The 1972 United States presidential election in Nevada took place on November 7, 1972. All fifty states and the District of Columbia were part of the 1972 United States presidential election. State voters chose three electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Since being won for the third time by William Jennings Bryan whose populism had attracted a state heavily dependent upon silver mining,Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 458 Nevada had been a consistent bellwether swing state, although it had been trending Republican since World War II as air conditioning led to the development of Las Vegas as a “Sun Belt” city. Richard Nixon had narrowly lost this heavily Catholic state to John F. Kennedy in 1960, but would comfortably defeat both Hubert Humphrey and George Wallace in 1968. However, the Democrats had rebounded in 1970 to regain the governorship, although the party lost the attorney general position for the first time since 1890.Driggs, Don W.; ‘The 1970 Election in Nevada’; The Western Political Quarterly, vol. 24, no. 2 (June 1971), pp. 308-315
Nevada held no Democratic primary in 1972, and once South Dakota Senator George McGovern secured the nomination, every poll suggested that incumbent President Nixon would win the state very easily,Apple, R.W. junior; ‘50-State Survey Indicates Massive Sweep for Nixon: Reporters, Political Leaders and Polls Agree on Big Lead, But McGovern Gain Is Expected In Final Month’; The New York Times, October 8, 1972, p. 50 typically by around a two-to-one margin.‘State by State: A Nationwide Survey’; The Washington Post, October 8, 1972, p. D4
Nixon carried Nevada with 63.68% of the vote to McGovern's 36.32%, a victory margin of 27.36%. In a state that would reflect McGovern's national results, the Democratic nominee did not win a single county in Nevada, making Nixon only the second Republican after Theodore Roosevelt in 1904 to sweep all Nevada's counties.Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 256-257
Results
Results by county County Richard NixonRepublican George McGovernDemocratic Margin Total votes cast # % # % # % Carson City 5,396 71.79% 2,120 28.21% 3,276 43.58% 7,516 Churchill 2,970 74.10% 1,038 25.90% 1,932 48.20% 4,008 Clark 53,101 59.06% 36,807 40.94% 16,294 18.12% 89,908 Douglas 2,898 74.67% 983 25.33% 1,915 49.34% 3,881 Elko 3,886 72.59% 1,467 27.41% 2,419 45.18% 5,353 Esmeralda 273 68.25% 127 31.75% 146 36.50% 400 Eureka 371 72.75% 139 27.25% 232 45.50% 510 Humboldt 1,659 69.94% 713 30.06% 946 39.88% 2,372 Lander 798 63.03% 468 36.97% 330 26.06% 1,266 Lincoln 841 68.77% 382 31.23% 459 37.54% 1,223 Lyon 2,813 74.58% 959 25.42% 1,854 49.16% 3,772 Mineral 2,111 73.32% 768 26.68% 1,343 46.64% 2,879 Nye 1,287 61.61% 802 38.39% 485 23.22% 2,089 Pershing 853 70.03% 365 29.97% 488 40.06% 1,218 Storey 508 69.21% 226 30.79% 282 38.42% 734 Washoe 33,539 66.22% 17,106 33.78% 16,433 32.44% 50,645 White Pine 2,446 61.27% 1,546 38.73% 900 22.54% 3,992Totals115,75063.68%66,01636.32%49,73427.36%181,766
See also United States presidential elections in Nevada
References