1964 United States presidential election in Mississippi

The 1964 United States presidential election in Mississippi was held on November 3, 1964, as part of the 1964 United States presidential election, which was held on that day throughout all fifty states and The District of Columbia. Voters chose seven electors, or representatives to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Main article: 1964 United States presidential election

1964 United States presidential election in Mississippi

November 3, 1964

Nominee Barry Goldwater Lyndon B. Johnson Party Republican Democratic Running mate William Miller Hubert Humphrey Electoral vote 7 0 Popular vote 356,528 52,618 Percentage 87.1% 12.9%

County Results Goldwater   60-70%   70-80%   80-90%   90-100%

The Republican Party nominee, Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, won Mississippi with a lopsided 74.28% margin of victory against the Democratic Party nominee, incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson, making the state a staggering 97% more Republican than the national average. Goldwater was the first Republican to carry the Magnolia State since Reconstruction.

Background

In a state where fewer than ten percent of blacks were registered voters,[1] and an almost entirely white electorate had lost none of its hostility towards the Civil Rights Movement, President Johnson's policies, not only on civil rights but also his "War on Poverty", were anathema. Governor Paul B. Johnson Jr., though considered relatively liberal for such reforms as repealing statewide Prohibition, told Mississippians not to obey the Civil Rights Act when it became law in the middle of 1964, while it was clear from the time Johnson planned his legislation that Mississippi white Democrats resented federal intervention with the state's traditional racial policy.[2][3]

Neither Governor Johnson nor any other major state or federal politician offered President Johnson any support in his statewide campaign, which was left to the inexperienced Greenville lawyer Douglas Wynn.[4] Although Governor Johnson and four of five Congressmen were silent about supporting Goldwater, John Bell Williams did support the Republican[4] and left President Johnson's inexperienced and makeshift campaign team with no hope against the state's electorate. Over ninety percent of Mississippi's electorate viewed President Johnson as having done a bad job and 96.4 percent opposed the Civil Rights Act vis-à-vis only 54 percent in all antebellum slave states plus Oklahoma.[5] 87 percent of Mississippi voters, vis-à-vis 48 percent in the South as a whole, believed that President Johnson was failing at countering domestic Communism.[5] This concern with domestic Communism reflected the belief, widespread among Mississippi whites for over three decades, that civil rights activists were funded by Communist parties,[6] whether domestic or Soviet.[7]

Polls

Opinion polls in July amongst registered Mississippi voters giving their opinions of Johnson and Goldwater,[8] and by professional pollsters in August, both showed clearly that Johnson possessed no chance of keeping Mississippi in the Democratic column where it had solidly been since 1876.[9] This despite the fact that George Wallace – who would win the state as a third-party candidate in the following election – decided not to run in July, and plans to place unpledged Democratic electors on the ballot as had been done for the preceding two elections (and who would have been expected to support Wallace this time) were abandoned.[10]

In July, polling suggested Goldwater would receive ninety percent of Mississippi's vote,[11] but this fell to seventy in August[12] and to between sixty and sixty-five in October due to fears he would abolish the Rural Electrification Administration that had played an important role in developing Mississippi.[11] By the weekend before election day, University of California political scientist Peter H. Odegard believed Goldwater would win only Alabama[lower-alpha 1] and Mississippi and had doubts even with those two.[13]

Vote

When the national Democratic Party previously took positions on civil rights viewed too radical, Mississippi's white population's extreme traditional hostility to the Republican Party caused the Magnolia State to elect "states' rights" Democrats and unpledged Democratic electors in 1948 and 1960 respectively. Despite their hostility to the "Republican" label in the past, Goldwater's support for "constitutional government and local self-rule"[14] meant that the absence from the ballot of such third parties mattered little. The Arizona Senator had been one of only six Republicans to vote against the Civil Rights Act,[15] and Goldwater's staunchly conservative policies, which alienated the traditional Northeastern Republican heartland to the point of completely abandoning the GOP,[16] were adequate for the small Mississippi electorate to almost unanimously support him over the "big government" Johnson. In addition to his unacceptable record on racial issues, Mississippi whites also felt that Johnson was doing a very bad job of keeping taxes and spending low.[5]

Amidst a landslide national defeat for Goldwater, he nonetheless defeated President Johnson by a margin of 74.28%, comparable to what had been predicted in the earliest polls and much greater than predicted immediately before the election. Over-representation of urban areas in polling was blamed for this discrepancy.[17] Goldwater's victory in Mississippi made him only the second Republican presidential nominee to carry the state as well as the first one since Ulysses S. Grant in 1872. His 87.14% in the popular vote made it his strongest state in the 1964 election.[18]

Goldwater won all of Mississippi's eighty-two counties, and won fifty-one with over ninety percent of the vote.[19] Even in the poor white northeastern hills where residual support for Johnson remained based on fear of Goldwater dismantling public works,[20] Goldwater exceeded sixty percent in every county.

Goldwater's percentage margin is the largest statewide percentage victory by any Republican presidential nominee since that party formed,[21] while no state has been won by so large a margin since. In seven counties, Goldwater received a larger proportion of the vote than any presidential nominee has subsequently received in one county.[lower-alpha 2] As of the 2016 presidential election, this is the last election in which Claiborne County, Holmes County, and Jefferson County voted for a Republican presidential nominee.[22]

Results

1964 United States presidential election in Mississippi[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Mississippi Republican	Barry Goldwater	356,528	87.14%	7
	National Democratic	Lyndon B. Johnson	52,618	12.86%	0
Totals			409,146	100.00%	7
Voter turnout (Voting age)					33.9%

Results by county

County	Barry Morris Goldwater Mississippi Republican		Lyndon Baines Johnson National Democratic		Margin		Total votes cast
	#	%	#	%	#	%
Adams	5,900	84.37%	1,093	15.63%	4,807	68.74%	6,993
Alcorn	3,377	63.79%	1,917	36.21%	1,460	27.58%	5,294
Amite	2,742	96.38%	103	3.62%	2,639	92.76%	2,845
Attala	4,409	94.37%	263	5.63%	4,146	88.74%	4,672
Benton	934	79.83%	236	20.17%	698	59.66%	1,170
Bolivar	4,680	86.49%	731	13.51%	3,949	72.98%	5,411
Calhoun	3,224	91.64%	294	8.36%	2,930	83.29%	3,518
Carroll	2,043	95.42%	98	4.58%	1,945	90.85%	2,141
Chickasaw	3,138	91.83%	279	8.17%	2,859	83.67%	3,417
Choctaw	2,096	93.32%	150	6.68%	1,946	86.64%	2,246
Claiborne	1,226	93.59%	84	6.41%	1,142	87.18%	1,310
Clarke	3,591	93.42%	253	6.58%	3,338	86.84%	3,844
Clay	2,848	92.65%	226	7.35%	2,622	85.30%	3,074
Coahoma	4,172	81.23%	964	18.77%	3,208	62.46%	5,136
Copiah	4,506	94.96%	239	5.04%	4,267	89.93%	4,745
Covington	3,033	88.55%	392	11.45%	2,641	77.11%	3,425
DeSoto	2,928	86.40%	461	13.60%	2,467	72.79%	3,389
Forrest	9,291	89.17%	1,128	10.83%	8,163	78.35%	10,419
Franklin	2,211	96.05%	91	3.95%	2,120	92.09%	2,302
George	2,797	92.04%	242	7.96%	2,555	84.07%	3,039
Greene	1,845	89.52%	216	10.48%	1,629	79.04%	2,061
Grenada	3,648	95.92%	155	4.08%	3,493	91.85%	3,803
Hancock	2,550	62.95%	1,501	37.05%	1,049	25.89%	4,051
Harrison	16,301	75.14%	5,393	24.86%	10,908	50.28%	21,694
Hinds	36,831	87.93%	5,058	12.07%	31,773	75.85%	41,889
Holmes	3,115	96.59%	110	3.41%	3,005	93.18%	3,225
Humphreys	1,863	95.69%	84	4.31%	1,779	91.37%	1,947
Issaquena	456	93.06%	34	6.94%	422	86.12%	490
Itawamba	2,140	65.50%	1,127	34.50%	1,013	31.01%	3,267
Jackson	11,357	82.73%	2,371	17.27%	8,986	65.46%	13,728
Jasper	2,994	92.69%	236	7.31%	2,758	85.39%	3,230
Jefferson	1,258	94.80%	69	5.20%	1,189	89.60%	1,327
Jefferson Davis	2,351	90.91%	235	9.09%	2,116	81.83%	2,586
Jones	12,123	85.95%	1,981	14.05%	10,142	71.91%	14,104
Kemper	2,185	91.96%	191	8.04%	1,994	83.92%	2,376
Lafayette	3,202	81.64%	720	18.36%	2,482	63.28%	3,922
Lamar	3,372	90.99%	334	9.01%	3,038	81.98%	3,706
Lauderdale	13,291	89.36%	1,583	10.64%	11,708	78.71%	14,874
Lawrence	2,373	90.95%	236	9.05%	2,137	81.91%	2,609
Leake	4,343	96.23%	170	3.77%	4,173	92.47%	4,513
Lee	5,165	68.19%	2,409	31.81%	2,756	36.39%	7,574
Leflore	5,589	93.63%	380	6.37%	5,209	87.27%	5,969
Lincoln	6,750	93.92%	437	6.08%	6,313	87.84%	7,187
Lowndes	6,135	92.01%	533	7.99%	5,602	84.01%	6,668
Madison	3,283	92.90%	251	7.10%	3,032	85.80%	3,534
Marion	5,469	91.55%	505	8.45%	4,964	83.09%	5,974
Marshall	2,251	86.78%	343	13.22%	1,908	73.55%	2,594
Monroe	5,627	85.10%	985	14.90%	4,642	70.21%	6,612
Montgomery	3,181	95.53%	149	4.47%	3,032	91.05%	3,330
Neshoba	5,431	94.88%	293	5.12%	5,138	89.76%	5,724
Newton	4,735	95.21%	238	4.79%	4,497	90.43%	4,973
Noxubee	1,980	96.59%	70	3.41%	1,910	93.17%	2,050
Oktibbeha	3,795	90.68%	390	9.32%	3,405	81.36%	4,185
Panola	4,002	90.65%	413	9.35%	3,589	81.29%	4,415
Pearl River	4,009	84.51%	735	15.49%	3,274	69.01%	4,744
Perry	1,775	86.42%	279	13.58%	1,496	72.83%	2,054
Pike	6,418	92.20%	543	7.80%	5,875	84.40%	6,961
Pontotoc	2,699	79.36%	702	20.64%	1,997	58.72%	3,401
Prentiss	2,289	69.32%	1,013	30.68%	1,276	38.64%	3,302
Quitman	2,065	86.01%	336	13.99%	1,729	72.01%	2,401
Rankin	7,541	95.78%	332	4.22%	7,209	91.57%	7,873
Scott	4,729	95.21%	238	4.79%	4,491	90.42%	4,967
Sharkey	1,116	89.71%	128	10.29%	988	79.42%	1,244
Simpson	4,949	94.81%	271	5.19%	4,678	89.62%	5,220
Smith	4,045	94.44%	238	5.56%	3,807	88.89%	4,283
Stone	1,776	90.84%	179	9.16%	1,597	81.69%	1,955
Sunflower	4,127	94.27%	251	5.73%	3,876	88.53%	4,378
Tallahatchie	3,126	92.46%	255	7.54%	2,871	84.92%	3,381
Tate	2,390	89.41%	283	10.59%	2,107	78.83%	2,673
Tippah	2,482	71.82%	974	28.18%	1,508	43.63%	3,456
Tishomingo	1,934	66.44%	977	33.56%	957	32.88%	2,911
Tunica	945	90.52%	99	9.48%	846	81.03%	1,044
Union	2,939	70.38%	1,237	29.62%	1,702	40.76%	4,176
Walthall	3,014	95.14%	154	4.86%	2,860	90.28%	3,168
Warren	7,409	81.96%	1,631	18.04%	5,778	63.92%	9,040
Washington	5,611	73.68%	2,004	26.32%	3,607	47.37%	7,615
Wayne	3,539	92.77%	276	7.23%	3,263	85.53%	3,815
Webster	2,884	92.41%	237	7.59%	2,647	84.81%	3,121
Wilkinson	1,473	93.46%	103	6.54%	1,370	86.93%	1,576
Winston	3,922	94.30%	237	5.70%	3,685	88.60%	4,159
Yalobusha	2,385	90.20%	259	9.80%	2,126	80.41%	2,644
Yazoo	4,801	95.92%	204	4.08%	4,597	91.85%	5,005
Totals	356,528	87.14%	52,618	12.86%	303,910	74.28%	409,146

References

1. Bullock, Charles S. and Gaddie, Ronald Keith; The Triumph of Voting Rights in the South, pp. 31-33 ISBN 0806185309
2. Crespino, Joseph; In Search of Another Country: Mississippi and the Conservative Counterrevolution, p. 206 ISBN 0691122091
3. Mitchell, Dennis J.; A New History of Mississippi; p. 453 ISBN 1617039764
4. 'Mississippi Ousts House Democrat: Goldwater Carries the State by Crushing Plurality'; The New York Times, November 4, 1964, p. 11
5. Harris, Louis; 'Mississippi Vote Points Up Power Of Local Emotions: Johnson Job Ratings'; New York Times, November 23, 1964, p. A2
6. Asch, Chris Myers; The Senator and the Sharecropper: The Freedom Struggles of James O. Eastland and Fannie Lou Hamer, p. 190 ISBN 0807878057
7. McGuire, Danielle L. and Dittmer, John; Freedom Rights: New Perspectives on the Civil Rights Movement, p. 125 ISBN 081313448X
8. 'State Editors Speak Out'; Holmes County Herald, July 30, 1964, p. 2
9. Davies, David Randall; The Press and Race: Mississippi Journalists Confront the Movement, p. 221 ISBN 1578063426
10. Rohler, Lloyd Earl; George Wallace: Conservative Populist, p. 40 ISBN 0313311196
11. McKee, Don; 'Governors See Barry Slipping In South as Conference Opens: Johnson Gains in Louisiana', The Washington Post, October 13, 1964, p. A@
12. Manly, Chesly; 'Goldwater Landslide Seen in Mississippi: Many in Office Believe He'll Poll Seventy Percent'; Chicago Tribune, August 12, 1964, pp. 1, 6
13. 'Expert Sees Barry Winning Just Ala., Miss.', Boston Globe, November 1, 1964, p. 51
14. Katagiri, Yasuhiro; The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission: Civil Rights and States' Rights, p. 203 ISBN 1604730080
15. Thernstrom, Stephan and Thernstrom, Abigail; America in Black and White: One Nation, Indivisible, p. 151 ISBN 1439129096
16. Donaldson, Gary; Liberalism's Last Hurrah: The Presidential Campaign of 1964; p. 190 ISBN 1510702369
17. Burnham, Walter Dean; 'American Voting Behavior and the 1964 Election', Midwest Journal of Political Science, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Feb., 1968), p. 34
18. "1964 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2018-03-05.
19. "1964 Presidential General Election Results – Mississippi". Retrieved June 9, 2016.
20. Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 208, 210 ISBN 9780691163246
21. Thomas, G. Scott; The Pursuit of the White House: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics and History, p. 403 ISBN 0313257957
22. Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016

Notes

1. In Alabama, Goldwater was opposed by a slate of unpledged Democratic electors who would not have voted for President Johnson had they carried the state.
2. The highest percentage in any county in a presidential election since occurred in 2012 in King County, Texas, where Mitt Romney received 139 votes to Barack Obama's five.