The 1968 United States presidential election in New Jersey took place on November 5, 1968. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1968 United States presidential election. Voters chose 17 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.

New Jersey was won by the Republican nominees, former Vice President Richard Nixon of California and his running mate Governor Spiro Agnew of Maryland. Nixon and Agnew defeated the Democratic nominees, incumbent Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota and his running mate Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine. Also in the running was the American Independent Party candidate, Governor George Wallace of Alabama, and his running mate U.S. Air Force General Curtis LeMay of California.

Nixon carried New Jersey with a plurality of 46.10% to Humphrey's 43.97%, a margin of 2.13%. In a distant third came Wallace with 9.12%. In the midst of a narrow Republican victory nationally, New Jersey voted closely in line with the nation at large, its result was just 1% more Republican than the national average.

Nixon's victory was the first of six consecutive Republican victories in the state, as New Jersey would not vote for a Democratic candidate again until Bill Clinton in 1992, after which the state has always gone Democratic. Nixon became the first ever Republican to win the White House without carrying Atlantic, Essex, or Cumberland Counties, as well as the first to do so without carrying Middlesex County since Benjamin Harrison in 1888. This is only the second election, along with 1932, when New Jersey was won by a 1.89% margin by FDR, since 1880 in which New Jersey voted for a different candidate than nearby Connecticut.

Results 1968 United States presidential election in New JerseyPartyCandidateVotesPercentageElectoral votes Republican Richard Nixon 1,325,467 46.10% 17 Democratic Hubert H. Humphrey 1,264,206 43.97% 0 American Independent George Wallace 262,187 9.12% 0 Socialist Workers Fred Halstead 8,667 0.30% 0 Peace and Freedom Party Dick Gregory 8,084 0.28% 0 Socialist Labor Henning A. Blomen 6,784 0.24% 0 Totals 2,875,395 100.0% 17 Voter Turnout (Voting age/Registered) 66%/87%

Results by county County Richard NixonRepublican Hubert HumphreyDemocratic George WallaceAmerican Independent Various candidatesOther parties Margin Total votes cast # % # % # % # % # % Atlantic 32,807 42.15% 35,581 45.71% 7,528 9.67% 1,918 2.46% -2,774 -3.56% 77,834 Bergen 224,911 54.45% 162,182 39.27% 23,663 5.73% 2,281 0.55% 62,729 15.18% 413,037 Burlington 46,177 46.29% 41,651 41.76% 11,635 11.66% 284 0.28% 4,526 4.53% 99,747 Camden 77,642 41.10% 87,347 46.24% 23,111 12.24% 787 0.42% -9,705 -5.14% 188,887 Cape May 14,970 53.14% 9,664 34.30% 3,498 12.42% 40 0.14% 5,306 18.84% 28,172 Cumberland 18,388 40.42% 21,661 47.62% 5,356 11.77% 83 0.18% -3,273 -7.20% 45,488 Essex 140,084 39.23% 185,440 51.93% 26,823 7.51% 4,748 1.33% -45,356 -12.70% 357,095 Gloucester 30,596 44.52% 27,438 39.92% 10,626 15.46% 71 0.10% 3,158 4.60% 68,731 Hudson 91,324 37.34% 124,939 51.09% 23,138 9.46% 5,159 2.11% -33,615 -13.75% 244,560 Hunterdon 15,851 57.77% 8,755 31.91% 2,749 10.02% 84 0.31% 7,096 25.86% 27,439 Mercer 45,354 36.13% 63,218 50.36% 16,104 12.83% 853 0.68% -17,864 -14.23% 125,529 Middlesex 96,515 42.79% 103,339 45.82% 24,138 10.70% 1,538 0.68% -6,824 -3.03% 225,530 Monmouth 87,311 51.22% 69,669 40.87% 13,047 7.65% 429 0.25% 17,642 10.35% 170,456 Morris 85,512 57.75% 52,398 35.39% 9,659 6.52% 493 0.33% 33,114 22.36% 148,062 Ocean 41,995 53.87% 26,909 34.52% 8,520 10.93% 539 0.69% 15,086 19.35% 77,963 Passaic 79,862 46.25% 74,442 43.12% 16,617 9.62% 1,736 1.01% 5,420 3.13% 172,657 Salem 11,407 43.45% 11,172 42.56% 3,647 13.89% 25 0.10% 235 0.89% 26,251 Somerset 42,459 54.11% 27,580 35.14% 7,331 9.34% 1,105 1.41% 14,879 18.97% 78,475 Sussex 18,043 61.71% 8,325 28.47% 2,843 9.72% 29 0.10% 9,718 33.24% 29,240 Union 110,309 45.72% 109,674 45.46% 19,963 8.27% 1,310 0.54% 635 0.26% 241,256 Warren 13,950 48.13% 12,822 44.24% 2,191 7.56% 23 0.08% 1,128 3.89% 28,986Totals1,325,46746.10%1,264,20643.97%262,1879.12%23,5350.82%61,2612.13%2,875,395

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican Burlington Gloucester Somerset Union Bergen Cape May Monmouth Ocean Passaic Salem Morris Hunterdon Warren Sussex

Analysis Despite the closeness of the statewide result, Nixon won a strong majority of the state's 21 counties, taking 14 counties, while Humphrey won 7. Humphrey kept the race fairly close by performing strongly in heavily populated core Democratic counties like Essex County, Hudson County, and Mercer County, along with winning Democratic-leaning counties like Middlesex County, Camden County, Atlantic County, and Cumberland County. Other highly populated counties like Passaic County and Union County were won by Nixon but only by narrow margins. Passaic County went to Nixon 46.3—43.1, while Union County went to Nixon by a razor-thin 45.7—45.5 margin.

Nixon was able to take the advantage statewide however with a big win in heavily populated Bergen County, taking 54.5% of the vote there, along with wins in several other fairly populated suburban counties like Monmouth County and Morris County, as well as winning many rural counties. Nixon's strongest county by vote share was rural Sussex County, where he received 61.7% of the vote to Humphrey's 28.5%. Humphrey's strongest county by vote share was urban Essex County, where he received 51.9% of the vote to Nixon's 39.2%.

George Wallace, running on a Southern populist platform, finished a distant third in New Jersey, with a single-digit vote share percentage. But this was still a surprisingly strong performance for Wallace in a Northeastern state like New Jersey. Discounting the border states of Maryland and Delaware, Wallace's 9.12% in New Jersey was the highest statewide vote share he received out of any Northeastern state. Wallace performed most strongly in South Jersey, where he broke into double-digit support in several counties. Wallace's strongest county was Gloucester County, a rural county in the southwestern portion of the state by the Delaware border, where he received 15.5% of the vote.

See also United States presidential elections in New Jersey Presidency of Richard Nixon

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