1968 United States presidential election in Michigan

1968 United States presidential election in Michigan

← 1964 November 5, 1968 1972 →
All 21 Michigan votes to the Electoral College
Turnout	66.8% [1]
Nominee Hubert Humphrey Richard Nixon George Wallace Party Democratic Republican American Independent Home state Minnesota New York[a] Alabama Running mate Edmund Muskie Spiro Agnew S. Marvin Griffin Electoral vote 21 0 0 Popular vote 1,593,082 1,370,665 331,968 Percentage 48.18% 41.46% 10.04%
County Results Humphrey   40-50%   50-60%   60-70% Nixon   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%
President before election Lyndon B. Johnson Democratic Elected President Richard Nixon Republican

Elections in Michigan
Federal government U.S. President 1836 1840 1844 1848 1852 1856 1860 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 Dem 2008 Dem GOP 2012 Dem GOP 2016 Dem 2020 Dem GOP 2024 Dem GOP U.S. Senate 1835 1840 (sp) 1841 1847 1849 (sp) 1853 1857 1858 1862 (sp) 1863 1865 1869 1871 1874 1877 1879 (sp) 1881 1881 (sp) 1887 1889 1893 1895 1895 (sp) 1899 1901 1903 (sp) 1905 1907 1907 (sp) 1911 1913 1916 1918 1922 1924 1924 (sp) 1928 1928 (sp) 1930 1934 1936 1940 1942 1946 1948 1952 1952 (sp) 1954 1958 1960 1964 1966 1970 1972 1976 1978 1982 1984 1988 1990 1994 1996 2000 2002 2006 2008 2012 2014 2018 2020 2024 2026 U.S. House 1835 1837 1838 1840 1843 1844 1846 1847 1st sp 1848 1850 1852 1854 1856 1858 1860 1862 1864 1866 1868 1870 1871 4th sp 1872 1873 5th sp 1874 1876 1878 1880 1881 7th sp 1882 1884 1886 1888 11th sp 1890 1891 5th sp 1892 1893 1st sp 1894 1895 3rd sp 1896 1898 1900 1901 10th sp 1902 1904 1906 1907 5th sp 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1917 2nd sp 1918 1920 13th sp 1921 3rd sp 1922 1923 3rd sp 1924 1925 3rd sp 1926 1928 1930 1931 8th sp 1932 1934 1935 3rd sp 1936 1938 1940 5th sp 1942 1944 1946 1947 11th sp 1948 1950 1952 1954 1955 15th sp 1956 1958 1960 1961 1st sp 1962 14th sp 1964 1968 1970 1972 1974 5th sp 8th sp 1976 1978 1980 13th sp 1981 4th sp 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1993 3rd sp 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 11th 11th sp 2014 2016 2018 13th sp 2020 2022 2024
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Ballot proposals 1996 Proposal E 2004 Proposal 04-2 2006 Proposal 06-2 2008 Proposal 1 2012 Proposal 1 Proposal 2 Proposal 3 Proposal 4 Proposal 5 Proposal 6 2015 Proposal 1 2018 Proposal 1 Proposal 2 Proposal 3 2020 Proposal 1 Proposal 2 2022 Proposal 1 Proposal 2 Proposal 3
Detroit Mayoral elections 1969 1973 1997 2001 2005 2009 (sp) 2009 2013 2017 2021 2025
Flint Mayoral elections 2015 2017 (recall) 2019 2022
Grand Rapids Mayoral elections 2015 2019
Lansing Mayoral elections 2017 2021
v t e

The 1968 United States presidential election in Michigan was held on November 5, 1968. All 50 states and The District of Columbia, were part of the 1968 United States presidential election. Voters chose 21 electors to represent them in the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Michigan was won by the Democratic Party candidate, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, defeating the Republican Party candidate, former Vice President Richard Nixon, by a margin of 6.72%, making the state 6.79% more Democratic than the national average.^[2] American Independent Party candidate George Wallace, former and future Governor of Alabama, received 10% of the vote.

Humphrey's margin of victory was significantly narrower than President Lyndon B. Johnson's landslide 33.60 point triumph in 1964. American involvement in the Vietnam War and rioting throughout the country (including in Detroit) brought about unpopularity for the incumbent president and disenchantment towards his political agenda. Vice President Humphrey vowed to continue the policies of Johnson's Great Society and support civil rights for African Americans, while former Vice President Nixon ran on a law and order platform focused on fighting crime and opposing the Johnson administration's handling of the war in Vietnam. Governor Wallace ran a right-wing populist campaign railing against rioting, desegregation, and the counterculture.

Although Wallace did not poll as well in the Midwest as he did in the South, he was able to appeal to blue collar working class voters who traditionally voted Democratic but had become disillusioned with crime and the civil rights movement. As a result, he siphoned off enough votes to allow Nixon to win every state in the region except for Humphrey's home state of Minnesota and Michigan. Even with Michigan being Wallace's second best Midwestern state behind Ohio, Humphrey was able to hold on to the Wolverine State's electoral votes for the Democrats once more, mainly by running up margins in heavily populated Wayne County (Detroit), neighboring Macomb and Monroe counties, Genesee County (Flint), and the Upper Peninsula. Nixon would become the first Republican to win the White House without Michigan, a feat that only George W. Bush has repeated. Humphrey was the first losing Democrat to carry Michigan since Lewis Cass in 1848. Michigan would not vote Democratic again until 1992.

As of the 2020 presidential election^[update], this is the last time that Wayne County cast more than a million votes.

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