The 1956 United States presidential election in Mississippi was held on November 6, 1956. Mississippi voters chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Ever since the end of Reconstruction, Mississippi had been a one-party state dominated by the Democratic Party. The Republican Party was virtually nonexistent as a result of disenfranchisement among African Americans and poor whites, including voter intimidation against those who refused to vote Democratic.

From the time of Henry A. Wallace's appointment as vice president and the 1943 Detroit race riots, however, the northern left wing of the Democratic Party became committed to restoring black political rights, a policy vehemently opposed by all Southern Democrats as an infringement upon "states' rights". Consequently, the four states with the highest proportions of (disenfranchised) African-Americans in the populations listed South Carolina Governor James Strom Thurmond instead of national Democratic nominee Harry S. Truman as the "Democratic" nominee in the 1948 presidential election. Although Thurmond easily carried South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana, Truman won the election.

Nevertheless, demands for civil rights legislation continued to intensify during the following eight years, although the pressing issue of the Korean War meant that Southern Democrats did not run a third-party ticket in 1952; however dissatisfaction with Democrat Adlai Stevenson on civil rights meant Dwight Eisenhower (listed as an "Independent" on the 1952 Mississippi ballot)Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections; 1952 Presidential General Election Results – Mississippi gained considerable support from the exclusively white electorate of black belt counties, despite having a virtually identical position on civil rights.

After the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954, however, Mississippi's rulers realized they could not rely on either major party to enforce segregation and white supremacy. The Citizens' Councils sought to map a regional caucus to deal with this issue, but it feared a split as had occurred in 1948. Nevertheless, the Citizens' Councils did place a slate of unpledged electors on the ballot alongside Eisenhower and Stevenson electors, although state officials, especially incumbent Governor James P. Coleman, strongly opposed them.

As of 2024, this is the last time that Clarke County, Lauderdale County, Lamar County, Lincoln County, Lowndes County, Newton County, Rankin County, Scott County, and Simpson County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.

Polls SourceRankingAs ofFort Worth Star-TelegramNovember 2, 1956The Clarion-LedgerNovember 4, 1956The Daily HeraldNovember 5, 1956

Results 1956 United States presidential election in MississippiDave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections; 1956 Presidential General Election Results – MississippiPartyCandidateVotesPercentageElectoral votes Democrat Adlai Stevenson II 144,498 58.23% 8 Mississippi Republican/Black and Tan GOP Dwight D. Eisenhower (incumbent) 60,685 24.46% 0 Dixiecrat Unpledged electors 42,966 17.31% 0 Totals 248,149 100.00% 8

Results by county CountyAdlai StevensonDemocraticDwight D. EisenhowerRepublicanUnpledged ElectorsStates’ RightsMarginTotal votes cast # % # % # % # % Adams 1,279 31.24% 1,664 40.64% 1,151 28.11% -385 -9.40% 4,094 Alcorn 3,143 77.19% 827 20.31% 102 2.50% 2,316 56.88% 4,072 Amite 802 46.74% 255 14.86% 659 38.40% 143 8.34% 1,716 Attala 1,793 67.46% 445 16.74% 420 15.80% 1,348 50.72% 2,658 Benton 786 83.26% 108 11.44% 50 5.30% 678 71.82% 944 Bolivar 1,176 33.49% 754 21.48% 1,581 45.03% -405 -11.54% 3,511 Calhoun 1,763 79.52% 301 13.58% 153 6.90% 1,462 65.94% 2,217 Carroll 1,080 69.63% 234 15.09% 237 15.28% 843 54.35% 1,551 Chickasaw 1,650 80.25% 231 11.24% 175 8.51% 1,419 69.01% 2,056 Choctaw 1,117 79.56% 221 15.74% 66 4.70% 896 63.82% 1,404 Claiborne 339 41.24% 191 23.24% 292 35.52% 47 5.72% 822 Clarke 1,763 73.24% 500 20.77% 144 5.98% 1,263 52.47% 2,407 Clay 1,225 54.52% 410 18.25% 612 27.24% 613 27.28% 2,247 Coahoma 1,677 50.83% 1,082 32.80% 540 16.37% 595 18.03% 3,299 Copiah 1,270 55.12% 387 16.80% 647 28.08% 623 27.04% 2,304 Covington 1,382 67.38% 386 18.82% 283 13.80% 996 48.56% 2,051 DeSoto 1,236 66.96% 398 21.56% 212 11.48% 838 45.40% 1,846 Forrest 1,928 32.06% 2,256 37.52% 1,829 30.42% -328 -5.46% 6,013 Franklin 862 55.83% 177 11.46% 505 32.71% 357 23.12% 1,544 George 1,150 69.24% 403 24.26% 108 6.50% 747 44.98% 1,661 Greene 734 59.72% 351 28.56% 144 11.72% 383 31.16% 1,229 Grenada 949 43.37% 407 18.60% 832 38.03% 117 5.34% 2,188 Hancock 1,179 44.09% 1,421 53.14% 74 2.77% -242 -9.05% 2,674 Harrison 6,549 50.37% 5,742 44.17% 710 5.46% 807 6.20% 13,001 Hinds 7,104 35.03% 7,015 34.59% 6,159 30.37% 89 0.44% 20,278 Holmes 872 40.77% 215 10.05% 1,052 49.18% -180 -8.41% 2,139 Humphreys 576 44.51% 127 9.81% 591 45.67% -15 -1.16% 1,294 Issaquena 172 59.52% 42 14.53% 75 25.95% 97 33.57% 289 Itawamba 2,310 86.68% 298 11.18% 57 2.14% 2,012 75.50% 2,665 Jackson 3,882 56.21% 2,692 38.98% 332 4.81% 1,190 17.23% 6,906 Jasper 1,958 80.08% 287 11.74% 200 8.18% 1,671 68.34% 2,445 Jefferson 440 45.74% 189 19.65% 333 34.62% 107 11.12% 962 Jefferson Davis 1,049 73.41% 156 10.92% 224 15.68% 825 57.73% 1,429 Jones 5,137 62.17% 2,463 29.81% 663 8.02% 2,674 32.36% 8,263 Kemper 1,586 87.00% 173 9.49% 64 3.51% 1,413 77.51% 1,823 Lafayette 1,968 72.86% 575 21.29% 158 5.85% 1,393 51.57% 2,701 Lamar 805 46.86% 429 24.97% 484 28.17% 321 18.69% 1,718 Lauderdale 5,414 59.32% 2,817 30.86% 896 9.82% 2,597 28.46% 9,127 Lawrence 1,025 67.48% 276 18.17% 218 14.35% 749 49.31% 1,519 Leake 2,475 82.53% 220 7.34% 304 10.14% 2,171 72.39% 2,999 Lee 3,883 75.30% 929 18.01% 345 6.69% 2,954 57.29% 5,157 Leflore 1,769 49.30% 887 24.72% 932 25.98% 837 23.32% 3,588 Lincoln 1,942 51.47% 848 22.48% 983 26.05% 959 25.42% 3,773 Lowndes 2,308 55.94% 1,205 29.21% 613 14.86% 1,103 26.73% 4,126 Madison 996 41.59% 377 15.74% 1,022 42.67% -26 -1.08% 2,395 Marion 1,751 57.75% 611 20.15% 670 22.10% 1,081 35.65% 3,032 Marshall 1,192 70.37% 287 16.94% 215 12.69% 905 53.43% 1,694 Monroe 3,630 78.50% 705 15.25% 289 6.25% 2,925 63.25% 4,624 Montgomery 1,134 63.74% 278 15.63% 367 20.63% 767 43.11% 1,779 Neshoba 2,827 77.90% 502 13.83% 300 8.27% 2,325 64.07% 3,629 Newton 2,359 75.46% 360 11.52% 407 13.02% 1,952 62.44% 3,126 Noxubee 690 52.27% 257 19.47% 373 28.26% 317 24.01% 1,320 Oktibbeha 1,552 58.79% 702 26.59% 386 14.62% 850 32.20% 2,640 Panola 1,741 66.17% 519 19.73% 371 14.10% 1,222 46.44% 2,631 Pearl River 1,274 44.73% 1,129 39.64% 445 15.63% 145 5.09% 2,848 Perry 581 52.82% 347 31.55% 172 15.64% 234 21.27% 1,100 Pike 1,714 41.74% 1,210 29.47% 1,182 28.79% 504 12.27% 4,106 Pontotoc 2,320 82.50% 335 11.91% 157 5.58% 1,985 70.59% 2,812 Prentiss 1,942 80.95% 383 15.96% 74 3.08% 1,559 64.99% 2,399 Quitman 954 63.64% 276 18.41% 269 17.95% 678 45.23% 1,499 Rankin 1,537 49.76% 556 18.00% 996 32.24% 541 17.52% 3,089 Scott 2,077 65.50% 503 15.86% 591 18.64% 1,486 46.86% 3,171 Sharkey 308 37.02% 211 25.36% 313 37.62% -5 -0.60% 832 Simpson 2,140 67.11% 467 14.64% 582 18.25% 1,558 48.86% 3,189 Smith 2,055 80.81% 277 10.89% 211 8.30% 1,778 69.92% 2,543 Stone 761 65.15% 293 25.09% 114 9.76% 468 40.06% 1,168 Sunflower 1,585 50.80% 520 16.67% 1,015 32.53% 570 18.27% 3,120 Tallahatchie 1,969 73.28% 341 12.69% 377 14.03% 1,592 59.25% 2,687 Tate 1,414 80.85% 171 9.78% 164 9.38% 1,243 71.07% 1,749 Tippah 2,569 86.94% 287 9.71% 99 3.35% 2,282 77.23% 2,955 Tishomingo 1,577 72.67% 516 23.78% 77 3.55% 1,061 48.89% 2,170 Tunica 470 56.22% 200 23.92% 166 19.86% 270 32.30% 836 Union 2,882 82.48% 427 12.22% 185 5.29% 2,455 70.26% 3,494 Walthall 1,143 66.26% 306 17.74% 276 16.00% 837 48.52% 1,725 Warren 1,857 34.85% 2,419 45.40% 1,052 19.74% -562 -10.55% 5,328 Washington 2,722 49.58% 1,973 35.94% 795 14.48% 749 13.64% 5,490 Wayne 1,493 70.13% 373 17.52% 263 12.35% 1,120 52.61% 2,129 Webster 1,412 80.92% 188 10.77% 145 8.31% 1,224 70.15% 1,745 Wilkinson 260 30.55% 240 28.20% 351 41.25% -91 -10.70% 851 Winston 2,132 78.82% 361 13.35% 212 7.84% 1,771 65.47% 2,705 Yalobusha 1,015 59.85% 414 24.41% 267 15.74% 601 35.44% 1,696Yazoo 911 29.50% 370 11.98% 1,807 58.52% -896 -29.02% 3,088Totals144,49858.23%60,68524.46%42,96617.31%83,81333.77%248,149

Counties that flipped from Republican to Unpledged Bolivar Madison Sharkey Wilkinson

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Claiborne Hinds Jefferson LeFlore Lowndes Noxubee Pike Washington

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Unpledged Holmes Humphreys Yazoo

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican Hancock

Analysis Ultimately Mississippi was to vote for Stevenson by a convincing margin of 33.76 points, as the 1952 Eisenhower vote in the black belt was substantially turned over to the unpledged slate, whilst Stevenson held almost all of the vote he received in 1952. Mississippi was Stevenson's second-strongest state behind Georgia and in terms of popular vote Eisenhower's weakest.

As of the 2024 presidential race, 1956 is the last time a Democrat has won a majority of the vote in Mississippi. The party's increasing embrace of civil rights for blacks would turn the state over to another unpledged slate in 1960, then overwhelmingly to the Republican nominee Barry Goldwater in 1964, who had been one of only six Republicans to vote against the Civil Rights Act. With the enfranchisement of the state's blacks via the Voting Rights Act, the majority white population would overwhelmingly move toward the Republican Party.See Since 1964 only Jimmy Carter in 1976 has carried Mississippi for the Democratic Party—and even Southern evangelical Carter's performance was his third-weakest in the extended South behind his narrow losses in Virginia and Oklahoma.

No Democratic presidential nominee has carried the following counties since Stevenson did so in this election: Lamar, Lauderdale, Lincoln, Lowndes, Newton, Rankin, Scott and Simpson. Stevenson is also the last Democrat to carry Clarke County outright, but Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan tied there with 3,303 votes apiece in 1980. Oktibbeha County would not vote Democratic again until Barack Obama carried it in 2008. This is also the last election in which the Democratic nominee carried Mississippi without winning the presidency or that a Republican won two terms without ever winning the state.

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