The 1952 United States presidential election in Virginia took place on November 4, 1952. Voters chose twelve representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
For the previous five decades Virginia had almost completely disenfranchised its black and poor white populations through the use of a cumulative poll tax and literacy tests. So restricted was suffrage in this period that it has been calculated that a third of Virginia's electorate during the first half of the twentieth century comprised state employees and officeholders.
This limited electorate allowed Virginian politics to be controlled for four decades by the Byrd Organization, as progressive "antiorganization" factions were rendered impotent by the inability of almost all their potential electorate to vote. Historical fusion with the "Readjuster" Democrats, defection of substantial proportions of the Northeast-aligned white electorate of the Shenandoah Valley and Southwest Virginia over free silver, and an early move towards a "lily white" Jim Crow party meant Republicans retained a small but permanent number of legislative seats and local offices in the western part of the state. In 1928 a combination of growing middle-class Republicanism in the cities and anti-Catholicism against Al Smith in the TidewaterPhillips. The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 195 allowed the GOP to carry Virginia and elect three Congressmen, including one representing the local district of emerging machine leader Byrd. However, from 1932 with the state severely affected by the Depression, Republican strength declined below its low pre-1928 level, although Byrd himself became highly critical of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal policies as early as 1940.
Largely because of fear of losing several seats in the House to resurgent Republicans, Virginia's federal officeholders, although all firmly opposed to Harry S. Truman's civil rights bills, did not endorse Strom Thurmond in 1948. However, Byrd became almost completely opposed to the Truman administration's policies during the ensuing presidential term, and after initially preferred nominee Richard Russell Jr. called for repealing the Taft–Hartley Act, the Byrd Organization refused to endorse any Democratic nominee, explicitly rejecting eventual nominees Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson II and Alabama Senator John Sparkman.
Campaign Following the end of Reconstruction Virginia voted for every Democratic presidential nominee except for Al Smith in the 1928 election. U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd opposed President Harry S. Truman's support for civil rights and chose to remain neutral in presidential elections. This allowed his political machine to support Republican presidential candidates while voting for Democratic candidates down ballot.
Following this election Virginia would support every Republican presidential nominee from 1952 to 2004 except for Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1964 election. In 2008, the state voted for Democrat Barack Obama and has since remained a Democratic-leaning state, largely due to the huge growth of Northern Virginia and the D.C. suburbs. By 2020, Joe Biden became the first Democrat to post a double-digit victory since Roosevelt himself in 1944. Virginia was the only southern state that Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter failed to win in the 1976 election.
Despite polls being uncertain, Virginia would be comfortably won by Republican nominees, Columbia University President Dwight D. Eisenhower, running with California Senator Richard Nixon.
Polls SourceRatingAs ofLansing State JournalSeptember 17, 1952The Salt Lake TribuneOctober 24, 1952Lubbock Morning AvalancheOctober 24, 1952The Greeneville SunOctober 25, 1952The New York TimesOctober 25, 1952The Modesto BeeOctober 27, 1952work=The New York TimesOctober 27, 1952
Results 1952 United States presidential election in VirginiaPartyCandidateVotesPercentageElectoral votes Republican Dwight Eisenhower 349,037 56.32% 12 Democratic Adlai Stevenson 268,677 43.36% 0 Socialist Labor Eric Hass 1,160 0.19% 0 Social Democrat Darlington Hoopes 504 0.08% 0 Progressive Vincent Hallinan 311 0.05% 0 Totals 619,689 100.00% 12
Results by county or independent city