1920 United States presidential election in Illinois

1920 United States presidential election in Illinois
All 29 Illinois votes to the Electoral College
Harding 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% 80-90%	Cox 40-50% 50-60%
President before election; Woodrow Wilson; Democratic	Elected President ; Warren G. Harding; Republican

The 1920 United States presidential election in Illinois took place on November 2, 1920, as part of the 1920 United States presidential election. State voters chose 29 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

A strongly Democratic state during the Second Party System, Illinois became Republican-leaning after the American Civil War due to a combination of strong Free Soil Party heritage amongst its Yankee northern counties with the wartime conversion of some Virginian-settled rock-ribbed Democratic Southern Illinois counties^[1] to Unionist Republicanism^[2] à la Appalachia.^[3] Between the Civil War and World War I, partisanship in Illinois – like in the Border States – largely re-fought the war, with the result that although the Democratic Party gained at least 43 percent of the statewide vote via Southern and German Catholic support in every election up to 1900, they never gained an absolute majority and carried the state's electoral votes only in 1892.^[4]

Due to the Democratic Party's growing Populist and prohibitionist leanings, a decline in Democratic support after 1900 in its German Central Illinois strongholds transformed Illinois into a powerfully Republican state at all levels.^[5] Even Woodrow Wilson in 1912 when the GOP was mortally divided carried the state by only a very narrow margin. Harding's managers were always confident he would carry Illinois as all but three GOP nominees had since that party was formed.^[6] However, actual polls in Illinois vacillated, with a straw ballot in The Farm Journal even placing Cox at 45 percent in this strong Republican state.^[7] As election day neared, estimates of a Republican plurality of “at least 264,000” were made via a national survey of newspaper editors.^[8]

As it turned out, the editorial estimate was shown extremely conservative by the very earliest reports on polling day, which showed Harding winning by three-to-one.^[9] Ultimately, Harding did not finish with so large a margin as this, but nonetheless he carried Illinois by 42.30 percentage points. This constitutes the biggest margin by which Illinois has been carried in the state's presidential election history, the best performance by any Republican candidate,^[4] and the third-best vote percentage overall behind Andrew Jackson’s two efforts in 1828 and 1832. Harding carried all but three counties, and was the first-ever Republican victor in the following counties: Calhoun, Cass, Clinton, Effingham, Gallatin, Hamilton, Jasper, Jersey, Mason, Pike, Schuyler, Wabash and White.^[10]

^ Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 341-344 ISBN 978-0-691-16324-6
^ Wells, Damon; Stephen Douglas: The Last Years, 1857–1861, p. 285 ISBN 0292776357
^ Copeland, James E.; ‘Where Were the Kentucky Unionists and Secessionists’; The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, volume 71, no. 4 (October, 1973), pp. 344-363
^ ^a ^b "Presidential General Election Results Comparison – Illinois". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas.
^ Schattschneider, Elmer Eric; The Semisovereign People: A Realist's View of Democracy in America, pp. 76-84 ISBN 0030133661
^ Price, Harry N.; ‘Harding Back Home: Speaks to First Voters Today From His Front Porch’; The Washington Post, October 18, 1920, p. 1
^ ‘Farm Vote Favors Harding: Farm Journal Poll Puts Cox Ahead, However, in Illinois and Indiana’; New York Times, October 22, 1920, p. 4
^ ‘Harding 363 Votes, Cox 168, Is Result Obtained From Estimates by 47 Editors: Maryland, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Montana, Utah and Arizona, With Solid South, Are Only States Conceded to Democratic Candidate in Nation-Wide Canvass’; Washington Post, October 31, 1920, p. 1
^ ‘Illinois for G.O.P. by Half a Million: Harding Gets 3 to 1 Vote Over Cox – Carries Cook County by 150,000’; Washington Post, November 3, 1920, p. 1
^ Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 180-184 ISBN 0786422173

[1] Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 341-344 ISBN 978-0-691-16324-6

[2] Wells, Damon; Stephen Douglas: The Last Years, 1857–1861, p. 285 ISBN 0292776357

[3] Copeland, James E.; ‘Where Were the Kentucky Unionists and Secessionists’; The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, volume 71, no. 4 (October, 1973), pp. 344-363

[Comparison-4] "Presidential General Election Results Comparison – Illinois". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas.

[5] Schattschneider, Elmer Eric; The Semisovereign People: A Realist's View of Democracy in America, pp. 76-84 ISBN 0030133661

[6] Price, Harry N.; ‘Harding Back Home: Speaks to First Voters Today From His Front Porch’; The Washington Post, October 18, 1920, p. 1

[7] ‘Farm Vote Favors Harding: Farm Journal Poll Puts Cox Ahead, However, in Illinois and Indiana’; New York Times, October 22, 1920, p. 4

[8] ‘Harding 363 Votes, Cox 168, Is Result Obtained From Estimates by 47 Editors: Maryland, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Montana, Utah and Arizona, With Solid South, Are Only States Conceded to Democratic Candidate in Nation-Wide Canvass’; Washington Post, October 31, 1920, p. 1

[9] ‘Illinois for G.O.P. by Half a Million: Harding Gets 3 to 1 Vote Over Cox – Carries Cook County by 150,000’; Washington Post, November 3, 1920, p. 1

[10] Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 180-184 ISBN 0786422173

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