1972 United States presidential election in Maryland
The 1972 United States presidential election in Maryland was held on November 7, 1972, as part of the 1972 United States presidential election. Both the Democratic and Republican (Sargent Shriver and Spiro Agnew, respectively) Vice Presidential nominees were from Maryland.
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All 10 Maryland electoral votes to the Electoral College | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 County Results
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| Elections in Maryland |
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Maryland was won by incumbent President Richard Nixon of California and Vice President Spiro Agnew (a Maryland native), winning 61.26% of the vote to George McGovern and Shriver's 37.36%. Nixon won every county in the state, only losing independent Baltimore City. He won over 77% of the vote in Carroll County, and over 70% in another eight counties. This is the last time Prince George's County has voted Republican in a presidential election,[1] and the last of only 7 occasions[lower-alpha 1] since the emergence of the Republican Party that Maryland has voted more Republican than the nation as a whole.[2] As of 2020, this remains the strongest performance by a Republican in Maryland, and the last time the Democratic candidate was held to under 60% of the vote in Baltimore City.[3]
A voting machine in the town of Saint Michaels malfunctioned on election day, causing only 14 of the 435 ballots cast on it to be properly recorded.[4] Circuit Judge Harry Clark barred the Talbot County Board of Election Supervisors from certifying the county's results until a revote was held at the affected polling location, which occurred on November 15.[5]
Of his three presidential campaigns, this is the only time in which Nixon carried the home state of his running mate. Nixon failed to carry Maryland in 1968 and in 1960 did not carry Massachusetts, the home state of his then running mate Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.
Results
| 1972 United States presidential election in Maryland[6] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Running mate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes | |
| Republican | Richard Nixon | Spiro Agnew | 829,305 | 61.26% | 10 | |
| Democratic | George McGovern | Sargent Shriver | 505,781 | 37.36% | 0 | |
| American Independent | John G. Schmitz | Thomas J. Anderson | 18,726 | 1.38% | 0 | |
Results by county
| County | Richard Milhous Nixon Republican |
George Stanley McGovern Democratic |
John George Schmitz American Independent |
Margin | Total votes cast[7] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Allegany | 20,687 | 64.55% | 10,808 | 33.72% | 553 | 1.73% | 9,879 | 30.83% | 32,048 |
| Anne Arundel | 71,707 | 72.26% | 26,082 | 26.28% | 1,450 | 1.46% | 45,625 | 45.97% | 99,239 |
| Baltimore | 175,897 | 70.30% | 70,309 | 28.10% | 4,018 | 1.61% | 105,588 | 42.20% | 250,224 |
| Baltimore City | 119,486 | 45.15% | 141,323 | 53.40% | 3,843 | 1.45% | -21,837 | -8.25% | 264,652 |
| Calvert | 4,024 | 63.43% | 2,232 | 35.18% | 88 | 1.39% | 1,792 | 28.25% | 6,344 |
| Caroline | 4,325 | 72.71% | 1,567 | 26.34% | 56 | 0.94% | 2,758 | 46.37% | 5,948 |
| Carroll | 16,847 | 77.25% | 4,408 | 20.21% | 553 | 2.54% | 12,439 | 57.04% | 21,808 |
| Cecil | 10,759 | 70.82% | 4,113 | 27.08% | 319 | 2.10% | 6,646 | 43.75% | 15,191 |
| Charles | 9,665 | 67.34% | 4,502 | 31.37% | 186 | 1.30% | 5,163 | 35.97% | 14,353 |
| Dorchester | 6,859 | 74.97% | 2,136 | 23.35% | 154 | 1.68% | 4,723 | 51.62% | 9,149 |
| Frederick | 19,907 | 69.48% | 8,235 | 28.74% | 509 | 1.78% | 11,672 | 40.74% | 28,651 |
| Garrett | 5,480 | 76.60% | 1,510 | 21.11% | 164 | 2.29% | 3,970 | 55.49% | 7,154 |
| Harford | 25,141 | 73.16% | 8,737 | 25.42% | 488 | 1.42% | 16,404 | 47.73% | 34,366 |
| Howard | 19,265 | 63.55% | 10,668 | 35.19% | 383 | 1.26% | 8,597 | 28.36% | 30,316 |
| Kent | 4,036 | 64.36% | 2,168 | 34.57% | 67 | 1.07% | 1,868 | 29.79% | 6,271 |
| Montgomery | 133,090 | 56.50% | 100,228 | 42.55% | 2,239 | 0.95% | 32,862 | 13.95% | 235,557 |
| Prince George's | 116,166 | 58.55% | 79,914 | 40.28% | 2,330 | 1.17% | 36,252 | 18.27% | 198,410 |
| Queen Anne's | 4,380 | 70.45% | 1,712 | 27.54% | 125 | 2.01% | 2,668 | 42.91% | 6,217 |
| Somerset | 4,342 | 67.33% | 2,036 | 31.57% | 71 | 1.10% | 2,306 | 35.76% | 6,449 |
| St. Mary's | 7,689 | 67.55% | 3,571 | 31.37% | 122 | 1.07% | 4,118 | 36.18% | 11,382 |
| Talbot | 6,620 | 74.73% | 2,181 | 24.62% | 58 | 0.65% | 4,439 | 50.11% | 8,859 |
| Washington | 24,234 | 69.27% | 10,039 | 28.70% | 712 | 2.04% | 14,195 | 40.57% | 34,985 |
| Wicomico | 13,115 | 69.71% | 5,510 | 29.29% | 190 | 1.01% | 7,605 | 40.42% | 18,815 |
| Worcester | 5,584 | 75.22% | 1,792 | 24.14% | 48 | 0.65% | 3,792 | 51.08% | 7,424 |
| Totals | 829,305 | 61.26% | 505,781 | 37.36% | 18,726 | 1.38% | 323,524 | 23.90% | 1,353,812 |
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
See also
Notes
- The other six are 1864, 1896 under William Jennings Bryan's "cross of gold" opposed by Northeastern industrialists, and the four elections from 1944 to 1956
References
- Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
- Counting the Votes; Maryland Archived 2017-11-07 at the Wayback Machine
- "Maryland - Google Drive". docs.google.com. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
- Seeley, John (November 22, 2000). "Early and Often". LA Weekly. Retrieved June 1, 2023.
- "Polls Will Reopen for 435 Whose Votes Didn't Record". The New York Times. Associated Press. November 11, 1972. p. 21.
- Maryland Manual 1969–1970. The Hall of Records Commission of the State of Maryland. p. 473. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
- Maryland State Board of Elections, ‘For President of the United States’ Maryland General Election Returns – November 7, 1972 (Annapolis, 1972)
