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 fifty states and the District of Columbia. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
This was the first presidential election in which Maine allocated its electoral votes using the congressional district method, giving 2 electoral votes to the overall winner of the state and 1 electoral vote to the winner of each congressional district.
Maine was won by the incumbent Republican president Richard Nixon by a landslide 23 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, where McGovern won by a mere 103 votes. Androscoggin was the solitary county McGovern won in the Northeast outside of Massachusetts or in the city limits of Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington.
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; it has since become a Democratic-leaning state.
Since 1972 no presidential candidate of either party has surpassed Nixon’s 61.46% of the vote in Maine (the closest being Ronald Reagan’s 60.83% in 1984).
Results 1972 United States presidential election in MainePartyCandidateVotesPercentageElectoral 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 60%/68%
By congressional district Nixon won both congressional districts, including one held by a Democrat.
District Nixon McGovern Representative 61.42% 38.58%Peter Kyros61.58% 38.42%William Hathaway (92nd Congress)William Cohen (93rd Congress)
Results by county CountyRichard NixonRepublicanGeorge McGovernDemocraticVarious candidatesWrite-insMarginTotal votes cast # % # % # % # %Androscoggin19,40649.86%19,50950.12%90.02%-103-0.26%38,924Aroostook19,05162.37%11,47437.56%220.07%7,57724.81%30,547Cumberland51,26860.59%33,32639.38%230.03%17,94221.21%84,617Franklin5,95866.50%2,98833.35%140.16%2,97033.15%8,960Hancock11,88973.90%4,19126.05%70.04%7,69847.85%16,087Kennebec24,61759.99%16,37939.91%390.10%8,23820.08%41,035Knox8,47870.19%3,60129.81%4,87740.38%12,079Lincoln7,58072.28%2,90327.68%40.04%4,67744.60%10,487Oxford12,11464.36%6,66135.39%480.26%5,45328.97%18,823Penobscot30,18661.92%18,55238.06%110.02%11,63423.86%48,749Piscataquis4,61764.70%2,51835.29%10.01%2,09929.41%7,136Sagadahoc6,46365.35%3,41434.52%130.13%3,04930.83%9,890Somerset10,07962.97%5,92136.99%50.03%4,15825.98%16,005Waldo6,48068.78%2,94131.21%10.01%3,53937.57%9,422Washington7,82067.57%3,74232.33%120.10%4,07835.24%11,574York30,45257.53%22,46442.44%200.04%7,98815.09%52,936Totals256,45861.46%160,58438.48%2290.05%95,87422.98%417,271
See also United States presidential elections in Maine
References