1964 United States presidential election in Arizona

The 1964 United States presidential election in Arizona took place on November 3, 1964, as part of the 1964 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all 50 states and D.C. Voters chose five representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Main article: 1964 United States presidential election

1964 United States presidential election in Arizona

November 3, 1964 (1964-11-03)

Nominee Barry Goldwater Lyndon B. Johnson Party Republican Democratic Home state Arizona Texas Running mate William E. Miller Hubert Humphrey Electoral vote 5 0 Popular vote 242,535 237,753 Percentage 50.45% 49.45%

County results Goldwater   50-60% Johnson   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%

President before election Lyndon B. Johnson Democratic President-elect Lyndon B. Johnson Democratic

In a national landslide for incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson, Arizona was one of only six states carried by Arizona native and U.S Senator Barry Goldwater, and the only state that Goldwater won outside of the Deep South. Johnson successfully carried many Republican strongholds such as Alaska, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, North and South Dakota, Utah, Vermont and Wyoming; however, he lost Arizona by 1.00% or less than 5,000 votes,[1] the smallest margin of any state in the election. Arizona’s result was 23 points more Republican than the country as a whole.

Key to Goldwater’s victory was Maricopa County, the state’s most populated county, which he won by over twenty-one thousand votes, enabling Goldwater to carry the state despite Johnson winning ten of fourteen counties and two of three congressional districts. This is as of the 2016 election the last occasion when Graham, Mohave and Yuma Counties have supported a Democratic presidential candidate[2] – indeed since 2000 Graham and Mohave counties have along with Yavapai County – which has never given a Democratic majority or plurality since Truman in 1948 – been the most Republican in the entire state.[3]

Since gaining statehood in 1912, Arizona had been considered a bellwether state in elections. Indeed, the previous presidential election was the first where the state did not back the winning candidate. This election, though, marked Arizona’s turn into a firm stronghold of the Republican Party. Starting in 1952 and continuing through 1992, Arizona would vote for the Republican candidate in every presidential election (mostly by relatively large margins, unlike Goldwater’s close victory), and it was the only state during those forty years not to vote for a Democrat at least once. Bill Clinton would carry the state by a small margin in 1996, but his victory has proven to be an exception, as the state has continued supporting Republicans since.

Results

Electoral results

Presidential candidate	Party	Home state	Popular vote		Electoral vote	Running mate
			Count	Percentage		Vice-presidential candidate	Home state	Electoral vote
Barry Goldwater	Republican	Arizona	242,535	50.45%	5	William E. Miller	New York	5
Lyndon B. Johnson	Democratic	Texas	237,753	49.45%	0	Hubert Humphrey	Minnesota	0
Eric Hass	Socialist Labor Party of America	New York	482	0.10%	0	Henning A. Blomen	Massachusetts	0
Total			480,770	100%	5			5
Needed to win					270			270

Results by county

County	Barry Morrins Goldwater Republican		Lyndon Baines Johnson Democratic		Eric Hass Socialist Labor		Margin		Total votes cast
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Apache	1,849	47.51%	2,042	52.47%	1	0.03%	-193	-4.96%	3,892
Cochise	7,644	45.78%	9,045	54.17%	8	0.05%	-1,401	-8.39%	16,697
Coconino	5,756	52.15%	5,270	47.75%	11	0.10%	486	4.40%	11,037
Gila	3,713	35.24%	6,821	64.73%	3	0.03%	-3,108	-29.50%	10,537
Graham	2,655	48.82%	2,783	51.18%	0	0.00%	-128	-2.35%	5,438
Greenlee	1,132	26.45%	3,147	73.55%	0	0.00%	-2,015	-47.09%	4,279
Maricopa	143,114	53.94%	122,042	46.00%	170	0.06%	21,072	7.94%	265,326
Mohave	2,091	48.19%	2,243	51.69%	5	0.12%	-152	-3.50%	4,339
Navajo	4,870	50.47%	4,770	49.44%	9	0.09%	100	1.04%	9,649
Pima	46,955	46.36%	54,120	53.44%	203	0.20%	-7,165	-7.07%	101,278
Pinal	6,956	41.23%	9,911	58.74%	5	0.03%	-2,955	-17.51%	16,872
Santa Cruz	1,503	43.44%	1,955	56.50%	2	0.06%	-452	-13.06%	3,460
Yavapai	7,749	57.16%	5,747	42.39%	60	0.44%	2,002	14.77%	13,556
Yuma	6,548	45.44%	7,857	54.52%	5	0.03%	-1,309	-9.08%	14,410
Totals	242,535	50.45%	237,753	49.45%	482	0.10%	4,782	0.99%	480,770

References

1. Our Campaigns; AZ US President Race, November 3, 1964
2. Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
3. David Leip’s Atlass of US Presidential Elections 2000 Presidential General Election Data Graphs - Arizona by County