1968 Republican Party presidential primaries

From March 12 to June 11, 1968, voters of the Republican Party chose its nominee for president in the 1968 United States presidential election. Former vice president Richard Nixon was selected as the nominee through a series of primary elections and caucuses culminating in the 1968 Republican National Convention held from August 5 to August 8, 1968, in Miami Beach, Florida.[2]

1968 Republican presidential primaries
March 12 to June 11, 1968
1,333 delegates to the 1968 Republican National Convention
667 (majority) votes needed to win
 
Candidate Richard Nixon Nelson Rockefeller Ronald Reagan
Home state New York[lower-alpha 1] New York California
Delegate count 684[1] 278[1] 155[1]
Contests won 10 1 1
Popular vote 1,679,443 164,340 1,696,632
Percentage 37.5% 3.7% 37.9%
     Nixon      Rockefeller
     Reagan      Romney      Various[lower-alpha 2]
Previous Republican nominee

Barry Goldwater

 Republican nominee

Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon campaign rally

Schedule and results
Date

(daily totals)

 Contest Delegates won and popular vote[3]
Richard
Nixon		 Ronald
Reagan		 Nelson
Rockefeller		 Other/Uncommitted
March 12 New Hampshire
80,666 (77.61%)
362 (0.35%)
11,241 (10.82%)
11,669 (11.22%)
April 2 Wisconsin
390,368 (76.69%)
7,995 (1.63%)
50,727 (10.36%)
40,763 (11.32%)
April 23 Pennsylvania
171,815 (59.65%)
8,636 (3.00%)
52,915 (18.35%)
55,018 (19.00%)
April 30 Massachusetts
(25.8%)
(1.7%)
(30.0%)
(45.5%)
May 7 Indiana
(100.0%)		 – – –
Ohio – – –
614,492 (100.0%)
Washington D.C.
(90.11%)		 – –
(9.89%)
May 14 Nebraska
(70.0%)
(21.3%)
(5.1%)
(3.6%)
West Virginia – – –
(100.0%)
May 28 Florida – – –
(100.0%)
Oregon
(65.1%)
(20.4%)
(11.6%)
(2.9%)
June 4 California –
(100.00%)		 – –
New Jersey
(83.4%)
(3.2%)
(13.4%)		 –
South Dakota
(100.00%)		 – – –
June 11 Illinois
(78.1%)
(7.1%)
(9.7%)
(5.1%)
Total pledged delegates
(Popular vote)
1,679,443 (37.54%)
1,696,632 (37.93%)
164,340 (3.67%)
932,836 (20.86%)


  • Italics - Write-In Votes

Candidates

The following political leaders were candidates for the 1968 Republican presidential nomination:

Major candidates

These candidates participated in multiple state primaries or were included in multiple major national polls.

Candidate Most recent position Home state Campaign
Richard Nixon Vice President of the United States
(1953–1961)		 New York
New York
(Campaign)
Nelson Rockefeller Governor
of New York
(1959–1973)
New York
(Campaign)
Ronald Reagan Governor
of California
(1967–1975)		 California
California
(Campaign)
George W. Romney Governor
of Michigan
(1963–1969)		 Michigan
Michigan
(Campaign)
Announced: Nov. 18, 1967
Withdrew: February 28, 1968

Favorite sons

The following candidates ran only in their home state's primary, caucus, or convention. They ran for the purpose of controlling their state's respective delegate slate at the national convention and did not appear to be considered national candidates by the media. The media referred to them as "favorite son" candidates.

Declined to run

The following persons were listed in two or more major national polls or were the subject of media speculation surrounding their potential candidacy, but declined to actively seek the nomination.

Polling

National polling
Graph of opinion polls conducted

Before November 1966
Poll source Publication
Everett Dirksen
Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.
Barry Goldwater
Richard Nixon
Ronald Reagan
George Romney
Nelson Rockefeller
William Scranton
Other
Undecided
Gallup[15] Jan. 10, 1965 – 18% 15% 27% – 14% 6% 8% 9%[lower-alpha 3] 3%
Gallup[16] March 24, 1965 – 16% 11% 36% – 14% 4% 8% 8%[lower-alpha 4] 3%
Gallup[17] June 27, 1965 7% 14% 13% 25% 3% 11% 6% 7% 11%[lower-alpha 5] 3%
Gallup[18] Sep. 26, 1965 5% 12% 9% 28% 2% 15% 7% 8% 9%[lower-alpha 6] 8%
Gallup[19] Oct. 1965 6% 11% 12% 26% 3% 15% 7% 7% 6%[lower-alpha 7] 7%
Gallup[19] Dec. 5, 1965 5% 12% 13% 34% 1% 11% 4% 5% 10%[lower-alpha 8] 5%
Gallup[20] Feb. 6, 1966 5% 15% 11% 33% 3% 10% 5% 5% 11%[lower-alpha 9] 2%
Gallup[21] April 10, 1966 7% 12% 13% 27% 4% 14% 5% 6% 3%[lower-alpha 10] 9%
Gallup[22] April 1966 – – – – 11% 34% – 17% 18%[lower-alpha 11] 20%
Gallup[22] July 10, 1966 – – – – 17% 38% – 20% 11%[lower-alpha 12] 14%
  1. 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, including the January 6, 1969 edition of the Congressional Record, list his home state as New York.
  2. Favorite sons received the support of Ohio (Jim Rhodes), Hawaii (Hiram Fong), New Jersey (Clifford Case), Kansas (Frank Carlson), and Arkansas (Winthrop Rockefeller).
  3. Robert Taft Jr. with 4%, Mark Hatfield with 3%, and Charles Percy with 2%
  4. Robert Taft Jr. with 4%, Mark Hatfield and Charles Percy with 2% each
  5. John Lindsay with 5%, Robert Taft Jr. with 3%, Mark Hatfield with 2%, and Charles Percy with 1%
  6. John Lindsay with 3%, Robert Taft Jr. with 3%, Mark Hatfield with 2%, and Charles Percy with 1%
  7. John Lindsay with 2%, Robert Taft Jr. with 2%, Mark Hatfield and Charles Percy with 1% each
  8. John Lindsay with 4%, Robert Taft Jr. with 3%, Mark Hatfield with 2%, and Charles Percy with 1%
  9. John Lindsay with 4%, Robert Taft Jr. with 4%, Charles Percy with 2% and Mark Hatfield with 1%
  10. John Lindsay with 2% and Mark Hatfield with 1%
  11. John Lindsay with 11% and Mark Hatfield with 7%
  12. John Lindsay with 6% and Mark Hatfield with 5%

After November 1966
Poll source Publication
Richard Nixon
Charles Percy
Ronald Reagan
George Romney
Nelson Rockefeller
Other
Undecided
Gallup[23] Nov. 25, 1966 31% – 8% 39% 5% 11%[lower-alpha 1] 7%
Gallup[24][lower-alpha 2] Feb. 12, 1967 39% 6% 7% 28% 11% 5%[lower-alpha 3] 4%
Gallup[25] March 19, 1967 39% 4% 8% 30% 9% 6%[lower-alpha 4] 4%
Gallup[26] May 21, 1967 43% 6% 7% 28% 7% 5%[lower-alpha 5] 4%
Gallup[27] July 12, 1967 39% 7% 11% 25% 10% 4%[lower-alpha 6] 4%
Gallup[28] Aug. 23, 1967 33% 6% 15% 26% 12% 5%[lower-alpha 7] 3%
Gallup[29] Aug. 22–26, 1967 35% 6% 11% 24% 14% 4%[lower-alpha 8] 6%
Gallup[29] Sep. 15–19, 1967 40% 9% 16% 14% 17% 2%[lower-alpha 9] 2%
Gallup[30] Nov. 19, 1967 42% 5% 13% 14% 15% 6%[lower-alpha 10] 5%
Gallup[31] Jan 1968 42% 5% 8% 12% 27% 4%[lower-alpha 11] 2%
Gallup[31] Feb. 21, 1968 51% 3% 8% 7% 25% 5%[lower-alpha 12] 1%
Gallup[32] July 28, 1968 60% 2% 7% – 23% 6%[lower-alpha 13]
  1. Mark Hatfield with 3% and John Lindsay with 2%
  2. This poll was withdrawn from national newspapers by the Gallup organization after allegations of inconsistent methodology.
  3. Mark Hatfield with 3% and John Lindsay with 2%
  4. Mark Hatfield with 4% and John Lindsay with 2%
  5. Mark Hatfield with 3% and John Lindsay with 2%
  6. Mark Hatfield and John Lindsay with 2% each
  7. Charles Percy with 6%, John Lindsay with 3%, and Mark Hatfield with 2%
  8. Mark Hatfield and John Lindsay with 2% each
  9. Mark Hatfield and John Lindsay with 1% each
  10. Mark Hatfield and John Lindsay with 3% each
  11. Mark Hatfield with 2%, John Lindsay and James M. Gavin with 1% each
  12. Mark Hatfield with 2%, John Lindsay with 2%, and James M. Gavin with 1%
  13. John Lindsay with 4%, Mark Hatfield with 1%, and Harold Stassen with 1%

Head-to-head polling

Nixon v. Romney

Poll source Date(s)
Richard Nixon
George Romney
Undecided
Gallup[33] Nov. 25, 1965 55% 38% 7%
Gallup[22] July 10, 1966 55% 40% 5%
Gallup[34] Nov. 1967 65% 31% 4%
Gallup[34] Jan. 31, 1968 68% 26% 6%

New Hampshire
Poll source Publication
Richard Nixon
George Romney
Nelson Rockefeller
Other
Roper Research Associates[23] March 4, 1968 65% 9% 13% 13%[lower-alpha 1]

Primary race

Nixon was the front-runner for the Republican nomination and to a great extent the story of the Republican primary campaign and nomination is the story of one Nixon opponent after another entering the race and then dropping out.

Nixon's first challenger was Michigan Governor George W. Romney. A Gallup poll in mid-1967 showed Nixon with 39%, followed by Romney with 25%. However, in a slip of the tongue, Romney told a news reporter that he had been "brainwashed" by the military and the diplomatic corps into supporting the Vietnam War; the remark led to weeks of ridicule in the national news media. As the year 1968 opened, Romney was opposed to further American intervention in Vietnam and had decided to run as the Republican version of Eugene McCarthy (The New York Times 2/18/1968). Romney's support slowly faded and he withdrew from the race on February 28, 1968. (The New York Times 2/29/1968).

Questions were occasionally asked about Romney's eligibility to hold the office of President due to his birth in Mexico, given an asserted ambiguity in the United States Constitution over the phrase "natural-born citizen".[35][36] By February 1967, some newspapers were questioning Romney's eligibility given his Mexican birth.[37]

He departed the race before the matter could be more definitively resolved.[36]

Nixon won a resounding victory in the important New Hampshire primary on March 12, winning 78% of the vote. Anti-war Republicans wrote in the name of New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, the leader of the GOP's liberal wing, who received 11% of the vote and became Nixon's new challenger. Nixon led Rockefeller in the polls throughout the primary campaign. Rockefeller defeated Nixon in the Massachusetts primary on April 30 but otherwise fared poorly in the state primaries and conventions.

By early spring, California Governor Ronald Reagan, the leader of the GOP's conservative wing, had become Nixon's chief rival. In the Nebraska primary on May 14, Nixon won with 70% of the vote to 21% for Reagan and 5% for Rockefeller. While this was a wide margin for Nixon, Reagan remained Nixon's leading challenger. Nixon won the next primary of importance, Oregon, on May 15 with 65% of the vote and won all the following primaries except for California (June 4), where only Reagan appeared on the ballot. Reagan's margin in California gave him a plurality of the nationwide primary vote, but when the Republican National Convention assembled, Nixon had 656 delegates according to a UPI poll (with 667 needed for the nomination).

Total popular vote

Endorsements
List of Nelson Rockefeller endorsements
U.S. Senators
U.S. Representatives
Governors

The convention

At the 1968 Republican National Convention in Miami Beach, Florida, Reagan and Rockefeller planned to unite their forces in a stop-Nixon movement, but the strategy fell apart when neither man agreed to support the other for the nomination. Rockefeller in particular was seen as unacceptable to Southern Conservatives. Nixon won the nomination on the first ballot. He was able to secure the nomination to the support of many Southern delegates, after he and his subordinates made concessions to Strom Thurmond and Harry Dent.[39] Nixon then chose Maryland Governor Spiro Agnew to be his Vice-Presidential candidate, despite complaints from within the GOP that Agnew was an unknown quantity, and that a better-known and more popular candidate, such as Romney, should have been the Vice-Presidential nominee. However, Agnew was seen as a candidate who could appeal to Rockefeller Republicans, was acceptable to Southern Conservatives, and had a solid law-and-order record.[40] It was also reported that Nixon's first choice for running mate was his longtime friend and ally, Robert Finch, who was Lt. Governor of California since 1967 and later his HEW Secretary, but Finch declined the offer.

The Republican Convention Tally (667 needed to secure nominate)[41]
President(before switches)(after switches)Vice PresidentVice-Presidential votes
Richard M. Nixon6921238Spiro T. Agnew1119
Nelson Rockefeller27793George Romney186
Ronald Reagan1822John V. Lindsay10
Ohio Governor James A. Rhodes55—Massachusetts Senator Edward Brooke1
Michigan Governor George Romney50—James A. Rhodes1
New Jersey Senator Clifford Case22—Not Voting16
Kansas Senator Frank Carlson20——
Arkansas Governor Winthrop Rockefeller18——
Hawaii Senator Hiram Fong14——
Harold Stassen2——
New York City Mayor John V. Lindsay1——

See also

Notes
  1. "widely distributed"

References
  1. "Nixon Gets Texas Votes--Enough for Nomination". The Atlanta Constitution. 2 Jul 1968. p. 11.
  2. Kalb, Deborah (2016-02-19). Guide to U.S. Elections - Google Books. ISBN 9781483380353. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  3. "Chronology of Political Events: Nov. 1967—Nov. 1968." In CQ Almanac 1968, 24th ed., 19-974-19-978. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly, 1969. http://library.cqpress.com/cqalmanac/cqal68-1282597.
  4. Homan, Richard (6 Aug 1968). "Agnew Gives Nixon 16 Backers: Agnew Moves to Nixon Camp With 16 of 26 Md. Delegates May Be Decisive". The Washington Post. p. A1.
  5. Freeburg, Russell (5 Aug 1968). "Bartlett Withdraws, Indorses Nixon". The Chicago Tribune. p. 5.
  6. "G.O.P. WARDS OFF A SPLIT IN KANSAS: Leaders Believed Uniting on Carlson as Favorite Son". The New York Times. 14 Jan 1968. p. 25.
  7. "New Jersey G. O. P. Delegates Back Case". The Chicago Tribune. 23 July 1968. p. 5.
  8. Lembke, Daryl (23 June 1968). "Washington State GOP Gives Boost to Nixon". Los Angeles Times. p. 2.
  9. "Hawaii Slate To Back Fong". The Boston Globe. 12 May 1968. p. 24.
  10. "Nixon is Nominated on the First Ballot; Support for Lindsay in 2d Place Growing". archive.nytimes.com.
  11. "Rhodes Loses G. O. P. Slate in Ohio Area". Chicago Tribune. 14 May 1968. p. 3.
  12. Apple, R.W. (16 June 1968). "Rockefeller Wins Shafer's Endorsement: Expects to Gain Most of the 64 Delegates From Pennsylvania". The New York Times. p. 1.
  13. "Thurmond Stops Reagan, Holds South for Nixon: Thurmond Blocks Reagan's Threat to Nixon in South". Los Angeles Times. 7 Aug 1968. p. 1.
  14. "Gov. Volpe Backs Nixon Candidacy". The Austin Statesman. 28 June 1968. p. 48.
  15. Gallup, George (10 Jan 1965). "GALLUP POLL: Nixon Is Favored by GOP Rank-and-File as Leader". Los Angeles Times. p. J3.
  16. Gallup, George (24 March 1965). "GALLUP POLL: Nixon's Stock Up, Goldwater's Down". Los Angeles Times. p. 10.
  17. Gallup, George (27 June 1965). "Nixon Talies GOP Lead for 1968". Los Angeles Times. p. E3.
  18. Gallup, George (26 Sep 1965). "Nixon Leads in GOP; Romney Makes Gain". Los Angeles Times. p. F2.
  19. Gallup, George (5 Dec 1965). "Nixon Widening Lead Over GOP '68 Hopefuls". The Hartford Daily Courant. p. 19A.
  20. Gallup, George (6 Feb 1966). "Nixon Paces GOP Hopefuls". The Hartford Daily Courant. p. 23A.
  21. Gallup, George (10 Apr 1966). "Nixon Support Declines but He Still Tops GOP". The Hartford Daily Courant. p. 12A.
  22. Gallup, George (10 July 1966). "Romney Takes Lead Over Nixon in GOP Race". The Hartford Courant. p. 25A.
  23. "POLL SHOWS NIXON LEADS ROCKEFELLER". The New York Times. 4 Mar 1968. p. 18.
  24. "--But Gallup Poll Has Nixon in Front". Boston Globe. 14 Feb 1967. p. 15.
  25. "Nixon Leads Romney: Gallup Poll". The Boston Globe. 19 Mar 1967. p. 2.
  26. Gallup, George (21 May 1967). "Nixon Increases Lead Over Romney; Becomes Independents' First Choice". The Washington Post. p. A2.
  27. Gallup, George (12 July 1967). "Nixon Maintains Party Lead As Romney Support Declines". The Washington Post. p. A8.
  28. Gallup, George (23 Aug 1967). "Reagan Gains Strength, Still Trails Nixon, Romney With GOP Voters". The Washington Post. p. A21.
  29. "Gallup Poll: Reagan, Rocky Top Romney". Boston Globe. 24 Sep 1967. p. 23.
  30. Gallup, George (19 Nov 1967). "GOP Voters Give Nixon 3-1 Edge in Poll". Los Angeles Times. p. H1.
  31. Gallup, George (21 Feb 1968). "Gallup Finds Nixon Holds Wide Lead". Boston Globe. p. 1.
  32. Gallup, George (28 July 1968). "Nixon Clear Choice Over Rocky Among GOP Voters". The Hartford Courant. p. 26A.
  33. "Nixon Favored Over Romney In '68, Gallup Poll Reports". The New York Times. 25 Nov 1965. p. 58.
  34. Gallup, George (31 Jan 1968). "Nixon Gains on Romney; Lead Over Rocky Is Cut". The Washington Post. p. A2.
  35. Caldwell, Earl (May 15, 1967). "Celler Suggests G.O.P. Name Group to Investigate Romney's Eligibility" (fee required). The New York Times.
  36. Cook, Rhodes (September 20, 2007). "Like Father, Like Son?". Center for Politics at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Archived from the original on 2008-06-06. Retrieved July 19, 2009.
  37. Hosenball, Mark (May 29, 2012). "Romney's birth certificate evokes his father's controversy". Chicago Tribune. Reuters.
  38. "Nelson Rockefeller for President 1968 Campaign Brochure". www.4president.org.
  39. Perlstein, Rick (2008). Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America. New York: Scribner. pp. 295–303. ISBN 978-0-7432-4302-5.
  40. Perlstein, pp. 299-304
  41. Troy, Schlesinger & Israel 2012, pp. 1318–1319.

Bibliography
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