1968 United States presidential election in South Carolina

The 1968 United States presidential election in South Carolina took place on November 5, 1968. All 50 states and the District of Columbia were part of the 1968 United States presidential election. South Carolina voters chose 8 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

For six decades up to 1950, South Carolina was a one-party state dominated by the Democratic Party. The Republican Party had been moribund due to the disfranchisement of Blacks and the complete absence of other support bases, as South Carolina completely lacked upland or German refugee whites opposed to secession.Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 208, 210

Between 1900 and 1948, no Republican presidential candidate ever obtained more than seven percent of the total presidential voteMickey, Robert; Paths Out of Dixie: The Democratization of Authoritarian Enclaves in America's Deep South, 1944–1972, p. 440 – a vote which in 1924 reached as low as 6.6 percent of the total voting-age populationMickey; Paths Out of Dixie, p. 27 or approximately 15 percent of the voting-age white population. South Carolina was the only state to swing more Democratic compared to 1964, largely due to Wallace's presence on the ballot. Among white voters, 48% supported Nixon, 41% supported Wallace, and 12% supported Humphrey.

South Carolina was the only Deep South state not to support Wallace in this election. It also began a near-perfect streak of voting the same way as North Carolina, with the two states only diverging in 2008.

Campaign Although Nixon ignored the other Deep South states because he knew that he had no chance of competing with George Wallace, in South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond, believing Wallace could not win the election and that northeastern urban liberalism would continue to dominate if he endorsed Wallace, took the stump for Nixon in South Carolina.Perlstein, Rick; Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America, pp. 344–345 The result was that Wallace's support in South Carolina plummeted rapidly, although in early September the Alabama governor predicted he would carry the state,Rouse, Mike; ‘Wallace IS Appealing for Vote of the "Doves" as Well as Others’; Danville Register, September 3, 1968, p. 12 an opinion backed up by early polling in mid-September.‘Four Polls Place Nixon in Lead’; Marshfield News-Herald, September 16, 1968, p. 3 Other polls, however, had the race very close between the three candidates.‘Face-to-Face: Humphrey Desires Debate with Nixon’; Cumberland Evening-Times, September 16, 1968, p. 3 Nixon himself campaigned in the state, aided by Thurmond, at the end of September.‘Nixon Proposes Anti-Crime Council’; The Waco News-Tribune, September 30, 1968, p. 5

Predictions The following newspapers gave these predictions about how South Carolina would vote in the 1968 presidential election: SourceRankingAs ofThe New York TimesSeptember 8, 1968Lebanon Daily NewsSeptember 17, 1968Daily PressOctober 11, 1968The Charlotte NewsOctober 12, 1968The RecordOctober 21, 1968Shreveport TimesNovember 3, 1968The Selma Times-JournalNovember 3, 1968The New York TimesNovember 4, 1968

Results 1968 United States presidential election in South CarolinaPartyCandidateVotesPercentageElectoral votes Republican Richard Nixon 254,062 38.09% 8Independent George Wallace 215,430 32.30% 0 Democratic Hubert Humphrey 197,486 29.61% 0Write-ins Various candidates 4 0.00% 0 Totals 666,978 100.00% 8 Voter turnout –

Results by county CountyRichard NixonRepublicanGeorge WallaceAmerican IndependentHubert HumphreyDemocraticMarginTotal votes cast # % # % # % # % Abbeville 1,213 20.77% 3,201 54.82% 1,425 24.40% -1,776 -30.42% 5,839 Aiken 12,264 44.76% 8,815 32.17% 6,319 23.06% 3,449 12.59% 27,398 Allendale 997 29.72% 820 24.44% 1,538 45.84% -541 -16.12% 3,355 Anderson 5,661 24.33% 12,384 53.23% 5,218 22.43% -6,723 -28.90% 23,263 Bamberg 1,327 27.70% 1,618 33.78% 1,845 38.52% 227 4.74% 4,790 Barnwell 1,849 31.25% 2,351 39.74% 1,716 29.01% -502 -8.49% 5,916 Beaufort 2,983 36.29% 1,498 18.22% 3,740 45.49% -757 -9.20% 8,221 Berkeley 4,021 28.89% 4,808 34.55% 5,089 36.56% 281 2.01% 13,918 Calhoun 885 28.74% 978 31.76% 1,216 39.49% 238 7.73% 3,079 Charleston 24,282 43.45% 13,255 23.72% 18,343 32.83% 5,939 10.62% 55,880 Cherokee 2,853 27.19% 5,642 53.77% 1,998 19.04% -2,789 -26.58% 10,493 Chester 2,862 33.71% 2,762 32.54% 2,865 33.75% -3 -0.04% 8,489 Chesterfield 2,564 25.47% 4,324 42.95% 3,180 31.59% -1,144 -11.36% 10,068 Clarendon 2,201 27.85% 2,097 26.53% 3,606 45.62% -1,405 -17.77% 7,904 Colleton 2,824 34.67% 2,670 32.78% 2,651 32.55% 154 1.89% 8,145 Darlington 4,947 35.38% 5,231 37.42% 3,803 27.20% -284 -2.04% 13,981 Dillon 2,396 35.73% 2,132 31.79% 2,178 32.48% 218 3.25% 6,706 Dorchester 3,354 31.21% 3,539 32.93% 3,855 35.87% 316 2.94% 10,748 Edgefield 1,688 43.07% 1,006 25.67% 1,225 31.26% 463 11.81% 3,919 Fairfield 1,619 27.14% 1,336 22.39% 3,011 50.47% -1,392 -23.33% 5,966 Florence 8,917 36.19% 7,642 31.02% 8,079 32.79% 838 3.40% 24,638 Georgetown 3,269 32.62% 2,642 26.36% 4,110 41.01% -841 -8.39% 10,021 Greenville 31,652 52.91% 15,241 25.48% 12,928 21.61% 16,411 27.43% 59,821 Greenwood 4,891 33.37% 6,024 41.10% 3,741 25.52% -1,133 -7.73% 14,658 Hampton 1,671 31.95% 1,452 27.76% 2,107 40.29% -436 -8.34% 5,230 Horry 3,924 26.97% 6,701 46.06% 3,924 26.97% -2,777 -19.09% 14,549 Jasper 633 20.31% 1,081 34.69% 1,402 44.99% 321 10.30% 3,116 Kershaw 4,079 38.56% 3,960 37.44% 2,539 24.00% 119 1.12% 10,578 Lancaster 4,874 37.75% 4,886 37.84% 3,151 24.41% -12 -0.09% 12,911 Laurens 4,813 39.75% 4,279 35.34% 3,016 24.91% 534 4.41% 12,108 Lee 1,219 22.23% 2,113 38.54% 2,151 39.23% 38 0.69% 5,483 Lexington 12,204 48.49% 8,907 35.39% 4,058 16.12% 3,297 13.10% 25,169 Marion 2,512 36.85% 1,484 21.77% 2,821 41.38% -309 -4.53% 6,817 Marlboro 2,024 31.34% 2,140 33.14% 2,294 35.52% 154 2.38% 6,458 McCormick 466 21.08% 757 34.24% 988 44.69% 231 10.45% 2,211 Newberry 4,538 42.35% 3,734 34.85% 2,444 22.81% 804 7.50% 10,716 Oconee 2,618 27.94% 4,742 50.61% 2,009 21.44% -2,124 -22.67% 9,369 Orangeburg 5,144 24.20% 7,144 33.60% 8,971 42.20% 1,827 8.60% 21,259 Pickens 6,873 51.63% 4,424 33.23% 2,016 15.14% 2,449 18.40% 13,313 Richland 26,215 50.96% 7,030 13.67% 18,198 35.37% 8,017 15.59% 51,445 Saluda 1,466 30.53% 2,136 44.48% 1,200 24.99% -670 -13.95% 4,802 Spartanburg 18,183 38.69% 17,346 36.91% 11,467 24.40% 837 1.78% 46,996 Sumter 5,451 33.43% 4,754 29.15% 6,103 37.42% -652 -3.99% 16,308 Union 3,011 30.50% 4,590 46.50% 2,271 23.00% -1,579 -16.00% 9,872 Williamsburg 3,029 28.08% 2,652 24.59% 5,106 47.33% -2,077 -19.25% 10,787 York 7,596 37.48% 7,102 35.04% 5,571 27.49% 494 2.44% 20,269Totals254,06238.09%215,43032.30%197,48629.61%38,6325.79%666,982

Results by congressional district Nixon won three out of six congressional districts, Wallace won two, and Humphrey won one. Wallace and Nixon both won two districts held by Democrats.

DistrictNixonHumphreyWallace1st36.9%36.3%26.8%2nd42.7%32.2%25.1%3rd26.1%23%40.9%4th46%31%23%5th33.3%29.2%37.5%6th32.4%34.7%32.9%

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