A presidential election was held in Indiana on November 6, 1928, as part of the 1928 United States presidential election. The Republican ticket of the U.S. secretary of commerce Herbert Hoover and the senior U.S. senator from Kansas Charles Curtis defeated the Democratic ticket of the governor of New York Al Smith and the senior U.S. senator from Arkansas Joseph T. Robinson. Hoover defeated Smith in the national election with 444 electoral votes.
Indiana was seen as critical to Smith's chances in the national election; however, by early July, observers predicted that the opposition of the politically powerful Indiana Ku Klux Klan and the Anti-Saloon League would make it impossible for Smith to carry the state. Hoover blamed Democrats and the Federal Reserve System for the interwar farm crisis in a campaign visit to Indiana in late August, but the Indiana Farm Bureau did not endorse either ticket. Smith's Catholicism, opposition to Prohibition, and association with Tammany Hall alienated progressives who branded the candidate as a "patron of gambling and vice." Anti-Catholic dog whistles marked the Republican campaign in Indiana, leading Protestants across denominational lines to vote for Hoover. Hoover's national surrogates warned that Smith would "flood the nation with unsavory immigrants," create an epidemic of alcoholism, and open the path to state socialism. When Smith's train crossed into Indiana, he was greeted by a burning cross visible from the window of his car.
Background Partisan coalitions in Indiana at the turn of the century reflected the regional, ethnic, and religious roots of the settler population, with the descendants of White Southerners, German Americans, and Irish Americans (especially Catholics) voting reliably Democratic, while Yankees, Nordic and Scandinavian Americans, and British Americans favored the Republican Party. Southern Indiana leaned Democratic and Northern Indiana leaned Republican, in line with the loose correlation between ethnicity and geography. The state's notable concentration of German Catholics contributed to its closeness in presidential elections during the Third Party System relative to other Lower North states. William Jennings Bryan's 1896 presidential campaign saw the state move more securely into the Republican column, as German Catholics alienated by Bryan's outspoken Evangelicalism, conservatives unnerved by the candidate's agrarian radicalism, and urban workers frightened by threats of mass layoffs in the event of a Bryan victory voted Republican for the first time. Following this political realignment, Woodrow Wilson became the only Democrat to carry Indiana during the Fourth Party System (1896–1932) in 1912. Republican support remained greater in urban areas than in rural areas based on the strength of Republican urban political machines.
Primary elections Republican Party
Democratic Party
General election Summary Indiana chose 15 electors on a statewide general ticket. State law required voters to elect each member of the Electoral College individually, rather than as a group. This sometimes resulted in small differences in the number of votes cast for electors pledged to the same presidential candidate, if some voters did not vote for all the electors nominated by a party. The following table quotes the official returns published by the secretary of state of Indiana, which list the votes for the first elector on each ticket.
Results + 1928 United States presidential election in Indiana Ticket Electors for Candidate Votes Republican Arthur Binford 848,290 Republican Morris Ritchie 841,131 Republican Frank Gilkison 838,832 Republican James Boonshot 838,816 Republican Horace M. Trueblood 838,762 Republican William A. Guthrie 838,609 Republican Gail Roberts 838,384 Republican Benjamin F. Long 838,210 Republican Bert McKinney 838,145 Republican William M. Griffin 838,037 Republican G. Andrew Golden 838,029 Republican Charles W. Hanley 837,989 Republican Charles O. Roemler 837,807 Republican Harvey R. Swisher 837,565 Republican Oliver M. Kinnison 836,401 Democratic Meredith Nicholson 562,691 Democratic Robert W. Miers 561,316 Democratic George Badger 561,079 Democratic Lon E. Bernethy 560,758 Democratic Ephraim K. Strong 560,432 Democratic Leonard B. Marshall 560,362 Democratic Samuel E. Rauh 560,308 Democratic Jacob B. Cunningham 560,264 Democratic George W. Rauch 560,252 Democratic Samuel L. Trabue 560,195 Democratic Charles DeHority 560,183 Democratic James L. Romack 560,052 Democratic Michael F. Bohland 559,994 Democratic A. Clarence Thomas 559,283 Democratic Frederick Van Nuys 558,154 Prohibition Basil L. Allen 5,496 Prohibition Henry S. Bonsib 5,199 Prohibition Harlen Merrick 5,139 Prohibition John E. Thompson 5,106 Prohibition Jennie Brown 5,095 Prohibition Oliver P. Allen 5,091 Prohibition William F. Webster 5,090 Prohibition Ross S. Davis 5,080 Prohibition Stafford E. Homan 5,077 Prohibition James Robinette 5,053 Prohibition Morris Himler 5,042 Prohibition Margaretha M. Nold 5,004 Prohibition William Johnson 4,873 Prohibition William Elliot 4,867 Prohibition Samuel A. Kiger 4,863 Socialist Laura A. Allen 3,871 Socialist Ellsworth B. Mitten 3,713 Socialist William J. McMillen 3,711 Socialist Oscar Swiveley 3,708 Socialist George M. Larrair 3,705 Socialist Francisco D. Edwards 3,704 Socialist George G. Tilley 3,702 Socialist Doneto Ballerini 3,698 Socialist Silas Woods 3,691 Socialist Ingersol S. Walker 3,690 Socialist Gustav Pfoffman 3,680 Socialist Jacob E. Schrader 3,668 Socialist Forrest Wallace 3,592 Socialist Eugene Cooney 3,583 Socialist Joseph M. Arrington 3,574 Socialist Labor Alexander Burkhardt 645 Socialist Labor Roland Stevens 634 Workers Bertha Garner 321 Workers Blagoy Philips 314
Results by county