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The 1972 United States presidential election in South Dakota 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.

South Dakota was the home state of George McGovern, the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 United States presidential election.

Although McGovern, a member of the liberal wing of his party in a relatively conservative state, was at the time of the election a popular two-term Senator, having won re-election in 1968 with 56.8% of the vote, he lost the presidential vote here to incumbent Republican President Richard Nixon. McGovern's loss was heavily influenced by voter opposition to his perceived far-left ideology. Despite his loss in South Dakota, it was the only state that voted more Democratic in 1972 than it had in 1968. South Dakota was McGovern's fourth strongest state after Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Minnesota.[1]

McGovern's loss of South Dakota made him the second candidate in four years to lose his state of birth (in 1968 Hubert Humphrey also lost South Dakota, where he was born) and residence (also in 1968 Richard Nixon lost New York, where he then lived). McGovern remained the last candidate to lose his state of residence until 2000, when Al Gore lost his home state of Tennessee. Mitt Romney would also lose his then-home state of Massachusetts in 2012 to Barack Obama, and Donald Trump would lose his then-home state of New York in 2016, to Hillary Clinton (who also lived in New York).

Bon Homme, Deuel, Davison, Clay, Edmunds, Hanson, McCook, Moody, Sanborn, and Union counties all flipped to McGovern, twice the amount he flipped elsewhere nationwide. South Dakota voted in this election as nearly 15 points more Democratic than the nation at-large, a significant historical anomaly considering that the state normally leans very heavily Republican. In fact, this election marked one of only four times since statehood that South Dakota voted to the left of the nation, and the state is tied for the longest Republican streak in presidential elections.

Results

Electoral results
Presidential candidate Party Home state Popular vote Electoral
vote
Running mate
Count Percentage Vice-presidential candidate Home state Electoral vote
Richard Nixon Republican California 166,476 54.15% 4 Spiro Agnew Maryland 4
George McGovern Democratic South Dakota 139,945 45.52% 0 Sargent Shriver Maryland 0
Linda Jenness Independent[a] Georgia 994 0.34% 0 Andrew Pulley Illinois 0
Total 307,415 100% 538 538
Needed to win 270 270

Results by county

County[2] Richard Milhous Nixon
Republican
George Stanley McGovern
Democratic
Linda Jenness
Independent
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # %
Aurora 1,075 45.96% 1,257 53.74% 7 0.30% -182 -7.78% 2,339
Beadle 5,922 57.81% 4,297 41.95% 25 0.24% 1,625 15.86% 10,244
Bennett 808 62.83% 476 37.01% 2 0.16% 332 25.82% 1,286
Bon Homme 2,116 47.10% 2,368 52.70% 9 0.20% -252 -5.61% 4,493
Brookings 5,182 52.26% 4,701 47.41% 33 0.33% 481 4.85% 9,916
Brown 8,134 49.44% 8,216 49.94% 101 0.61% -82 -0.50% 16,451
Brule 1,421 45.88% 1,665 53.76% 11 0.36% -244 -7.88% 3,097
Buffalo 221 44.47% 275 55.33% 1 0.20% -54 -10.87% 497
Butte 2,452 68.82% 1,085 30.45% 26 0.73% 1,367 38.37% 3,563
Campbell 1,169 76.06% 361 23.49% 7 0.46% 808 52.57% 1,537
Charles Mix 2,020 42.79% 2,691 57.00% 10 0.21% -671 -14.21% 4,721
Clark 1,617 54.59% 1,336 45.10% 9 0.30% 281 9.49% 2,962
Clay 2,518 47.05% 2,821 52.71% 13 0.24% -303 -5.66% 5,352
Codington 4,936 51.61% 4,601 48.11% 27 0.28% 335 3.50% 9,564
Corson 975 58.28% 689 41.18% 9 0.54% 286 17.10% 1,673
Custer 1,476 64.48% 798 34.86% 15 0.66% 678 29.62% 2,289
Davison 3,796 44.50% 4,710 55.21% 25 0.29% -914 -10.71% 8,531
Day 1,971 41.95% 2,719 57.86% 9 0.19% -748 -15.92% 4,699
Deuel 1,357 49.60% 1,370 50.07% 9 0.33% -13 -0.48% 2,736
Dewey 1,008 58.88% 699 40.83% 5 0.29% 309 18.05% 1,712
Douglas 1,434 61.68% 887 38.15% 4 0.17% 547 23.53% 2,325
Edmunds 1,567 48.73% 1,646 51.18% 3 0.09% -79 -2.46% 3,216
Fall River 2,374 67.89% 1,107 31.66% 16 0.46% 1,267 36.23% 3,497
Faulk 1,004 50.07% 986 49.18% 15 0.75% 18 0.90% 2,005
Grant 2,247 50.04% 2,231 49.69% 12 0.27% 16 0.36% 4,490
Gregory 1,670 51.59% 1,555 48.04% 12 0.37% 115 3.55% 3,237
Haakon 1,021 73.14% 366 26.22% 9 0.64% 655 46.92% 1,396
Hamlin 1,693 56.85% 1,276 42.85% 9 0.30% 417 14.00% 2,978
Hand 1,806 57.90% 1,307 41.90% 6 0.19% 499 16.00% 3,119
Hanson 876 45.96% 1,022 53.62% 8 0.42% -146 -7.66% 1,906
Harding 637 71.57% 253 28.43% 0 0.00% 384 43.15% 890
Hughes 4,231 67.35% 2,037 32.43% 14 0.22% 2,194 34.93% 6,282
Hutchinson 3,092 57.82% 2,248 42.03% 8 0.15% 844 15.78% 5,348
Hyde 789 59.50% 533 40.20% 4 0.30% 256 19.31% 1,326
Jackson 581 68.68% 261 30.85% 4 0.47% 320 37.83% 846
Jerauld 988 54.29% 829 45.55% 3 0.16% 159 8.74% 1,820
Jones 642 64.39% 346 34.70% 9 0.90% 296 29.69% 997
Kingsbury 2,320 58.62% 1,632 41.23% 6 0.15% 688 17.38% 3,958
Lake 2,919 50.14% 2,886 49.57% 17 0.29% 33 0.57% 5,822
Lawrence 4,795 65.22% 2,533 34.45% 24 0.33% 2,262 30.77% 7,352
Lincoln 3,201 54.92% 2,617 44.90% 10 0.17% 584 10.02% 5,828
Lyman 1,166 59.98% 774 39.81% 4 0.21% 392 20.16% 1,944
Marshall 1,500 47.66% 1,646 52.30% 1 0.03% -146 -4.64% 3,147
McCook 1,963 49.53% 1,993 50.29% 7 0.18% -30 -0.76% 3,963
McPherson 1,950 76.92% 579 22.84% 6 0.24% 1,371 54.08% 2,535
Meade 3,416 67.24% 1,633 32.15% 31 0.61% 1,783 35.10% 5,080
Mellette 637 59.20% 433 40.24% 6 0.56% 204 18.96% 1,076
Miner 1,059 44.03% 1,337 55.59% 9 0.37% -278 -11.56% 2,405
Minnehaha 22,447 49.90% 22,386 49.76% 155 0.34% 61 0.14% 44,988
Moody 1,648 46.37% 1,895 53.32% 11 0.31% -247 -6.95% 3,554
Pennington 13,654 61.16% 8,592 38.48% 80 0.36% 5,062 22.67% 22,326
Perkins 1,691 65.09% 900 34.64% 7 0.27% 791 30.45% 2,598
Potter 1,389 61.65% 858 38.08% 6 0.27% 531 23.57% 2,253
Roberts 2,187 42.29% 2,976 57.54% 9 0.17% -789 -15.26% 5,172
Sanborn 1,064 49.60% 1,074 50.07% 7 0.33% -10 -0.47% 2,145
Shannon 356 22.10% 1,246 77.34% 9 0.56% -890 -55.25% 1,611
Spink 2,547 52.19% 2,321 47.56% 12 0.25% 226 4.63% 4,880
Stanley 779 60.95% 492 38.50% 7 0.55% 287 22.46% 1,278
Sully 773 64.90% 414 34.76% 4 0.34% 359 30.14% 1,191
Todd 806 46.78% 907 52.64% 10 0.58% -101 -5.86% 1,723
Tripp 2,592 62.73% 1,538 37.22% 2 0.05% 1,054 25.51% 4,132
Turner 3,007 60.02% 1,993 39.78% 10 0.20% 1,014 20.24% 5,010
Union 2,271 46.90% 2,554 52.75% 17 0.35% -283 -5.84% 4,842
Walworth 2,416 65.10% 1,287 34.68% 8 0.22% 1,129 30.42% 3,711
Washabaugh 245 53.73% 211 46.27% 0 0.00% 34 7.46% 456
Yankton 4,366 53.08% 3,835 46.63% 24 0.29% 531 6.46% 8,225
Ziebach 486 55.86% 378 43.45% 6 0.69% 108 12.41% 870
Totals 166,476 54.15% 139,945 45.52% 994 0.32% 26,531 8.63% 307,415

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Jenness was the nominee of the Socialist Workers Party, but appeared on the ballot in South Dakota as an independent candidate.

References