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1912 United States presidential election in Vermont

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1912 United States presidential election in Vermont

← 1908 November 5, 1912 1916 →
 
Nominee William Howard Taft Theodore Roosevelt Woodrow Wilson
Party Republican Progressive Democratic
Home state Ohio New York New Jersey
Running mate Nicholas Murray Butler Hiram Johnson Thomas R. Marshall
Electoral vote 4 0 0
Popular vote 23,332 22,132 15,354
Percentage 37.13% 35.22% 24.43%


President before election

William Howard Taft
Republican

Elected President

Woodrow Wilson
Democratic

The 1912 United States presidential election in Vermont took place on November 5, 1912, as part of the 1912 United States presidential election which was held throughout all contemporary 48 states. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Vermont was won by the Republican nominees, incumbent President William Howard Taft from Ohio, and his running mate Vice President James S. Sherman from New York. Taft and Sherman defeated the Progressive Party candidates, former President Theodore Roosevelt from New York and his running mate California Governor Hiram Johnson, and the Democratic nominees, New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson and Indiana Governor Thomas R. Marshall.

Taft won the state with a plurality of 37.13%, to Roosevelt's 35.22%, with Wilson in third place at 24.43%. Taft's victory margin over Roosevelt was 1.91%. Historically, Vermont was a bastion of Northeastern Republicanism, and by 1912 it had gone Republican in every presidential election since the founding of the Republican Party. From 1856 to 1908, Vermont had had the longest streak of voting Republican of any state, having never voted Democratic before, and this tradition continued in 1912.

Vermont was one of only two states (along with Utah) to vote for incumbent Republican President William Howard Taft, who was pushed into third place nationally by the strong third-party candidacy of Theodore Roosevelt, a former Republican president who formed his own Bull Moose Party after a failed challenge to Taft for the Republican nod. Taft and Roosevelt split the Republican vote nationally in 1912, with Roosevelt coming in second place behind Wilson nationwide and carrying six states. However, Vermont Republicans proved to be mostly loyal to President Taft as the official Republican nominee, allowing Taft to edge out Roosevelt narrowly to carry the state, leaving Wilson a distant third. Were Taft and Roosevelt voters united behind a single Republican candidate, they would have combined to over 72% of the vote in Vermont.

Socialist candidate Eugene V. Debs, who got 6% of the election vote nationally in 1912, performed much poorer in Vermont with just 1.48% of the vote and finishing in fifth place in Vermont, which was even lower than the 1.74% of the vote won by Prohibition candidate Eugene W. Chafin who finished in fourth in Vermont. However, in the city of Barre, Debs got 24% of the vote, and also got over 12% of the vote within the surrounding town of Barre. Both Barre City and Barre Town are within Washington County, which was Debs' best county in the state by some distance with 5.50%, but which was still below his 6% vote in the election across the nation as a whole. Barre City is the home of the Socialist Labor Party Hall, which was a location for debates among socialists, anarchists and trade union leaders over the future direction of the labor movement in the United States in the early 20th century.

Vermont was the third most Republican state in the nation in 1912, only beaten by Utah and neighboring New Hampshire.[1] However, Taft's margin over Wilson was much greater in Vermont than in Utah or any other state.

Results

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1912 United States presidential election in Vermont[2]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican William Howard Taft (incumbent) 23,332 37.13% 4
Progressive Theodore Roosevelt 22,132 35.22% 0
Democratic Woodrow Wilson 15,354 24.43% 0
Prohibition Eugene W. Chafin 1,095 1.74% 0
Socialist Eugene V. Debs 928 1.48% 0
Totals 62,841 100.00% 4

Results by county

[edit]
William Howard Taft[3]
Republican
Woodrow Wilson[3]
Democratic
Theodore Roosevelt[4]
Progressive "Bull Moose"
Eugene Chafin[5]
Prohibition
Eugene Debs[5]
Socialist
Margin[a] Total votes cast
County # % # % # % # % # % # % #
Addison 1,835 45.34% 621 15.34% 1,487 36.74% 85 2.10% 19 0.47% 348 8.60% 4,047
Bennington 1,464 36.10% 1,057 26.07% 1,380 34.03% 49 1.21% 105 2.59% 84 2.07% 4,055
Caledonia 1,583 32.86% 1,065 22.11% 2,049 42.54% 88 1.83% 32 0.66% -466 -9.67% 4,817
Chittenden 2,368 36.80% 2,266 35.21% 1,663 25.84% 96 1.49% 42 0.65% 102[b] 1.59% 6,435
Essex 463 39.01% 348 29.32% 353 29.74% 13 1.10% 10 0.84% 110 9.27% 1,187
Franklin 1,433 33.16% 1,317 30.48% 1,457 33.72% 89 2.06% 25 0.58% -24 -0.56% 4,321
Grand Isle 193 31.03% 210 33.76% 204 32.80% 9 1.45% 6 0.96% 6[c] 0.96% 622
Lamoille 852 36.04% 431 18.23% 996 42.13% 55 2.33% 30 1.27% -144 -6.09% 2,364
Orange 1,289 34.19% 956 25.36% 1,426 37.82% 67 1.78% 32 0.85% -137 -3.63% 3,770
Orleans 1,475 36.37% 628 15.49% 1,891 46.63% 44 1.09% 17 0.42% -416 -10.26% 4,055
Rutland 2,999 36.03% 2,079 24.98% 2,927 35.16% 240 2.88% 79 0.95% 72 0.86% 8,324
Washington 2,797 41.26% 1,743 25.71% 1,730 25.52% 136 2.01% 373 5.50% 1,054[b] 15.55% 6,779
Windham 2,143 38.25% 1,327 23.69% 2,020 36.06% 45 0.80% 67 1.20% 123 2.20% 5,602
Windsor 2,409 37.48% 1,302 20.26% 2,546 39.61% 79 1.23% 91 1.42% -137 -2.13% 6,427
Totals 23,303 37.10% 15,350 24.44% 22,129 35.23% 1,095 1.74% 928 1.48% 1,174 !1.87% 62,805

Analysis

[edit]

With Taft only winning 37.13% of the vote, he became the first Republican presidential candidate to win Vermont's popular vote with only a plurality. This was also the only time such occurred until Ronald Reagan won Vermont in 1980 with only a plurality of 44.37% of the popular vote. In addition, this was also one of only two times in the state's history (the other being George H. W. Bush's 3.52% victory margin in 1988) that Vermont was decided by a margin of less than 5.00%

Taft carried seven counties in Vermont to Roosevelt's six, while Wilson won only tiny Grand Isle County in the far northwest of the state, with a plurality of less than 40% of the vote. This was the first time that any county in Vermont voted Democratic in a presidential election since the birth of the Republican Party in 1854. This was the first time since Lewis Cass carried Washington County in 1848 that a Democrat had carried any of Vermont's counties as well as the first time since Free Soil Party candidate John P. Hale won Lamoille County in 1852 that a third-party candidate carried any of Vermont's counties and the most recent time such has occurred to date. Consequently, this is the first election since the Republican Party's formation in 1854 that the party failed to win every county in the state.

Vermont was Wilson's weakest state in the nation in terms of percentage of the vote, and was one of only two states where Wilson finished as low as third in 1912, the other being Michigan where Wilson finished a much closer third behind Taft. Since 1912, there has been only one occasion (Bill Clinton in Utah in 1992) where a winning presidential candidate came in third in any of the states that had not seceded into the Confederate States of America. This was the first of two occasions since 1852 that Vermont did not vote for the same candidate as Maine (the other being 1968).

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Because Roosevelt finished ahead of Wilson in Vermont as a whole, all margins give are Taft minus Roosevelt unless stated in the total for the county in question.
  2. ^ a b In this county where Wilson did finish ahead of Roosevelt, margin given is Taft vote minus Wilson vote and percentage margin Taft percentage minus Wilson percentage
  3. ^ In this county where Taft ran third behind both Wilson and Roosevelt, margin given is Wilson vote minus Roosevelt vote and percentage margin Wilson percentage minus Roosevelt percentage

References

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  1. ^ "1912 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  2. ^ "1912 Presidential General Election Results - Vermont". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved August 2, 2013.
  3. ^ a b Robinson, Edgar Eugene; The Presidential Vote; 1896-1932 (second edition); pp. 352-354 Published 1947 by Stanford University Press
  4. ^ Géoelections; 1912 Presidential Election Popular Vote Archived 2018-06-13 at the Wayback Machine (.xlsx file for €15)
  5. ^ a b Géoelections; 1912 Presidential Election Popular Vote for Eugene Debs (.xlsx file for €15)