United States presidential election in Maine, 1972

United States presidential election in Maine, 1972

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%   Nixon—60-70%   Nixon—70-80%

President before election Richard Nixon Republican Elected President Richard Nixon Republican

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 50 states and the District of Columbia. Voters chose 4 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.

Maine was won by the incumbent Republican president Richard M. Nixon by a landslide 21 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 county, which McGovern won by a mere 103 votes.^[1]

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 having been seriously contested by a Republican presidential candidate in many cycles.

Since 1972 no presidential candidate of either party has surpassed Nixon's 61.46% of the vote in Maine (the closest being Reagan's 60.83% in 1984).

Results

United States presidential election in Maine, 1972[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					—

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.