1972 United States presidential election in Maine

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.

Main article: 1972 United States presidential election

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 Nixon   50-60%   60-70%   70-80% McGovern   50-60%

President before election Richard Nixon Republican Elected President Richard Nixon Republican

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 Massachusetts or the metropolises of New York and Philadelphia.

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. Since then it has become a safe Democratic state, not being seriously competitive until 2016.

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).

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		Write-ins		Total votes cast
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#
Androscoggin	19,406	49.86%	19,509	50.12%	9	0.02%	38,924
Aroostook	19,051	62.37%	11,474	37.56%	22	0.07%	30,547
Cumberland	51,268	60.59%	33,326	39.38%	23	0.03%	84,617
Franklin	5,958	66.50%	2,988	33.35%	14	0.16%	8,960
Hancock	11,889	73.90%	4,191	26.05%	7	0.04%	16,087
Kennebec	24,617	59.99%	16,379	39.91%	39	0.10%	41,035
Knox	8,478	70.19%	3,601	29.81%	0	0.00%	12,079
Lincoln	7,580	72.28%	2,903	27.68%	4	0.04%	10,487
Oxford	12,114	64.36%	6,661	35.39%	48	0.26%	18,823
Penobscot	30,186	61.92%	18,552	38.06%	11	0.02%	48,749
Piscataquis	4,617	64.70%	2,518	35.29%	1	0.01%	7,136
Sagadahoc	6,463	65.35%	3,414	34.52%	13	0.13%	9,890
Somerset	10,079	62.97%	5,921	36.99%	5	0.03%	16,005
Waldo	6,480	68.78%	2,941	31.21%	1	0.01%	9,422
Washington	7,820	67.57%	3,742	32.33%	12	0.10%	11,574
York	30,452	57.53%	22,464	42.44%	20	0.04%	52,936
Totals	256,458	61.46%	160,584	38.48%	229	0.05%	417,271

See also

• United States presidential elections in Maine

References

1. http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=1972&fips=23&f=0&off=0&elect=0
2. "1972 Presidential General Election Results - Maine". Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved 2008-08-25.