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1920 United States presidential election in Wisconsin

Main article: 1920 United States presidential election
1920 United States presidential election in Wisconsin
← 1916 November 2, 1920 1924 →
 
Nominee Warren G. Harding James M. Cox Eugene V. Debs
Party Republican Democratic Socialist
Home state Ohio Ohio Indiana
Running mate Calvin Coolidge Franklin D. Roosevelt Seymour Stedman
Electoral vote 13 0 0
Popular vote 498,576 113,422 80,635
Percentage 71.09% 16.17% 11.50%
County Results
Harding
  50-60%
  60-70%
  70-80%
  80-90%

President before election

Woodrow Wilson
Democratic

Elected President

Warren G. Harding
Republican

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The 1920 United States presidential election in Wisconsin was held on November 2, 1920, as part of the 1920 United States presidential election. State voters chose 13 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Wisconsin had ever since the decline of the Populist movement been substantially a one-party state dominated by the Republican Party.[1] The Democratic Party became entirely uncompetitive outside certain German Catholic counties adjoining Lake Michigan as the upper classes, along with the majority of workers who followed them, completely fled from William Jennings Bryan's agrarian and free silver sympathies.[2] As Democratic strength weakened severely after 1894 – although the state did develop a strong Socialist Party to provide opposition to the GOP – Wisconsin developed the direct Republican primary in 1903 and this ultimately created competition between the "League" under Robert M. La Follette, and the conservative "Regular" faction.[3]

The beginning of the 1910s would see a minor Democratic revival as many La Follette progressives endorsed Woodrow Wilson,[4] but this flirtation would not be long-lasting as Wilson's "Anglophile" foreign policies were severely opposed by Wisconsin's largely German- and Scandinavian-American populace.[5] The 1918 mid-term elections saw the Midwestern farming community largely desert the Democratic Party due to supposed preferential treatment of Southern farmers:[6] Democratic seats in the Midwest fell from thirty-four to seventeen,[7] whilst Scandinavian-Americans were also vigorously opposed to entering the war.[8] Furthermore, Democratic fear of Communism seen in the Palmer Raids and "Red Scare" led to ultimate nominee James M. Cox, then Governor of Ohio, to ban German-language instruction in public schools in 1919.[7] Still more critical for German-Americans was the view that outgoing President Woodrow Wilson was deliberately trying to punish Germany and Austria for starting the war, especially via his disregard for the United Kingdom's continuing blockade of Germany.[9] Stressing Harding's German ancestry, the German press drummed up the view that

Campaign

a vote for Harding is a vote against the persecutions suffered by German-Americans during the war.[10]

As the campaign began after the Republican Party had nominated U.S. Senator Warren G. Harding of Ohio and the Democratic Party former Ohio governor James M. Cox, a further blow to the Democrats came when the national economy suffered a major downturn following the wartime boom, resulting in plummeting agricultural prices that were especially problematic in the Midwest.[11] Whereas Cox travelled throughout the nation apart from the "Solid South" during September,[12] Harding, despite having four times the budget, campaigned from his home in Marion, Ohio.

A poll by the giant Rexall drug store chain – which in 1916 had been accurate enough to predict Wilson's razor-thin wins in New Hampshire and California[13] – suggested Harding would win 382 electoral votes,[14] and at the end of October, although no more opinion polls had been published, most observers were even more convinced that the Republicans would take complete control of all branches of government.[15] Polls were similarly confident in Wisconsin, despite forecasts of a big vote for imprisoned fifth-time Socialist nominee Eugene V. Debs.[16] Expectations of a landslide were fully realized: whereas Charles Evans Hughes had carried Wisconsin by only 6.59 points in 1916, Harding won this arch-isolationist state by a nine-to-two majority. Wisconsin would prove to be Harding's fourth strongest state in the 1920 election terms of popular vote percentage after North Dakota, Vermont and Michigan.[17] Wisconsin would prove Cox's weakest state in the largest landslide loss in United States presidential election history, and Debs' strongest state in his last campaign for the presidency.[17] Despite Debs' substantial vote, Harding carried all Wisconsin's counties with absolute majorities, becoming the only candidate to ever win every single Wisconsin county in a presidential election, and Cox cracked twenty-three percent of the vote in just three counties. This would be the last time a Republican presidential candidate carried Iron County until Richard Nixon in 1972.[18]

Results

General Election Results[19][20][a]
Party Pledged to Elector Votes
Republican Party Warren G. Harding Mrs. Theodore Youmans 498,576
Republican Party Warren G. Harding Z. G. Simmons 497,664
Republican Party Warren G. Harding John Turner 497,243
Republican Party Warren G. Harding Myron E. Keats 497,099
Republican Party Warren G. Harding Sam Blum 496,920
Republican Party Warren G. Harding Max Sell 496,875
Republican Party Warren G. Harding William Mauthe 496,821
Republican Party Warren G. Harding James T. Drought 496,786
Republican Party Warren G. Harding John Fitzgibbons 496,677
Republican Party Warren G. Harding Anton Kuckuk 496,661
Republican Party Warren G. Harding David A. Bogue 496,509
Republican Party Warren G. Harding Mrs. Al C. Anderson 496,236
Republican Party Warren G. Harding John T. Murphy 496,161
Democratic Party James M. Cox John C. Karel 113,422
Democratic Party James M. Cox Anthony Szczerbinski 113,298
Democratic Party James M. Cox Charles Mulberger 113,236
Democratic Party James M. Cox Mrs. A. Tupper 113,196
Democratic Party James M. Cox M. K. Reilly 113,119
Democratic Party James M. Cox Vilas W. Whaley 113,118
Democratic Party James M. Cox John W. Hogan 112,962
Democratic Party James M. Cox H. A. Pfeffer 112,790
Democratic Party James M. Cox John P. Diener 112,765
Democratic Party James M. Cox Henry E. Fitch 112,742
Democratic Party James M. Cox Earl Y. Sangster 112,730
Democratic Party James M. Cox M. R. Strouse 112,619
Democratic Party James M. Cox John O'Day 112,531
Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Cora Wuethrick 80,635
Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Casimir Kowalski 80,629
Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Richard Holtz 80,601
Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Mrs. E. T. Melms 80,597
Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Louis Pauls 80,555
Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs John G. Justen 80,554
Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs R. W. Koehn 80,554
Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Mrs. John H. Sims 80,541
Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Fred Heath 80,513
Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs G. P. Haus 80,495
Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Mrs. Frank Hilger 80,481
Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Ray M. Empey 53,101
Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs F. E. Withrow 52,213
Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs J. Verchota 27,886
Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs A. C. Krueger 27,069
Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins Marcia A. B. Smith 8,647
Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins David W. Emerson 8,529
Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins Francis Baker 8,517
Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins Peter T. James 8,498
Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins Frank E. Cummings 8,470
Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins Joseph V. Collins 8,467
Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins Benjamin F. Skiff 8,466
Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins August F. Fehlandt 8,445
Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins Walter R. Drought 8,431
Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins John H. Malloch 8,425
Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins William R. Nethercut 8,425
Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins Lily Shimmin 8,413
Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins Ole H. Caspers 8,408
Write-in Scattering 82
Votes cast[b] 701,362

Results by county

County[19][20] Warren G. Harding
Republican 		James M. Cox
Democratic 		Eugene V. Debs
Socialist 		Aaron S. Watkins
Prohibition 		Margin Total votes cast[c]
# % # % # % # % # %
Adams 1,528 75.42% 392 19.35% 60 2.96% 27 1.335% 1,136 56.07% 2,026[d]
Ashland 4,005 70.94% 1,081 19.15% 497 8.80% 63 1.12% 2,924 51.79% 5,646
Barron 6,887 84.09% 742 9.06% 336 4.10% 211 2.58% 6,145 75.03% 8,190[e]
Bayfield 2,536 73.34% 589 17.03% 257 7.43% 76 2.20% 1,947 56.30% 3,458
Brown 8,845 61.66% 3,877 27.03% 1,501 10.46% 122 0.85% 4,968 34.63% 14,345
Buffalo 3,082 85.40% 299 8.28% 172 4.77% 56 1.55% 2,783 77.11% 3,609
Burnett 2,025 79.57% 187 7.35% 275 10.81% 58 2.28% 1,750[f] 68.76% 2,545
Calumet 3,730 78.26% 586 12.30% 415 8.71% 35 0.73% 3,144 65.97% 4,766
Chippewa 6,750 82.57% 1,103 13.49% 186 2.28% 136 1.66% 5,647 69.08% 8,175
Clark 6,246 79.74% 745 9.51% 692 8.83% 150 1.91% 5,501 70.23% 7,833
Columbia 7,394 83.25% 1,201 13.52% 157 1.77% 130 1.46% 6,193 69.73% 8,882
Crawford 3,600 74.27% 1,112 22.94% 70 1.44% 64 1.32% 2,488 51.33% 4,847[g]
Dane 22,842 77.46% 4,879 16.55% 1,277 4.33% 490 1.66% 17,963 60.92% 29,488
Dodge 11,354 77.46% 2,293 15.64% 865 5.90% 146 1.00% 9,061 61.82% 14,658
Door 3,817 88.34% 385 8.91% 76 1.76% 43 1.00% 3,432 79.43% 4,321
Douglas 7,250 67.53% 2,111 19.66% 1,271 11.84% 104 0.97% 5,139 47.87% 10,736
Dunn 5,596 87.81% 491 7.70% 170 2.67% 113 1.77% 5,105 80.10% 6,373[h]
Eau Claire 7,856 81.62% 1,193 12.39% 351 3.65% 225 2.34% 6,663 69.23% 9,625
Florence 912 86.86% 98[i] 9.33% 30 2.86% 10 0.95% 814 77.52% 1,050
Fond du Lac 12,543 74.58% 3,409 20.27% 695 4.13% 172 1.02% 9,134 54.31% 16,819
Forest 1,429 75.13% 379 19.93% 72 3.79% 22 1.16% 1,050 55.21% 1,902
Grant 9,638 80.92% 1,971 16.55% 119 1.00% 183 1.54% 7,667 64.37% 11,911
Green 5,466 84.68% 633 9.81% 109 1.69% 247 3.83% 4,833 74.87% 6,455
Green Lake 3,457 75.45% 890 19.42% 179 3.91% 54 1.18% 2,567 56.02% 4,582[j]
Iowa 5,428 81.42% 942 14.13% 67 1.00% 230 3.45% 4,486 67.29% 6,667
Iron 1,714 77.70% 268 12.15% 179 8.11% 45 2.04% 1,446 65.55% 2,206
Jackson 3,652 85.93% 410 9.65% 106 2.49% 82 1.93% 3,242 76.28% 4,250
Jefferson 8,865 80.38% 1,844 16.72% 203 1.84% 117 1.06% 7,021 63.66% 11,029
Juneau 4,385 81.22% 774 14.34% 174 3.22% 66 1.22% 3,611 66.88% 5,399
Kenosha 9,791 77.81% 1,724 13.70% 990 7.87% 79 0.63% 8,067 64.11% 12,584
Kewaunee 2,622 78.81% 598 17.97% 97 2.92% 9 0.27% 2,024 60.84% 3,327[g]
La Crosse 10,067 73.96% 2,588 19.01% 606 4.45% 350 2.57% 7,479 54.94% 13,612[g]
Lafayette 4,893 76.11% 1,357 21.11% 45 0.70% 134 2.08% 3,536 55.00% 6,429
Langlade 4,059 68.65% 1,619 27.38% 189 3.20% 46 0.78% 2,440 41.27% 5,913
Lincoln 3,713 72.11% 838 16.28% 542 10.53% 56 1.09% 2,875 55.84% 5,149
Manitowoc 8,378 61.70% 2,018 14.86% 3,116 22.95% 67 0.49% 5,262[f] 38.75% 13,579
Marathon 11,356 65.53% 2,133 12.31% 3,709 21.40% 131 0.76% 7,647[f] 44.13% 17,329
Marinette 6,138 75.55% 1,314 16.17% 584 7.19% 88 1.08% 4,824 59.38% 8,124
Marquette 2,436 76.01% 687 21.44% 42 1.31% 31 0.97% 1,749 54.57% 3,205[k]
Milwaukee 73,410 51.58% 25,464 17.89% 42,914 30.16% 523 0.37% 30,496[f] 21.43% 142,311
Monroe 6,784 83.15% 978[i] 11.99% 206 2.52% 178 2.18% 5,806 71.16% 8,159[l]
Oconto 4,735 78.16% 1,030 17.00% 234 3.86% 59 0.97% 3,705 61.16% 6,058
Oneida 2,424 64.93% 833 22.31% 426 11.41% 50 1.34% 1,591 42.62% 3,733
Outagamie 11,140 74.69% 3,121 20.93% 510 3.42% 144 0.97% 8,019 53.76% 14,915
Ozaukee 3,523 75.60% 835 17.92% 279 5.99% 23 0.49% 2,688 57.68% 4,660
Pepin 1,817 84.91% 265 12.38% 36 1.68% 22 1.03% 1,552 72.52% 2,140
Pierce 4,441 82.62% 644 11.98% 167 3.11% 123 2.29% 3,797 70.64% 5,375
Polk 4,796 80.47% 752 12.62% 303 5.08% 109 1.83% 4,044 67.85% 5,960
Portage 5,527 65.39% 2,656 31.42% 199 2.35% 70 0.83% 2,871 33.97% 8,452
Price 2,990 74.23% 551 13.68% 441 10.95% 46 1.14% 2,439 60.55% 4,028
Racine 14,406 71.95% 3,650 18.23% 1,714 8.56% 251 1.25% 10,756 53.72% 20,021
Richland 3,862[m] 76.63% 917 18.19% 82 1.63% 179 3.55% 2,945 58.43% 5,040
Rock 16,152 83.53% 2,447 12.65% 421 2.18% 317 1.64% 13,705 70.87% 19,337
Rusk 2,609 77.53% 441 13.11% 231 6.86% 81 2.41% 2,168 64.43% 3,365[h]
Sauk 8,074 84.79% 946 9.93% 216 2.27% 286 3.00% 7,128 74.86% 9,522
Sawyer 1,668 79.28% 302 14.35% 98 4.66% 36 1.71% 1,366 64.92% 2,104
Shawano 5,836 73.64% 525 6.62% 1,496 18.88% 68 0.86% 4,340[f] 54.76% 7,925
Sheboygan 11,994 68.95% 1,895 10.89% 3,416 19.64% 91 0.52% 8,578[f] 49.31% 17,396
St. Croix 5,601 73.34% 1,638 21.45% 263 3.44% 135 1.77% 3,963 51.89% 7,637
Taylor 2,707 72.71% 282 7.57% 685 18.40% 49[n] 1.32% 2,022[f] 54.31% 3,723
Trempealeau 4,748 84.05% 718 12.71% 70 1.24% 100 1.77% 4,030 71.50% 5,649[l]
Vernon 5,694 86.00% 629 9.50% 98 1.48% 200 3.02% 5,065 76.50% 6,621
Vilas 903 66.06% 255 18.65% 185 13.53% 24 1.76% 648 47.40% 1,367
Walworth 8,437 80.68% 1,631 15.60% 151 1.44% 239 2.29% 6,806 65.08% 10,458
Washburn 2,023 78.26% 352 13.62% 150 5.80% 60 2.32% 1,671 64.64% 2,585
Washington 5,949 76.78% 1,328 17.14% 421 5.43% 50 0.65% 4,621 59.64% 7,748
Waukesha 8,665 71.63% 2,759 22.81% 487 4.03% 186 1.54% 5,906 48.82% 12,097
Waupaca 8,302 83.04% 888 8.88% 697 6.97% 110 1.10% 7,414 74.16% 9,997
Waushara 4,176 85.17% 482 9.83% 196 4.00% 49 1.00% 3,694 75.34% 4,903
Winnebago 12,035 69.52% 3,397 19.62% 1,697 9.80% 179 1.03% 8,638 49.90% 17,311[h]
Wood 6,863 70.60% 1,051 10.81% 1,665 17.13% 142 1.46% 5,198[f] 53.47% 9,721
Totals 498,576 71.09% 113,422 16.17% 80,635 11.50% 8,647 1.23% 385,154 54.92% 701,362

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

See also

Notes

  1. ^ One should exercise caution with using the 1921 Blue Book as a source for the 1920 election in Wisconsin; it contains a number of misprints that cause the county figures to not add up to the stated totals. The true figures can all be found in the 1920 Board of Canvassers reports, held at the Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison.
  2. ^ Based on totals for highest elector on each ticket
  3. ^ Based on highest elector on each ticket
  4. ^ Includes 19 Scattering votes
  5. ^ Includes 14 Scattering votes
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h In this county where Debs ran second ahead of Cox, margin given is Hardin vote minus Debs vote and percentage margin Hading percentage minus debs percentage.
  7. ^ a b c Includes 1 Scattering vote
  8. ^ a b c Includes 3 Scattering votes
  9. ^ a b The 1921 Blue Book contains a typo for Democratic elector Karel in this county
  10. ^ Includes 2 Scattering votes
  11. ^ Includes 9 Scattering votes
  12. ^ a b Includes 13 Scattering votes
  13. ^ The 1921 Blue Book contains a typo for Republican elector Youmans in this county
  14. ^ The 1921 Blue Book contains a typo for Prohibition elector Smith in this county

References

  1. ^ Burnham, Walter Dean; 'The System of 1896: An Analysis'; in The Evolution of American Electoral Systems, pp. 178-179 ISBN 0-313-21379-8
  2. ^ Sundquist, James; Politics and Policy: The Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson Years, p. 526 ISBN 0-8157-1909-4
  3. ^ Hansen, John Mark; Shigeo Hirano, and Snyder, James M. Jr.; 'Parties within Parties: Parties, Factions, and Coordinated Politics, 1900-1980'; in Gerber, Alan S. and Schickler, Eric; Governing in a Polarized Age: Elections, Parties, and Political Representation in America, pp. 165-168 ISBN 978-1-107-09509-0
  4. ^ Crews, Kenneth D.; 'Woodrow Wilson, Wisconsin, and the Election of 1912'; Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 3: 'Presidents, Vice Presidents and Political Parties: Performance and Prospects' (Summer, 1982), pp. 369-376
  5. ^ Leary, William M. (jr.); 'Woodrow Wilson, Irish Americans, and the Election of 1916'; The Journal of American History, Vol. 54, No. 1 (June 1967), pp. 57-72
  6. ^ Morello, John A.; Albert D. Lasker, Advertising, and the Election of Warren G. Harding, p. 64 ISBN 0-275-97030-2
  7. ^ a b Hough, Jerry F.; Changing Party Coalitions: The Mystery of the Red State-Blue State Alignment, pp. 86-87 ISBN 0-87586-409-0
  8. ^ Saldin, Robert P., 'World War I and the System of 1896' (2010); Political Science Faculty Publications, Paper 1, pp. 825-836
  9. ^ Lichtman, Allan J.; Prejudice and the Old Politics: The Presidential Election of 1928, pp. 102, 115
  10. ^ Lubell, Samuel; The Future of American Politics, p. 135 Published 1952 by Harper and Brothers, New York
  11. ^ Goldberg, David Joseph; Discontented America: The United States in the 1920s, p. 47 ISBN 0-8018-6005-9
  12. ^ Faykosh, Joseph D., Bowling Green State University; The Front Porch of the American People: James Cox and the Presidential Election of 1920 (thesis), p. 69
  13. ^ Pietrusza, David; 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents, p. 398 ISBN 0-7867-2102-2
  14. ^ Bagby, Rexby; The Road to Normalcy: The Presidential Campaign and Election of 1920, pp. 158-159 ISBN 0-8018-0045-5
  15. ^ 'Republicans Going to Win: Prospects of a Complete Victory'; The Observer, October 31, 1920, p. 13
  16. ^ 'Blaine Is Big Choice in Betting'; The Capital Times, November 2, 1920, p. 1
  17. ^ a b "1920 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  18. ^ Menendez, Albert J. The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 337-342 ISBN 0-7864-2217-3
  19. ^ a b Wisconsin Historical Society, Certificate of Board of Canvassers of the State of Wisconsin - Presidential Electors - 1920
  20. ^ a b "Presidential Electors". Wisconsin Blue Book. State Printing Board. 1921. pp. 214–221.
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