1968 United States presidential election in South Carolina

Summary

The 1968 United States presidential election in South Carolina took place on November 5, 1968. All 50 states and the District of Columbia were part of the 1968 United States presidential election. South Carolina voters chose 8 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

1968 United States presidential election in South Carolina

← 1964 November 5, 1968 1972 →
 
Nominee Richard Nixon George Wallace Hubert Humphrey
Party Republican American Independent Democratic
Home state New York[a] Alabama Minnesota
Running mate Spiro Agnew Curtis LeMay Edmund Muskie
Electoral vote 8 0 0
Popular vote 254,062 215,430 197,486
Percentage 38.09% 32.30% 29.61%

County Results

President before election

Lyndon B. Johnson
Democratic

Elected President

Richard Nixon
Republican

Background edit

For six decades up to 1950 South Carolina was a one-party state dominated by the Democratic Party. The Republican Party had been moribund due to the disfranchisement of blacks and the complete absence of other support bases as South Carolina completely lacked upland or German refugee whites opposed to secession.[1] Between 1900 and 1948, no Republican presidential candidate ever obtained more than seven percent of the total presidential vote[2] – a vote which in 1924 reached as low as 6.6 percent of the total voting-age population[3] (or approximately 15 percent of the voting-age white population).

Campaign edit

Although Nixon ignored the other Deep South states because he knew that he had no chance of competing with George Wallace, in South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond, believing Wallace could not win the election and that northeastern urban liberalism would continue to dominate if he endorsed Wallace, took the stump for Nixon in South Carolina.[4] The result was that Wallace's support in South Carolina plummeted rapidly, although in early September the Alabama governor predicted he would carry the state,[5] an opinion backed up by early polling in mid-September.[6] Other polls, however, had the race very close between the three candidates.[7]

Nixon himself campaigned in the state, aided by Thurmond, at the end of September.[8]

48% of white voters supported Nixon, 41% supported Wallace, and 12% supported Humphrey.[9][10][11]

South Carolina was the only Deep South state not to support Wallace in this election. Nixon was the first Republican presidential candidate to ever carry Dillon County, York County, and Spartanburg County.[12]

Predictions edit

The following newspapers gave these predictions about how South Carolina would vote in the 1968 presidential election:

Source Ranking As of
Special to The New York Times[13] Tilt I September 8, 1968
Lebanon Daily News[14] Lean I September 17, 1968
Daily Press[15] Lean I October 11, 1968
The Charlotte News[16] Lean I October 12, 1968
The Record[17] Tilt I October 21, 1968
Shreveport Times[18] Lean I November 3, 1968
The Selma Times-Journal[19] Lean I November 3, 1968
The New York Times[20] Tossup November 4, 1968

Results edit

1968 United States presidential election in South Carolina[21][22]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican Richard Nixon 254,062 38.09% 8
Independent George Wallace 215,430 32.30% 0
Democratic Hubert Humphrey 197,486 29.61% 0
Write-ins Various candidates 4 0.00% 0
Totals 666,978 100.00% 8
Voter turnout -

Results by county edit

1968 United States presidential election in South Carolina by county
County Richard Milhous Nixon
Republican
Hubert Horatio Humphrey
Democratic
George Corley Wallace
Independent
Margin[b] Total votes cast
# % # % # % # %
Abbeville 1,213 20.77% 1,425 24.40% 3,201 54.82% -1,776[c] -30.42% 5,839
Aiken 12,264 44.76% 6,319 23.06% 8,815 32.17% 3,449 12.59% 27,398
Allendale 997 29.72% 1,538 45.84% 820 24.44% -541[d] -16.12% 3,355
Anderson 5,661 24.33% 5,218 22.43% 12,384 53.23% -6,723 -28.90% 23,263
Bamberg 1,327 27.70% 1,845 38.52% 1,618 33.78% 227[c] 4.74% 4,790
Barnwell 1,849 31.25% 1,716 29.01% 2,351 39.74% -502 -8.49% 5,916
Beaufort 2,983 36.29% 3,740 45.49% 1,498 18.22% -757[d] -9.20% 8,221
Berkeley 4,021 28.89% 5,089 36.56% 4,808 34.55% 281[c] 2.01% 13,918
Calhoun 885 28.74% 1,216 39.49% 978 31.76% 238[c] 7.73% 3,079
Charleston 24,282 43.45% 18,343 32.83% 13,255 23.72% 5,939[d] 10.62% 55,880
Cherokee 2,853 27.19% 1,998 19.04% 5,642 53.77% -2,789 -26.58% 10,493
Chester 2,862 33.71% 2,865 33.75% 2,762 32.54% -3[d] -0.04% 8,489
Chesterfield 2,564 25.47% 3,180 31.59% 4,324 42.95% -1,144[c] -11.36% 10,068
Clarendon 2,201 27.85% 3,606 45.62% 2,097 26.53% -1,405[d] -17.77% 7,904
Colleton 2,824 34.67% 2,651 32.55% 2,670 32.78% 154 1.89% 8,145
Darlington 4,947 35.38% 3,803 27.20% 5,231 37.42% -284 -2.04% 13,981
Dillon 2,396 35.73% 2,178 32.48% 2,132 31.79% 218[d] 3.25% 6,706
Dorchester 3,354 31.21% 3,855 35.87% 3,539 32.93% 316[c] 2.94% 10,748
Edgefield 1,688 43.07% 1,225 31.26% 1,006 25.67% 463[d] 11.81% 3,919
Fairfield 1,619 27.14% 3,011 50.47% 1,336 22.39% -1,392[d] -23.33% 5,966
Florence 8,917 36.19% 8,079 32.79% 7,642 31.02% 838[d] 3.40% 24,638
Georgetown 3,269 32.62% 4,110 41.01% 2,642 26.36% -841[d] -8.39% 10,021
Greenville 31,652 52.91% 12,928 21.61% 15,241 25.48% 16,411 27.43% 59,821
Greenwood 4,891 33.37% 3,741 25.52% 6,024 41.10% -1,133 -7.73% 14,658[e]
Hampton 1,671 31.95% 2,107 40.29% 1,452 27.76% -436[d] -8.34% 5,230
Horry 3,924 26.97% 3,924 26.97% 6,701 46.06% -2,777 -19.09% 14,549
Jasper 633 20.31% 1,402 44.99% 1,081 34.69% 321[c] 10.30% 3,116
Kershaw 4,079 38.56% 2,539 24.00% 3,960 37.44% 119 1.12% 10,578
Lancaster 4,874 37.75% 3,151 24.41% 4,886 37.84% -12 -0.09% 12,911
Laurens 4,813 39.75% 3,016 24.91% 4,279 35.34% 534 4.41% 12,108
Lee 1,219 22.23% 2,151 39.23% 2,113 38.54% 38[c] 0.69% 5,483
Lexington 12,204 48.49% 4,058 16.12% 8,907 35.39% 3,297 13.10% 25,169
Marion 2,512 36.85% 2,821 41.38% 1,484 21.77% -309[d] -4.53% 6,817
Marlboro 2,024 31.34% 2,294 35.52% 2,140 33.14% 154[c] 2.38% 6,458
McCormick 466 21.08% 988 44.69% 757 34.24% 231[c] 10.45% 2,211
Newberry 4,538 42.35% 2,444 22.81% 3,734 34.85% 804 7.50% 10,716
Oconee 2,618 27.94% 2,009 21.44% 4,742 50.61% -2,124 -22.67% 9,369
Orangeburg 5,144 24.20% 8,971 42.20% 7,144 33.60% 1,827[c] 8.60% 21,259
Pickens 6,873 51.63% 2,016 15.14% 4,424 33.23% 2,449 18.40% 13,313
Richland 26,215 50.96% 18,198 35.37% 7,030 13.67% 8,017[d] 15.59% 51,445[e]
Saluda 1,466 30.53% 1,200 24.99% 2,136 44.48% -670 -13.95% 4,802
Spartanburg 18,183 38.69% 11,467 24.40% 17,346 36.91% 837 1.78% 46,996
Sumter 5,451 33.43% 6,103 37.42% 4,754 29.15% -652[d] -3.99% 16,308
Union 3,011 30.50% 2,271 23.00% 4,590 46.50% -1,579 -16.00% 9,872
Williamsburg 3,029 28.08% 5,106 47.33% 2,652 24.59% -2,077[d] -19.25% 10,787
York 7,596 37.48% 5,571 27.49% 7,102 35.04% 494 2.44% 20,269
Totals 254,062 38.09% 197,486 29.61% 215,430 32.30% 38,632 5.79% 666,982

Notes edit

  1. ^ Although he was born in California and he served as a U.S. Senator from California, in 1968 Richard Nixon's official state of residence was New York, because he moved there to practice law after his defeat in the 1962 California gubernatorial election. During his first term as president, Nixon re-established his residency in California. Consequently, most reliable reference books list Nixon's home state as New York in the 1968 election and his home state as California in the 1972 (and 1960) election.
  2. ^ Because Nixon finished first and Wallace second in South Carolina as a whole, all margins given are Nixon vote minus Wallace vote and Nixon percentage minus Wallace percentage unless state for the county in question.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k In this county where Nixon ran third behind both Humphrey and Wallace, margin given is Humphrey vote minus Wallace vote and percentage margin Humphrey percentage minus Wallace percentage.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o In this county where Wallace ran third behind both Nixon and Humphrey, margin given is Nixon vote minus Humphrey vote and percentage margin Nixon percentage minus Humphrey percentage.
  5. ^ a b Two write-in votes were recorded from this county.

References edit

  1. ^ Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 208, 210 ISBN 9780691163246
  2. ^ Mickey, Robert; Paths Out of Dixie: The Democratization of Authoritarian Enclaves in America's Deep South, 1944-1972, p. 440 ISBN 0691149631
  3. ^ Mickey; Paths Out of Dixie, p. 27
  4. ^ Perlstein, Rick; Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America, pp. 344-345 ISBN 9780743243025
  5. ^ Rouse, Mike; ‘Wallace IS Appealing for Vote of the “Doves” as Well as Others’; Danville Register, September 3, 1968, p. 12
  6. ^ ‘Four Polls Place Nixon in Lead’; Marshfield News-Herald, September 16, 1968, p. 3
  7. ^ ‘Face-to-Face: Humphrey Desires Debate with Nixon’; Cumberland Evening-Times, September 16, 1968, p. 3
  8. ^ ‘Nixon Proposes Anti-Crime Council’; The Waco News-Tribune, September 30, 1968, p. 5
  9. ^ Black & Black 1992, p. 147.
  10. ^ Black & Black 1992, p. 295.
  11. ^ Black & Black 1992, p. 335.
  12. ^ Menendez, Albert J. (2005). The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. pp. 291–293. ISBN 0786422173.
  13. ^ Rugaber, Walter (September 8, 1968). "Wallace and Nixon Vie in South; Conservatives Shun Humphrey: Ex-Alabama Governor Thought to Lead in 9 of 11 States of Old Confederacy, With Total of 91 Electoral Votes". The New York Times (Special to the New York Times ed.). p. 78.
  14. ^ "Politics…in County, State and Nation". Lebanon Daily News. Lebanon, Pennsylvania. September 17, 1968. p. 4.
  15. ^ Murray, David. "Wallace Might Take 6 Southern States". Daily Press. Newport News, Virginia. p. 51.
  16. ^ "In South It's Nixon vs. Wallace". The Charlotte News. Charlotte, North Carolina. October 12, 1968. pp. 1, 3.
  17. ^ "Nixon Leads in 26 States: Wallace Will Run Strong: AP". The Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. Associated Press. October 21, 1968. p. 3.
  18. ^ Broder, David S. (November 3, 1968). "After Hoopla Finished, Nixon Still Winning, Survey Shows". Shreveport Times. p. 4-B.
  19. ^ "Summary of 50 States on Coming Election". The Selma Times-Journal. Selma, Alabama. November 3, 1968. p. 5.
  20. ^ Weaver jr., Warren (November 4, 1968). "Nixon Holds Lead Over Humphrey in Late Survey: Contest Tightens — G. O. P. Nominee Put Ahead in 30 States and His Rival in 8". The New York Times. pp. 1, 36.
  21. ^ "1968 Presidential General Election Results – South Carolina". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved August 25, 2016.
  22. ^ Woolley, John; Peters, Gehard. "1968 Presidential Election". The American Presidency Project. University of California, Santa Barbara. Retrieved August 26, 2016.

Works cited edit