1920 United States presidential election in Montana

1920 United States presidential election in Montana

← 1916 November 2, 1920 (1920-11-02) 1924 →
 
Nominee Warren G. Harding James M. Cox Parley P. Christensen
Party Republican Democratic Farmer–Labor
Home state Ohio Ohio Illinois
Running mate Calvin Coolidge Franklin D. Roosevelt Max S. Hayes
Electoral vote 4 0 0
Popular vote 109,430 57,372 12,204
Percentage 61.13% 32.05% 6.82%

County Results

President before election

Woodrow Wilson
Democratic

Elected President

Warren G. Harding
Republican

The 1920 United States presidential election in Montana took place on November 2, 1920, as part of the 1920 United States presidential election. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Like all of the Western United States, severe anger at President Woodrow Wilson's failure to maintain his promise to keep the United States out of World War I produced extreme hostility among the strongly isolationist population of remote Montana.[1] In addition, by the beginning of 1920 skyrocketing inflation and Wilson's focus upon his proposed League of Nations at the expense of domestic policy had helped make the incumbent president very unpopular[2] – besides which Wilson also had major health problems that had left First Lady Edith effectively running the nation. Political unrest seen in the Palmer Raids and the "Red Scare" further added to the unpopularity of the Democratic Party, since this global political turmoil produced considerable fear of alien revolutionaries invading the country.[3] Demand in the West for exclusion of Asian immigrants became even stronger than it had been before.[4] Another factor hurting the Democratic Party was the migration of many people from the traditionally Republican Upper Midwest into the state.[1]

Because the West had been the chief presidential battleground ever since the "System of 1896" emerged following that election,[5] Governor Cox traveled across the western states in August and September, but he did not visit Montana with its tiny population and poverty of electoral votes. No polls were taken in the state, but a Republican success was universally assumed.

Montana overwhelmingly voted for the Republican nominee, Senator Warren G. Harding, over the Democratic nominee, Ohio Governor James M. Cox. Harding won Montana by a landslide margin of 29.08%. Whereas Wilson had carried every county except Sweet Grass in 1916, Harding won every county except Mineral, which he lost narrowly by just fifteen votes. However, within the thirteen states north of Arizona and west of Missouri, Mineral was along with Clark County, Nevada one of only two counties to give a plurality to Cox. As of 2020, this is the last time that Deer Lodge County has given a majority of the vote to a Republican. Harding's 61.1% vote share and 29 percentage point margin remain the strongest performance by a Republican presidential nominee in Montana history.

Results

1920 United States presidential election in Montana[6]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican Warren G. Harding 109,430 61.13% 4
Democratic James M. Cox 57,372 32.05% 0
Farmer-Labor Parley P. Christensen 12,204 6.82% 0
Totals 178,940 100.00% 4

Results by county

County Warren Gamail Harding
Republican
James Middleton Cox
Democratic
Parley Parker Christensen
Farmer-Labor
Margin Total votes cast[7]
# % # % # % # %
Beaverhead 2,049 68.80% 833 27.97% 96 3.22% 1,216 40.83% 2,978
Big Horn 1,062 66.17% 475 29.60% 68 4.24% 587 36.57% 1,605
Blaine 1,720 62.48% 848 30.80% 185 6.72% 872 31.67% 2,753
Broadwater 723 51.50% 622 44.30% 59 4.20% 101 7.19% 1,404
Carbon 2,700 64.07% 1,107 26.27% 407 9.66% 1,593 37.80% 4,214
Carter 782 66.84% 342 29.23% 46 3.93% 440 37.61% 1,170
Cascade 6,808 58.83% 3,938 34.03% 826 7.14% 2,870 24.80% 11,572
Chouteau 2,646 60.86% 1,436 33.03% 266 6.12% 1,210 27.83% 4,348
Custer 2,347 64.53% 1,127 30.99% 163 4.48% 1,220 33.54% 3,637
Daniels 811 60.12% 289 21.42% 249 18.46% 522 38.70% 1,349
Dawson 1,784 63.92% 875 31.35% 132 4.73% 909 32.57% 2,791
Deer Lodge 3,130 59.97% 1,567 30.02% 522 10.00% 1,563 29.95% 5,219
Fallon 1,064 71.36% 381 25.55% 46 3.09% 683 45.81% 1,491
Fergus 5,858 60.22% 3,371 34.66% 498 5.12% 2,487 25.57% 9,727
Flathead 3,900 59.26% 2,241 34.05% 440 6.69% 1,659 25.21% 6,581
Gallatin 3,238 54.70% 2,370 40.03% 312 5.27% 868 14.66% 5,920
Garfield 1,226 68.19% 484 26.92% 88 4.89% 742 41.27% 1,798
Glacier 1,297 69.14% 531 28.30% 48 2.56% 766 40.83% 1,876
Golden Valley 1,185 72.57% 381 23.33% 67 4.10% 804 49.23% 1,633
Granite 949 64.21% 439 29.70% 90 6.09% 510 34.51% 1,478
Hill 2,220 55.44% 1,388 34.67% 396 9.89% 832 20.78% 4,004
Jefferson 969 54.47% 688 38.67% 122 6.86% 281 15.80% 1,779
Lewis and Clark 4,348 62.90% 2,413 34.91% 152 2.20% 1,935 27.99% 6,913
Liberty 757 63.61% 331 27.82% 102 8.57% 426 35.80% 1,190
Lincoln 1,187 57.54% 683 33.11% 193 9.36% 504 24.43% 2,063
Madison 1,672 63.19% 877 33.14% 97 3.67% 795 30.05% 2,646
McCone 1,111 60.64% 537 29.31% 184 10.04% 574 31.33% 1,832
Meagher 744 69.08% 314 29.16% 19 1.76% 430 39.93% 1,077
Mineral 347 39.03% 362 40.72% 180 20.25% -15 -1.69% 889
Missoula 4,374 52.61% 3,292 39.60% 648 7.79% 1,082 13.01% 8,314
Musselshell 1,910 59.22% 951 29.49% 364 11.29% 959 29.74% 3,225
Park 2,537 63.11% 1,155 28.73% 328 8.16% 1,382 34.38% 4,020
Phillips 1,693 67.13% 648 25.69% 181 7.18% 1,045 41.44% 2,522
Pondera 1,654 62.49% 893 33.74% 100 3.78% 761 28.75% 2,647
Powder River 955 71.27% 330 24.63% 55 4.10% 625 46.64% 1,340
Powell 1,345 57.19% 787 33.46% 220 9.35% 558 23.72% 2,352
Prairie 881 76.68% 242 21.06% 26 2.26% 639 55.61% 1,149
Ravalli 2,110 60.49% 1,224 35.09% 154 4.42% 886 25.40% 3,488
Richland 1,759 65.46% 744 27.69% 184 6.85% 1,015 37.77% 2,687
Roosevelt 2,239 68.22% 873 26.60% 170 5.18% 1,366 41.62% 3,282
Rosebud 1,624 71.26% 555 24.35% 100 4.39% 1,069 46.91% 2,279
Sanders 1,035 51.49% 741 36.87% 234 11.64% 294 14.63% 2,010
Sheridan 1,335 53.46% 610 24.43% 552 22.11% 725 29.03% 2,497
Silver Bow 10,074 55.36% 6,394 35.14% 1,730 9.51% 3,680 20.22% 18,198
Stillwater 1,721 70.50% 664 27.20% 56 2.29% 1,057 43.30% 2,441
Sweet Grass 1,035 73.51% 349 24.79% 24 1.70% 686 48.72% 1,408
Teton 1,319 62.25% 671 31.67% 129 6.09% 648 30.58% 2,119
Toole 861 61.28% 405 28.83% 139 9.89% 456 32.46% 1,405
Treasure 517 71.41% 174 24.03% 33 4.56% 343 47.38% 724
Valley 2,096 62.89% 895 26.85% 342 10.26% 1,201 36.03% 3,333
Wheatland 1,250 68.79% 520 28.62% 47 2.59% 730 40.18% 1,817
Wibaux 692 71.64% 223 23.08% 51 5.28% 469 48.55% 966
Yellowstone 5,714 65.08% 2,782 31.69% 284 3.23% 2,932 33.39% 8,780
Totals 109,364 61.12% 57,372 32.06% 12,204 6.82% 51,992 29.06% 178,940

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 461–462 ISBN 9780691163246
  2. ^ Goldberg, David Joseph; Discontented America: The United States in the 1920s, p. 44 ISBN 0801860059
  3. ^ Leuchtenburg, William E.; The Perils of Prosperity, 1914-1932, p. 75 ISBN 0226473724
  4. ^ Vought, Hans P. ; The Bully Pulpit and the Melting Pot: American Presidents And The Immigrant, 1897-1933, p. 167 ISBN 0865548870
  5. ^ Faykosh, Joseph D., Bowling Green State University; The Front Porch of the American People: James Cox and the Presidential Election of 1920 (thesis), p. 68
  6. ^ David Leip. "1920 Presidential General Election Results – Montana". Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved March 18, 2018.
  7. ^ Robinson, Edgar Eugene; The Presidential Vote 1896-1932, pp. 256-261 ISBN 9780804716963