of Nixon’s massive 49-state landslide victory, Maine voted almost exactly as the country did, only voting about 0.7% more Republican than the nation as a whole.

Richard Nixon swept every county in the state except for Androscoggin, where McGovern won by a mere 103 votes.[1] Androscoggin was the solitary county McGovern won in the Northeast outside of Massachusetts or in the city limits of Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington.

Nixon's victory was the first of five consecutive Republican victories in the state, as Maine would not vote for a Democratic candidate again until Bill Clinton in 1992; it has since become a Democratic-leaning state.

Since 1972 no presidential candidate of either party has surpassed Nixon’s 61.46% of the vote in Maine (the closest being Ronald Reagan’s 60.83% in 1984).

This was the first presidential election in which Maine allocated its electoral votes proportionally, giving 2 electoral votes to the overall winner of the state and 1 electoral vote to the winner of each congressional district.

Results

1972 United States presidential election in Maine[2]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican Richard Nixon (incumbent) 256,458 61.46% 4
Democratic George McGovern 160,584 38.48% 0
American Independent John G. Schmitz (write-in) 117 0.03% 0
Peace and Freedom Benjamin Spock (write-in) 3 0.00% 0
Socialist Workers Linda Jenness (write-in) 2 0.00% 0
Communist Gus Hall (write-in) 2 0.00% 0
Libertarian John Hospers (write-in) 1 0.00% 0
Write-ins Scattered (Other write-ins) 104 0.02% 0
Totals 417,271 100.00% 4
Voter turnout 60%/68%

Results by county

County Richard Milhous Nixon
Republican		 George Stanley McGovern
Democratic		 Various candidates
Write-ins		 Margin Total votes cast
#  % #  % #  % #  %
Androscoggin 19,406 49.86% 19,509 50.12% 9 0.02% -103 -0.26% 38,924
Aroostook 19,051 62.37% 11,474 37.56% 22 0.07% 7,577 24.81% 30,547
Cumberland 51,268 60.59% 33,326 39.38% 23 0.03% 17,942 21.21% 84,617
Franklin 5,958 66.50% 2,988 33.35% 14 0.16% 2,970 33.15% 8,960
Hancock 11,889 73.90% 4,191 26.05% 7 0.04% 7,698 47.85% 16,087
Kennebec 24,617 59.99% 16,379 39.91% 39 0.10% 8,238 20.08% 41,035
Knox 8,478 70.19% 3,601 29.81% 4,877 40.38% 12,079
Lincoln 7,580 72.28% 2,903 27.68% 4 0.04% 4,677 44.60% 10,487
Oxford 12,114 64.36% 6,661 35.39% 48 0.26% 5,453 28.97% 18,823
Penobscot 30,186 61.92% 18,552 38.06% 11 0.02% 11,634 23.86% 48,749
Piscataquis 4,617 64.70% 2,518 35.29% 1 0.01% 2,099 29.41% 7,136
Sagadahoc 6,463 65.35% 3,414 34.52% 13 0.13% 3,049 30.83% 9,890
Somerset 10,079 62.97% 5,921 36.99% 5 0.03% 4,158 25.98% 16,005
Waldo 6,480 68.78% 2,941 31.21% 1 0.01% 3,539 37.57% 9,422
Washington 7,820 67.57% 3,742 32.33% 12 0.10% 4,078 35.24% 11,574
York 30,452 57.53% 22,464 42.44% 20 0.04% 7,988 15.09% 52,936
Totals256,45861.46%160,58438.48%2290.05%95,87422.98%417,271

See also

References

  1. ↑ "1972 Presidential General Election Results - Maine". Archived from the original on July 1, 2015. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  2. ↑ "1972 Presidential General Election Results - Maine". Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas. Archived from the original on February 15, 2016. Retrieved August 25, 2008.
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