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1968 United States presidential election in Montana

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1968 United States presidential election in Montana

← 1964 November 5, 1968 (1968-11-05) 1972 →
 
Nominee Richard Nixon Hubert Humphrey George Wallace
Party Republican Democratic American Independent
Home state New York[a] Minnesota Alabama
Running mate Spiro Agnew Edmund Muskie Marvin Griffin
Electoral vote 4 0 0
Popular vote 138,835 114,117 20,015
Percentage 50.60% 41.59% 7.29%

County Results

President before election

Lyndon B. Johnson
Democratic

Elected President

Richard Nixon
Republican

The 1968 United States presidential election in Montana took place on November 5, 1968, and was part of the 1968 United States presidential election. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Montana voted for the Republican nominee, former Vice President Richard Nixon, over the Democratic nominee, Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Nixon won Montana by a large margin of 9.01%. A third-party candidate, former Alabama Governor George Wallace, won 7.29% of the vote, or 20,015 raw votes, the highest percentage for a 3rd party candidate in the state since Robert M. La Follette in 1924, and would not be surpassed or equaled until Independent John B. Anderson in 1980, who went on to receive 8.05% of the vote, or 29,281 raw votes. Wallace was most successful in the mountain regions, which have a tradition of hostility to Washington D.C. interference, and also to Northeastern big business.[1] Wallace possessed little appeal in heavily German and Scandinavian Plains regions.

Nixon's victory was the first of six consecutive Republican victories in the state, as Montana would not vote for a Democratic candidate again until Bill Clinton in 1992. However, Montana would return to being a Republican leaning state afterwards.

As of the 2020 presidential election, this remains the last occasion the Democratic presidential nominee has carried Jefferson County,[2] where Humphrey won a 22-vote plurality.

Results

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1968 United States presidential election in Montana[3]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican Richard Nixon 138,835 50.60% 4
Democratic Hubert Humphrey 114,117 41.59% 0
American George Wallace 20,015 7.29% 0
Prohibition E. Harold Munn 510 0.19% 0
New Reform No Candidate 470 0.17% 0
Militant Workers Fred Halstead 457 0.17% 0
Totals 274,404 100.00% 4

Results by county

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County[4] Richard Nixon
Republican
Hubert Humphrey
Democratic
George Wallace
American
Various candidates
Other parties
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # % # %
Beaverhead 1,896 61.04% 853 27.46% 357 11.49% 0 0.00% 1,043 33.58% 3,106
Big Horn 1,789 53.87% 1,319 39.72% 209 6.29% 4 0.12% 470 14.15% 3,321
Blaine 1,291 48.63% 1,198 45.12% 165 6.21% 1 0.04% 93 3.51% 2,655
Broadwater 671 54.29% 439 35.52% 125 10.11% 1 0.08% 232 18.77% 1,236
Carbon 1,972 54.98% 1,353 37.72% 258 7.19% 4 0.11% 619 17.26% 3,587
Carter 624 62.21% 269 26.82% 110 10.97% 0 0.00% 355 35.39% 1,003
Cascade 11,588 43.23% 13,507 50.39% 1,539 5.74% 169 0.63% -1,919 -7.16% 26,803
Chouteau 1,695 53.66% 1,216 38.49% 247 7.82% 1 0.03% 479 15.17% 3,159
Custer 2,831 58.06% 1,760 36.10% 275 5.64% 10 0.21% 1,071 21.96% 4,876
Daniels 826 52.15% 688 43.43% 69 4.36% 1 0.06% 138 8.72% 1,584
Dawson 2,650 58.01% 1,695 37.11% 220 4.82% 3 0.07% 955 20.90% 4,568
Deer Lodge 1,554 25.58% 4,208 69.28% 308 5.07% 4 0.07% -2,654 -43.70% 6,074
Fallon 990 63.26% 477 30.48% 97 6.20% 1 0.06% 513 32.78% 1,565
Fergus 3,367 55.59% 2,070 34.18% 616 10.17% 4 0.07% 1,297 21.41% 6,057
Flathead 7,215 51.54% 5,253 37.52% 1,524 10.89% 8 0.06% 1,962 14.02% 14,000
Gallatin 7,433 62.06% 3,818 31.88% 706 5.89% 21 0.18% 3,615 30.18% 11,978
Garfield 542 64.22% 190 22.51% 112 13.27% 0 0.00% 352 41.71% 844
Glacier 1,643 44.76% 1,723 46.94% 295 8.04% 10 0.27% -80 -2.18% 3,671
Golden Valley 332 60.04% 194 35.08% 26 4.70% 1 0.18% 138 24.96% 553
Granite 626 49.56% 502 39.75% 135 10.69% 0 0.00% 124 9.81% 1,263
Hill 2,970 44.53% 3,386 50.77% 305 4.57% 8 0.12% -416 -6.24% 6,669
Jefferson 798 45.06% 820 46.30% 152 8.58% 1 0.06% -22 -1.24% 1,771
Judith Basin 804 53.03% 606 39.97% 106 6.99% 0 0.00% 198 13.06% 1,516
Lake 3,358 55.98% 1,956 32.61% 679 11.32% 6 0.10% 1,402 23.37% 5,999
Lewis and Clark 7,979 56.53% 5,379 38.11% 723 5.12% 34 0.24% 2,600 18.42% 14,115
Liberty 670 58.57% 390 34.09% 83 7.26% 1 0.09% 280 24.48% 1,144
Lincoln 2,355 40.55% 2,677 46.10% 765 13.17% 10 0.17% -322 -5.55% 5,807
McCone 733 52.17% 589 41.92% 82 5.84% 1 0.07% 144 10.25% 1,405
Madison 1,289 56.39% 734 32.11% 261 11.42% 2 0.09% 555 24.28% 2,286
Meagher 543 62.92% 218 25.26% 102 11.82% 0 0.00% 325 37.66% 863
Mineral 483 41.32% 576 49.27% 108 9.24% 2 0.17% -93 -7.95% 1,169
Missoula 9,745 48.02% 8,398 41.39% 1,638 8.07% 511 2.52% 1,347 6.63% 20,292
Musselshell 953 51.15% 795 42.67% 111 5.96% 4 0.21% 158 8.48% 1,863
Park 3,063 57.36% 1,815 33.99% 460 8.61% 2 0.04% 1,248 23.37% 5,340
Petroleum 211 62.99% 98 29.25% 26 7.76% 0 0.00% 113 33.74% 335
Phillips 1,353 51.41% 1,100 41.79% 177 6.72% 2 0.08% 253 9.62% 2,632
Pondera 1,530 52.98% 1,149 39.79% 205 7.10% 4 0.14% 381 13.19% 2,888
Powder River 699 64.96% 258 23.98% 118 10.97% 1 0.09% 441 40.98% 1,076
Powell 1,301 47.50% 1,206 44.03% 231 8.43% 1 0.04% 95 3.47% 2,739
Prairie 635 67.77% 270 28.82% 30 3.20% 2 0.21% 365 38.95% 937
Ravalli 3,183 53.25% 2,080 34.80% 709 11.86% 5 0.08% 1,103 18.45% 5,977
Richland 2,381 59.29% 1,399 34.84% 228 5.68% 8 0.20% 982 24.45% 4,016
Roosevelt 1,947 50.12% 1,771 45.59% 162 4.17% 5 0.13% 176 4.53% 3,885
Rosebud 1,190 56.42% 711 33.71% 204 9.67% 4 0.19% 479 22.71% 2,109
Sanders 1,459 48.70% 1,242 41.46% 292 9.75% 3 0.10% 217 7.24% 2,996
Sheridan 1,180 45.81% 1,275 49.50% 115 4.46% 6 0.23% -95 -3.69% 2,576
Silver Bow 5,488 27.98% 12,626 64.36% 1,120 5.71% 383 1.95% -7,138 -36.38% 19,617
Stillwater 1,347 61.20% 676 30.71% 177 8.04% 1 0.05% 671 30.49% 2,201
Sweet Grass 1,043 70.00% 336 22.55% 110 7.38% 1 0.07% 707 47.45% 1,490
Teton 1,697 54.58% 1,228 39.50% 179 5.76% 5 0.16% 469 15.08% 3,109
Toole 1,407 51.96% 1,048 38.70% 249 9.19% 4 0.15% 359 13.26% 2,708
Treasure 298 56.55% 188 35.67% 41 7.78% 0 0.00% 110 20.88% 527
Valley 2,290 49.44% 1,926 41.58% 393 8.48% 23 0.50% 364 7.86% 4,632
Wheatland 673 51.77% 525 40.38% 101 7.77% 1 0.08% 148 11.39% 1,300
Wibaux 347 52.98% 252 38.47% 56 8.55% 0 0.00% 95 14.51% 655
Yellowstone 19,898 58.77% 11,682 34.50% 2,124 6.27% 153 0.45% 8,216 24.27% 33,857
Totals 138,835 50.60% 114,117 41.59% 20,015 7.29% 1,437 0.52% 24,718 9.01% 274,404

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

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See also

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Notes

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  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.

References

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  1. ^ Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 471 ISBN 978-0-691-16324-6
  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. ^ Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas; 1968 Presidential General Election Results – Montana
  4. ^ Murray, Frank (1968). Official Montana General Election Returns: November 5, 1968 – via Internet Archive.