The 1912 United States presidential election in Michigan took place on November 5, 1912, as part of the 1912 United States presidential election. Voters chose 15 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Following the Panic of 1893 and the Populist movement, Michigan would turn from a competitive Republican-leaning state into a rigidly one-party polity dominated by the Republican Party. The dominance of the culture of the Lower Peninsula by anti-slavery YankeesEnglish, Gustavus P.; Proceedings of the Ninth Republican National Convention (1888), p. 234 would be augmented by the turn of formerly Democratic-leaning German Catholics away from that party as a result of the remodelled party's agrarian and free silver sympathies, which became rigidly opposed by both the upper class and workers who followed them. The state Democratic Party was further crippled via the Populist movement severing its critical financial ties with business and commerce in Michigan as in other Northern states. A brief turn of the strongly evangelical Cabinet Counties toward the Populist movement in the 1896 presidential election would reverse itself following the return to prosperity under President William McKinley, so that these joined in Republican hegemony until the Great Depression.
In the 1894 elections, the Democratic Party lost all but one seat in the Michigan legislature, and the party would only make minor gains there for the next third of a century. Unlike the other states of the Upper Midwest, the Yankee influence on the culture of the Lower Peninsula was so strong that left-wing third parties did not provide significant opposition to the Republicans, nor was there more than a moderate degree of coordinated factionalism within the hegemonic Michigan Republican Party.
The state was not seriously affected by the split within the nationally dominant Republican Party during the Taft presidency. Only two of its ten Republican Congressmen were amongst the “Insurgents” who aligned with a revived Democratic Party. However, during 1911 state Governor Chase Osborn became one of the first politicians to work for a return of Theodore Roosevelt to the White House, and would soon call for both incumbent President Taft and rival progressive Robert M. La Follette to withdraw for Roosevelt to gain the nomination outright. Roosevelt would also soon gain the support of state party leader Frank Knox, although Taft supporters would dominate the state at actual party conventions. The state's few Democratic delegates backed eventual nominee, Princeton University President Woodrow Wilson of Virginia.Chace; 1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft and Debs, p. 156
Former president Theodore Roosevelt and his Progressive Party campaigned extensively in the state during OctoberChace; 1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft and Debs, p. 229 but early polls had Wilson making a close race even in this most Republican of states. Indeed, during October the state was viewed as close between Roosevelt and Wilson, or even seeing Wilson ahead. However, Michigan was actually comfortably won by Roosevelt and running mate governor of California Hiram Johnson, with 38.95 percent of the popular vote, against the incumbent president William Howard Taft (R–Ohio), and running mate Columbia University President Nicholas Murray Butler, with 27.63 percent of the popular vote. Wilson and running mate governor of Indiana Thomas R. Marshall finished third with 27.36 percent.
Results + General Election ResultsMichigan State Archives, Canvass of the votes given at the General Election, held in the State of Michigan on Tuesday the Fifth day of November A.D. 1912Party Pledged to Elector Votes National Progressive Theodore Roosevelt Gustavus D. Pope214,584 National Progressive Theodore Roosevelt Walter S. Powers213,238 National Progressive Theodore Roosevelt Edmund S. Black213,194 National Progressive Theodore Roosevelt Fred R. Belknap213,188 National Progressive Theodore Roosevelt Gilbert T. Haan213,165 National Progressive Theodore Roosevelt Owen D. Randall213,157 National Progressive Theodore Roosevelt Sherman D. Eldred213,151 National Progressive Theodore Roosevelt Virgil Hungerford213,143 National Progressive Theodore Roosevelt Frederick M. Churchill213,140 National Progressive Theodore Roosevelt John Vanderlaar213,091 National Progressive Theodore Roosevelt Charles C. DeCamp213,089 National Progressive Theodore Roosevelt Frederick C. Matthews213,052 National Progressive Theodore Roosevelt Luther G. Beckwith213,051 National Progressive Theodore Roosevelt Henry S. Dean212,599 National Progressive Theodore Roosevelt Gates G. Burt209,782 Republican William Howard Taft William Livingston152,244 Republican William Howard Taft James R. Johnson151,485 Republican William Howard Taft Henry M. Zimmerman151,475 Republican William Howard Taft Walter R. Taylor151,412 Republican William Howard Taft Thomas M. Koon151,398 Republican William Howard Taft Andrew B. Dougherty151,389 Republican William Howard Taft John N. Bagley151,385 Republican William Howard Taft Thomas R. Welch151,352 Republican William Howard Taft Elliott T. Slocum151,346 Republican William Howard Taft Judd Yelland151,335 Republican William Howard Taft Wilmer T. Culver151,319 Republican William Howard Taft George W. McCormick151,318 Republican William Howard Taft Harry T. Wickes151,317 Republican William Howard Taft Rudolph Dueltgen151,297 Republican William Howard Taft Silas G. Antisdale151,282 Democratic Woodrow Wilson Andrew J. Dovel150,751 Democratic Woodrow Wilson Charles R. Sligh150,290 Democratic Woodrow Wilson John V. Sheehan150,260 Democratic Woodrow Wilson Henry Blackwell150,254 Democratic Woodrow Wilson John Strong150,221 Democratic Woodrow Wilson James W. Henry150,204 Democratic Woodrow Wilson Thomas A. Carton150,192 Democratic Woodrow Wilson Benjamin R. Alward150,181 Democratic Woodrow Wilson Arthur A. Graves150,157 Democratic Woodrow Wilson Frank S. Treat150,152 Democratic Woodrow Wilson John T. Winship150,148 Democratic Woodrow Wilson John D. Cuddihy150,130 Democratic Woodrow Wilson Benjamin H. Halstead150,126 Democratic Woodrow Wilson George W. Crouter150,094 Democratic Woodrow Wilson Daniel W. Goodenough147,659 Socialist Eugene V. Debs Ida Kummerfield23,211 Socialist Eugene V. Debs George H. Sherman23,067 Socialist Eugene V. Debs Joseph W. Blair23,058 Socialist Eugene V. Debs Herman Mack23,057 Socialist Eugene V. Debs William H. Knox23,052 Socialist Eugene V. Debs Orville Gillette23,051 Socialist Eugene V. Debs Alice McAfee23,051 Socialist Eugene V. Debs William Krause23,041 Socialist Eugene V. Debs David W. Walker23,037 Socialist Eugene V. Debs Frank Aaltonen23,030 Socialist Eugene V. Debs Archie Morse23,030 Socialist Eugene V. Debs C. Edward dell23,021 Socialist Eugene V. Debs Edgar M. Curry22,989 Socialist Eugene V. Debs Ira Welch22,972 Socialist Eugene V. Debs Frank Ardern22,795 Prohibition Eugene W. Chafin John Russell8,934 Prohibition Eugene W. Chafin Samuel Dickie8,841 Prohibition Eugene W. Chafin Edward S. Townsend8,798 Prohibition Eugene W. Chafin Milton G. Wylie8,790 Prohibition Eugene W. Chafin William J. Faull8,784 Prohibition Eugene W. Chafin John F. Eesley8,782 Prohibition Eugene W. Chafin William G. Randall8,782 Prohibition Eugene W. Chafin Horace J. Gilbert8,781 Prohibition Eugene W. Chafin Leroy H. White8,780 Prohibition Eugene W. Chafin Charles Bartlett8,777 Prohibition Eugene W. Chafin Isaac N. Shepherd8,773 Prohibition Eugene W. Chafin Oliver B. Walter8,769 Prohibition Eugene W. Chafin Raymond H. Briggs8,764 Prohibition Eugene W. Chafin Edward S. Saymond8,745 Prohibition Eugene W. Chafin Oliver A. Rowland8,724 Socialist Labor Arthur Reimer Hugh B. Reed1,252 Socialist Labor Arthur Reimer Charles Wolberg1,225Votes cast 550,976
Results by county The results below are those for the highest elector on each ticket. The results listed in the 1913-1914 Michigan Manual are a "general average" for each ticket and thus not the "true" results.