1920 United States presidential election in Wisconsin

The 1920 United States presidential election in Wisconsin was held on November 2, 1920, as part of the 1920 United States presidential election. State voters chose 13 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Wisconsin had ever since the decline of the Populist movement been substantially a one-party state dominated by the Republican Party.Burnham, Walter Dean; 'The System of 1896: An Analysis'; in The Evolution of American Electoral Systems, pp. 178-179 The Democratic Party became entirely uncompetitive outside certain German Catholic counties adjoining Lake Michigan as the upper classes, along with the majority of workers who followed them, completely fled from William Jennings Bryan's agrarian and free silver sympathies.Sundquist, James; Politics and Policy: The Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson Years, p. 526 As Democratic strength weakened severely after 1894 – although the state did develop a strong Socialist Party to provide opposition to the GOP – Wisconsin developed the direct Republican primary in 1903 and this ultimately created competition between the "League" under Robert M. La Follette, and the conservative "Regular" faction.Hansen, John Mark; Shigeo Hirano, and Snyder, James M. Jr.; 'Parties within Parties: Parties, Factions, and Coordinated Politics, 1900-1980'; in Gerber, Alan S. and Schickler, Eric; Governing in a Polarized Age: Elections, Parties, and Political Representation in America, pp. 165-168

The beginning of the 1910s would see a minor Democratic revival as many La Follette progressives endorsed Woodrow Wilson,Crews, Kenneth D.; 'Woodrow Wilson, Wisconsin, and the Election of 1912'; Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 3: 'Presidents, Vice Presidents and Political Parties: Performance and Prospects' (Summer, 1982), pp. 369-376 but this flirtation would not be long-lasting as Wilson's "Anglophile" foreign policies were severely opposed by Wisconsin's largely German- and Scandinavian-American populace.Leary, William M. (jr.); 'Woodrow Wilson, Irish Americans, and the Election of 1916'; The Journal of American History, Vol. 54, No. 1 (June 1967), pp. 57-72 The 1918 mid-term elections saw the Midwestern farming community largely desert the Democratic Party due to supposed preferential treatment of Southern farmers:Morello, John A.; Albert D. Lasker, Advertising, and the Election of Warren G. Harding, p. 64 Democratic seats in the Midwest fell from thirty-four to seventeen,Hough, Jerry F.; Changing Party Coalitions: The Mystery of the Red State-Blue State Alignment, pp. 86-87 whilst Scandinavian-Americans were also vigorously opposed to entering the war.Saldin, Robert P., 'World War I and the System of 1896' (2010); Political Science Faculty Publications, Paper 1, pp. 825-836 Furthermore, Democratic fear of Communism seen in the Palmer Raids and "Red Scare" led to ultimate nominee James M. Cox, then Governor of Ohio, to ban German-language instruction in public schools in 1919. Still more critical for German-Americans was the view that outgoing President Woodrow Wilson was deliberately trying to punish Germany and Austria for starting the war, especially via his disregard for the United Kingdom's continuing blockade of Germany.Lichtman, Allan J.; Prejudice and the Old Politics: The Presidential Election of 1928, pp. 102, 115 Stressing Harding's German ancestry, the German press drummed up the view that a vote for Harding was a vote against the persecutions suffered by German-Americans during the war.Lubell, Samuel; The Future of American Politics, p. 135 Published 1952 by Harper and Brothers, New York

Campaign

As the campaign began after the Republican Party had nominated U.S. Senator Warren G. Harding of Ohio and the Democratic Party former Ohio governor James M. Cox, a further blow to the Democrats came when the national economy suffered a major downturn following the wartime boom, resulting in plummeting agricultural prices that were especially problematic in the Midwest.Goldberg, David Joseph; Discontented America: The United States in the 1920s, p. 47 Whereas Cox travelled throughout the nation apart from the "Solid South" during September,Faykosh, Joseph D., Bowling Green State University; The Front Porch of the American People: James Cox and the Presidential Election of 1920 (thesis), p. 69 Harding, despite having four times the budget, campaigned from his home in Marion, Ohio.

A poll by the giant Rexall drug store chain – which in 1916 had been accurate enough to predict Wilson's razor-thin wins in New Hampshire and CaliforniaPietrusza, David; 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents, p. 398 – suggested Harding would win 382 electoral votes,Bagby, Rexby; The Road to Normalcy: The Presidential Campaign and Election of 1920, pp. 158-159 and at the end of October, although no more opinion polls had been published, most observers were even more convinced that the Republicans would take complete control of all branches of government.'Republicans Going to Win: Prospects of a Complete Victory'; The Observer, October 31, 1920, p. 13 Polls were similarly confident in Wisconsin, despite forecasts of a big vote for imprisoned fifth-time Socialist nominee Eugene V. Debs.'Blaine Is Big Choice in Betting'; The Capital Times, November 2, 1920, p. 1 Expectations of a landslide were fully realized: whereas Charles Evans Hughes had carried Wisconsin by only 6.59 points in 1916, Harding won this arch-isolationist state by a nine-to-two majority. Wisconsin would prove to be Harding's fourth strongest state in the 1920 election terms of popular vote percentage after North Dakota, Vermont and Michigan. Wisconsin would prove Cox's weakest state in the largest landslide loss in United States presidential election history, and Debs' strongest state in his last campaign for the presidency. Despite Debs' substantial vote, Harding carried all Wisconsin's counties with absolute majorities, becoming the only candidate to ever win every single Wisconsin county in a presidential election, and Cox cracked twenty-three percent of the vote in just three counties. This would be the last time a Republican presidential candidate carried Iron County until Richard Nixon in 1972.Menendez, Albert J. The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 337-342

Results + General Election ResultsWisconsin Historical Society, Certificate of Board of Canvassers of the State of Wisconsin - Presidential Electors - 1920Party Pledged to Elector Votes Republican Party Warren G. Harding Mrs. Theodore Youmans498,576 Republican Party Warren G. Harding Z. G. Simmons497,664 Republican Party Warren G. Harding John Turner497,243 Republican Party Warren G. Harding Myron E. Keats497,099 Republican Party Warren G. Harding Sam Blum496,920 Republican Party Warren G. Harding Max Sell496,875 Republican Party Warren G. Harding William Mauthe496,821 Republican Party Warren G. Harding James T. Drought496,786 Republican Party Warren G. Harding John Fitzgibbons496,677 Republican Party Warren G. Harding Anton Kuckuk496,661 Republican Party Warren G. Harding David A. Bogue496,509 Republican Party Warren G. Harding Mrs. Al C. Anderson496,236 Republican Party Warren G. Harding John T. Murphy496,161 Democratic Party James M. Cox John C. Karel113,422 Democratic Party James M. Cox Anthony Szczerbinski113,298 Democratic Party James M. Cox Charles Mulberger113,236 Democratic Party James M. Cox Mrs. A. Tupper113,196 Democratic Party James M. Cox M. K. Reilly113,119 Democratic Party James M. Cox Vilas W. Whaley113,118 Democratic Party James M. Cox John W. Hogan112,962 Democratic Party James M. Cox H. A. Pfeffer112,790 Democratic Party James M. Cox John P. Diener112,765 Democratic Party James M. Cox Henry E. Fitch112,742 Democratic Party James M. Cox Earl Y. Sangster112,730 Democratic Party James M. Cox M. R. Strouse112,619 Democratic Party James M. Cox John O'Day112,531 Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Cora Wuethrick80,635 Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Casimir Kowalski80,629 Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Richard Holtz80,601 Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Mrs. E. T. Melms80,597 Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Louis Pauls80,555 Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs John G. Justen80,554 Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs R. W. Koehn80,554 Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Mrs. John H. Sims80,541 Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Fred Heath80,513 Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs G. P. Haus80,495 Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Mrs. Frank Hilger80,481 Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Ray M. Empey53,101 Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs F. E. Withrow52,213 Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs J. Verchota27,886 Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs A. C. Krueger27,069 Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins Marcia A. B. Smith8,647 Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins David W. Emerson8,529 Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins Francis Baker8,517 Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins Peter T. James8,498 Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins Frank E. Cummings8,470 Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins Joseph V. Collins8,467 Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins Benjamin F. Skiff8,466 Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins August F. Fehlandt8,445 Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins Walter R. Drought8,431 Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins John H. Malloch8,425 Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins William R. Nethercut8,425 Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins Lily Shimmin8,413 Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins Ole H. Caspers8,408 Write-in Scattering82Votes cast 701,362

Results by county