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The 1972 United States presidential election in Rhode Island took place on November 7, 1972 as part of the 1972 United States presidential election. Voters chose four representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Rhode Island voted for the Republican incumbent, Richard Nixon, over the Democratic challenger, South Dakota Senator George McGovern.  Nixon took 53.00% of the vote to McGovern's 46.81%, a margin of 6.19%. However, this result made Rhode Island about 17% more Democratic than the nation as a whole. This was the second of three elections in which Rhode Island did not vote for the same candidate as neighboring Massachusetts, which recurred only in 1852 and 1980.

As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Providence County voted for the Republican candidate, and Nixon won the county by only 186 votes. This is the most recent presidential election where a Republican presidential candidate was able to win every county in the state of Rhode Island. Nixon was also the most recent Republican presidential candidate to win East Providence and North Providence.

Rhode Island would go on to vote Republican only once more since this election; in 1984, when Ronald Reagan narrowly won the state.

Results

1972 United States presidential election in Rhode Island[1][2]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican Richard Nixon (incumbent) 220,383 53.00% 4
Democratic George McGovern 194,645 46.81% 0
Socialist Workers Linda Jenness 729 0.18% 0
American Independent John G. Schmitz (write-in) 25 0.01% 0
People's Benjamin Spock (write-in) 5 0.00% 0
Libertarian John Hospers (write-in) 2 0.00% 0
Write-ins Scattered (write-ins) 19 0.00% 0
Totals 415,808 100.00% 4
Voter turnout

By county

1972 United States presidential election in Rhode Island (by county) [3]
County Nixon % Nixon # McGovern % McGovern # Others % Others # Total #
Newport 59.8% 19,142 40.1% 12,844 0.2% 49 32,035
Washington 58.5% 19,280 41.4% 13,637 0.2% 62 32,979
Kent 58.2% 40,534 41.6% 29,004 0.2% 115 69,653
Bristol 54.6% 12,009 45.2% 9,928 0.2% 48 21,985
Providence 49.94% 129,418 49.87% 129,232 0.2% 506 259,156

See also

References

  1. ^ Guide to U.S. Elections (p. 848). CQ Press (12 January 2016). December 24, 2015. ISBN 9781483380353. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  2. ^ "1972 Presidential General Election Results - Rhode Island". Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  3. ^ "RI.gov: Election Results". www.ri.gov. Retrieved February 15, 2024.