1896 United States presidential election in New Jersey

Summary

The 1896 United States presidential election in New Jersey took place on November 3, 1896. Voters chose 10 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

1896 United States presidential election in New Jersey

← 1892 November 3, 1896 1900 →
 
Nominee William McKinley William Jennings Bryan
Party Republican Democratic
Home state Ohio Nebraska
Running mate Garret Hobart Arthur Sewall
Electoral vote 10 0
Popular vote 221,535 133,695
Percentage 59.68% 36.02%

County Results

President before election

Grover Cleveland
Democratic

Elected President

William McKinley
Republican

New Jersey voted for the Republican nominee, former governor of Ohio William McKinley, over the Democratic nominee, former U.S. Representative from Nebraska William Jennings Bryan. McKinley won the state by a margin of 23.66%, making him the first Republican presidential candidate since Ulysses S. Grant in 1872 to carry the state.

Bryan, running on a platform of free silver, appealed strongly to Western miners and farmers in the 1896 election, but had little appeal in Northeastern states like New Jersey.

This was a realigning election for New Jersey, as it was for the nation. From 1852 to 1892, the Democrats had carried the state all but once – in Ulysses S. Grant's 1872 landslide – and only in 1860 had any other candidates won any electoral votes at all.[1] New Jersey, as an industrial Mid-Atlantic state, was strongly in favor of the gold standard. Up until 1896, the Democrats had nominated candidates favorable to that notion, and to the state at large. In the ten elections between 1852 and 1892, the Democrats nominated a New Yorker in six (Horatio Seymour in 1868, Horace Greeley in 1872, Samuel J. Tilden in 1876, and Grover Cleveland in 1884, 1888, and 1892). In another three, a candidate from another Mid-Atlantic state was nominated by the Democrats: James Buchanan and Winfield Hancock of Pennsylvania in 1856 and 1880, and New Jersey's own George McClellan in 1864. The only exception occurred in 1860 when the Democrats were completely split between Breckinridge and Douglas.[2]

Beginning in 1896, the Democratic party dramatically shifted away from supporting business interests to supporting the interests of farmers and miners of the south and west.[3] As the issue of bimetallism – whether to allow silver to be used as currency in addition to gold[4] – split the country along regional boundaries, New Jersey went with the pro-gold standard and pro-business Republicans. In the ensuing "System of 1896" that lasted until the Great Depression realignment of 1932, Republicans won the state in all but one election: when New Jersey's own governor, Woodrow Wilson, was the Democratic nominee in 1912. Even then, Wilson was barely able to overcome New Jersey's Republican lean, winning with a tiny plurality of 41.20 percent of the vote due to the Republican split between Progressive Teddy Roosevelt and conservative William Howard Taft.[5]

Beyond even the 4th party system, New Jersey retained the Republican bent it acquired in 1896 for the next century: in the twentieth century, Democrats only won New Jersey nine times, while Republicans won sixteen times. On all but three of these occasions (the Democratic landslides of 1936, 1964, and 1996) the margin of victory was less than 10 points. Even Franklin Roosevelt only barely won the state in 1932, 1940, and 1944. Beginning with Bill Clinton's massive victory in 1996, the state would return to the Democratic fold with the rest of the Northeast during the twenty-first century.

Bryan would lose New Jersey to McKinley again four years later and would later lose the state again in 1908 to William Howard Taft.

Results edit

1896 United States presidential election in New Jersey[6]
Party Candidate Running mate Popular vote Electoral vote
Count % Count %
Republican William McKinley of Ohio Garret Hobart of New Jersey 221,535 59.68% 10 100.00%
Democratic William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska Arthur Sewall of Maine 133,695 36.02% 0 0.00%
National Democratic John McAuley Palmer of Illinois Simon Bolivar Buckner of Kentucky 6,378 1.72% 0 0.00%
Prohibition Charles Eugene Bentley of Nebraska James Haywood Southgate of North Carolina 5,617 1.51% 0 0.00%
Socialist Labor Charles Horatio Matchett of New York Matthew Maguire of New Jersey 3,986 1.07% 0 0.00%
Total 371,211 100.00% 10 100.00%

Results by county edit

County William McKinley
Republican
William Jennings Bryan
Democratic
John McAuley Palmer
National Democratic
Various candidates
Other parties
Margin Total votes cast[7]
# % # % # % # % # %
Atlantic 5,005 66.06% 2,233 29.47% 119 1.57% 219 2.89% 2,772 36.59% 7,576
Bergen 8,545 62.07% 4,531 32.91% 451 3.28% 239 1.74% 4,014 29.16% 13,766
Burlington 9,371 63.70% 4,610 31.33% 406 2.76% 325 2.21% 4,761 32.36% 14,712
Camden 16,395 69.64% 6,380 27.10% 280 1.19% 487 2.07% 10,015 42.54% 23,542
Cape May 2,136 65.48% 929 28.48% 50 1.53% 147 4.51% 1,207 37.00% 3,262
Cumberland 7,018 61.09% 3,877 33.75% 78 0.68% 515 4.48% 3,141 27.34% 11,488
Essex 42,587 64.99% 20,509 31.30% 1,004 1.53% 1,425 2.17% 22,078 33.69% 65,525
Gloucester 4,727 59.02% 2,981 37.22% 77 0.96% 224 2.80% 1,746 21.80% 8,009
Hudson 33,626 52.51% 28,133 43.94% 927 1.45% 1,347 2.10% 5,493 8.58% 64,033
Hunterdon 4,264 44.20% 4,992 51.75% 93 0.96% 297 3.08% -728 -7.55% 9,646
Mercer 13,847 66.84% 5,970 28.82% 430 2.08% 471 2.27% 7,877 38.02% 20,718
Middlesex 9,304 58.73% 5,976 37.72% 350 2.21% 213 1.34% 3,328 21.01% 15,843
Monmouth 10,611 55.27% 7,799 40.63% 474 2.47% 313 1.63% 2,812 14.65% 19,197
Morris 8,190 58.71% 4,936 35.38% 331 2.37% 494 3.54% 3,254 23.32% 13,951
Ocean 3,384 72.59% 1,068 22.91% 80 1.72% 130 2.79% 2,316 49.68% 4,662
Passaic 15,437 58.81% 9,280 35.36% 357 1.36% 1,173 4.47% 6,157 23.46% 26,247
Salem 3,717 54.37% 2,802 40.99% 67 0.98% 250 3.66% 915 13.39% 6,836
Somerset 4,388 60.18% 2,608 35.77% 159 2.18% 136 1.87% 1,780 24.41% 7,291
Sussex 3,045 49.09% 2,975 47.96% 49 0.79% 134 2.16% 70 1.13% 6,203
Union 11,707 61.58% 6,073 31.95% 529 2.78% 701 3.69% 5,634 29.64% 19,010
Warren 4,063 42.78% 5,013 52.79% 62 0.65% 359 3.78% -950 -10.00% 9,497
Totals 221,367 59.67% 133,675 36.03% 6,373 1.72% 9,599 2.59% 87,692 23.64% 371,014

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "New Jersey Presidential Election Voting History". 270toWin.com. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
  2. ^ "Historical U.S. Presidential Elections 1789-2020". 270toWin.com. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
  3. ^ Budgor, Joel; Capell, Elizabeth A.; Flanders, David A.; Polsby, Nelson W.; Westlye, Mark C.; Zaller, John (1981). "The 1896 Election and Congressional Modernization: An Appraisal of the Evidence". Social Science History. 5 (1): 53–90. doi:10.2307/1171090. ISSN 0145-5532.
  4. ^ "Bimetallism | monetary system". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
  5. ^ "Our Campaigns - NJ US President Race - Nov 05, 1912". www.ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
  6. ^ "1896 Presidential General Election Results - New Jersey". U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved December 23, 2013.
  7. ^ Géoelections; Popular Vote at the Presidential Election for 1896 (.xlsx file for €30 including full minor party figures)