1948 United States presidential election in Idaho

Summary

The 1948 United States presidential election in Idaho took place on November 2, 1948, as part of the 1948 United States presidential election. State voters chose four[2] representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

1948 United States presidential election in Idaho

← 1944 November 2, 1948[1] 1952 →

All 4 Idaho votes to the Electoral College
 
Nominee Harry S. Truman Thomas Dewey
Party Democratic Republican
Home state Missouri New York
Running mate Alben W. Barkley Earl Warren
Electoral vote 4 0
Popular vote 107,370 101,514
Percentage 49.98% 47.26%

County Results

President before election

Harry S. Truman
Democratic

Elected President

Harry S. Truman
Democratic

Franklin D. Roosevelt had carried Idaho in all four of his presidential runs, carrying the state by more than 20 points in 1932 and 1936, but by a narrower 9 points in 1940 and only 3.5 points in 1944. However, Oregon Senator Wayne Morse said that Dewey would fail to maintain these gains in the West if Bureau of Reclamation programs were cut as demanded by the House Appropriations Committee.[3] Truman campaigned heavily in the West, including Idaho, arguing that the region was an economic colony of Wall Street under the GOP and that only the Democratic Party could give the region direct access to its natural resources.[4] While in Pocatello, Truman also defended himself against charges of corruption by machine politics from his days in Kansas City.[5]

Idaho was won by incumbent President Harry S. Truman (DMissouri), running with Senator Alben W. Barkley, with 49.98% of the popular vote, against Governor Thomas Dewey (RNew York), running with Governor Earl Warren, with 47.26% of the popular vote.[6][7]

This election marked the conclusion of Idaho's status as a swing state, as it would quickly become one of the most Republican states in the nation. Since this election, Idaho has supported a Democratic presidential nominee only once, when Lyndon B. Johnson carried the state by 1.83 points in 1964, amidst a national Democratic landslide. Furthermore, other than Johnson, no Democrat except John F. Kennedy in 1960 has won even 40% of the state's vote. Republicans would also score landslide wins in the 1950 state elections,[8] This is the last election in which the southeastern Mormon counties of Bonneville, Bingham, Jefferson, Madison, Minidoka and Oneida (now known as some of the most heavily Republican counties in the nation) voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.[9]

This is one of only three states outside the former confederacy, the others being Arizona and Oklahoma, in which Truman's margin has not been matched by any subsequent Democrat. In every other non-southern state (as well as few southern ones), Lyndon Johnson outran Truman's narrow victory in his 1964 landslide.

Results edit

1948 United States presidential election in Idaho
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Harry S. Truman (inc.) 107,370 49.98%
Republican Thomas Dewey 101,514 47.26%
Progressive Henry A. Wallace 4,972 2.31%
Prohibition Claude A. Watson 628 0.29%
Socialist Norman Thomas 332 0.15%
Total votes 214,816 100.00%

Results by county edit

County Harry S. Truman
Democratic
Thomas Edmund Dewey
Republican
Henry Agard Wallace[10]
Progressive
Claude A. Watson[11]
Prohibition
Norman Mattoon Thomas[11]
Socialist
Margin Total votes cast[12]
# % # % # % # % # % # %
Ada 11,253 42.14% 14,972 56.06% 389 1.46% 48 0.18% 43 0.16% -3,719 -13.93% 26,705
Adams 647 50.78% 603 47.33% 19 1.49% 4 0.31% 1 0.08% 44 3.45% 1,274
Bannock 9,679 62.20% 5,580 35.86% 289 1.86% 4 0.03% 8 0.05% 4,099 26.34% 15,560
Bear Lake 1,664 50.73% 1,590 48.48% 25 0.76% 1 0.03% 0 0.00% 74 2.26% 3,280
Benewah 1,590 58.22% 1,038 38.01% 85 3.11% 11 0.40% 7 0.26% 552 20.21% 2,731
Bingham 3,197 49.58% 3,162 49.04% 84 1.30% 5 0.08% 0 0.00% 35 0.54% 6,448
Blaine 1,182 54.67% 945 43.71% 34 1.57% 1 0.05% 0 0.00% 237 10.96% 2,162
Boise 479 50.96% 437 46.49% 24 2.55% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 42 4.47% 940
Bonner 2,916 49.70% 2,666 45.44% 268 4.57% 8 0.14% 9 0.15% 250 4.26% 5,867
Bonneville 5,382 53.81% 4,499 44.99% 100 1.00% 3 0.03% 17 0.17% 883 8.83% 10,001
Boundary 1,029 49.02% 910 43.35% 142 6.77% 2 0.10% 16 0.76% 119 5.67% 2,099
Butte 426 50.35% 412 48.70% 8 0.95% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 14 1.65% 846
Camas 278 48.35% 289 50.26% 8 1.39% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% -11 -1.91% 575
Canyon 7,903 43.04% 9,700 52.82% 389 2.12% 323 1.76% 43 0.23% -1,797 -9.79% 18,363
Caribou 475 51.08% 447 48.06% 7 0.75% 1 0.11% 0 0.00% 28 3.01% 930
Cassia 2,178 46.63% 2,424 51.89% 63 1.35% 3 0.06% 3 0.06% -246 -5.27% 4,671
Clark 165 38.19% 262 60.65% 4 0.93% 1 0.23% 0 0.00% -97 -22.45% 432
Clearwater 1,571 61.63% 820 32.17% 132 5.18% 20 0.78% 6 0.24% 751 29.46% 2,549
Custer 625 49.72% 612 48.69% 16 1.27% 4 0.32% 0 0.00% 13 1.03% 1,257
Elmore 1,589 63.48% 854 34.12% 51 2.04% 5 0.20% 4 0.16% 735 29.36% 2,503
Franklin 1,763 46.24% 2,028 53.19% 21 0.55% 1 0.03% 0 0.00% -265 -6.95% 3,813
Fremont 2,014 52.85% 1,777 46.63% 16 0.42% 4 0.10% 0 0.00% 237 6.22% 3,811
Gem 1,724 50.32% 1,585 46.26% 85 2.48% 29 0.85% 3 0.09% 139 4.06% 3,426
Gooding 1,844 45.93% 2,111 52.58% 51 1.27% 6 0.15% 3 0.07% -267 -6.65% 4,015
Idaho 2,300 54.53% 1,790 42.44% 117 2.77% 7 0.17% 4 0.09% 510 12.09% 4,218
Jefferson 2,017 56.53% 1,490 41.76% 56 1.57% 5 0.14% 0 0.00% 527 14.77% 3,568
Jerome 2,124 49.34% 2,128 49.43% 48 1.11% 2 0.05% 3 0.07% -4 -0.09% 4,305
Kootenai 5,284 51.49% 4,265 41.56% 668 6.51% 13 0.13% 32 0.31% 1,019 9.93% 10,262
Latah 3,810 48.30% 3,805 48.23% 225 2.85% 31 0.39% 18 0.23% 5 0.06% 7,889
Lemhi 864 44.58% 1,037 53.51% 36 1.86% 1 0.05% 0 0.00% -173 -8.93% 1,938
Lewis 1,224 69.43% 487 27.62% 46 2.61% 3 0.17% 3 0.17% 737 41.80% 1,763
Lincoln 748 46.26% 851 52.63% 18 1.11% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% -103 -6.37% 1,617
Madison 2,024 55.50% 1,602 43.93% 21 0.58% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 422 11.57% 3,647
Minidoka 1,668 48.60% 1,654 48.19% 101 2.94% 4 0.12% 5 0.15% 14 0.41% 3,432
Nez Perce 5,747 61.65% 3,168 33.98% 357 3.83% 27 0.29% 23 0.25% 2,579 27.67% 9,322
Oneida 1,008 50.86% 962 48.54% 10 0.50% 2 0.10% 0 0.00% 46 2.32% 1,982
Owyhee 925 47.75% 969 50.03% 32 1.65% 9 0.46% 2 0.10% -44 -2.27% 1,937
Payette 1,568 38.42% 2,430 59.54% 58 1.42% 16 0.39% 9 0.22% -862 -21.12% 4,081
Power 795 47.29% 875 52.05% 7 0.42% 4 0.24% 0 0.00% -80 -4.76% 1,681
Shoshone 4,472 54.13% 3,200 38.74% 569 6.89% 8 0.10% 12 0.15% 1,272 15.40% 8,261
Teton 672 52.83% 593 46.62% 4 0.31% 1 0.08% 2 0.16% 79 6.21% 1,272
Twin Falls 6,019 42.81% 7,833 55.71% 172 1.22% 21 0.15% 16 0.11% -1,814 -12.90% 14,061
Valley 828 44.98% 939 51.00% 65 3.53% 3 0.16% 6 0.33% -111 -6.03% 1,841
Washington 1,700 48.84% 1,713 49.21% 52 1.49% 10 0.29% 6 0.17% -13 -0.37% 3,481
Totals 107,370 49.98% 101,514 47.26% 4,972 2.31% 628 0.29% 332 0.15% 5,856 2.73% 214,816

See also edit

Notes edit

References edit

  1. ^ "United States Presidential election of 1948 - Encyclopædia Britannica". Retrieved October 25, 2017.
  2. ^ "1948 Election for the Forty-First Term (1949-53)". Retrieved October 25, 2017.
  3. ^ Donaldson, Gary; Truman Defeats Dewey; p. 43 ISBN 081312851X
  4. ^ Truman, Harry S.; Miracle of '48: Harry Truman's Major Campaign Speeches & Selected Whistle-stops; pp. 86-89 ISBN 0809325578
  5. ^ Goldzwig, Steven R.; Truman's Whistle-stop Campaign, pp. 26-27 ISBN 1603440062
  6. ^ "1948 Presidential General Election Results - Idaho". Retrieved October 25, 2017.
  7. ^ "The American Presidency Project - Election of 1948". Retrieved October 25, 2017.
  8. ^ Weatherby, James B. and Stapilus, Randy; Governing Idaho: Politics, People and Power, p. 44 ISBN 0870045210
  9. ^ Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
  10. ^ Géoelections; Popular Vote for Henry Wallace (.xlsx file for €15)
  11. ^ a b Our Campaigns; ID US President November 02, 1948
  12. ^ Géoelections; 1948 Presidential Election Popular Vote (.xlsx file for €15)