1972 United States presidential election in Minnesota

1972 United States presidential election in Minnesota

← 1968 November 7, 1972 1976 →
Turnout	70.31%[1]
Nominee Richard Nixon George McGovern Party Republican Democratic (DFL) Home state California South Dakota Running mate Spiro Agnew Sargent Shriver Electoral vote 10 0 Popular vote 898,269 802,346 Percentage 51.58% 46.07%
County Results Nixon   40–50%   50–60%   60–70% McGovern   40–50%   50–60%
President before election Richard Nixon Republican Elected President Richard Nixon Republican

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v t e

The 1972 United States presidential election in Minnesota took place on November 7, 1972, as part of the 1972 United States presidential election. Voters chose ten electors, or representatives to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Minnesota was won by the Republican Party candidate, incumbent President Richard Nixon, who won the state over U.S. Senator George McGovern of South Dakota by a margin of 95,923 votes, or 5.51%, the closest state in the election. This result made Minnesota around 18% more Democratic than the nation as a whole. Nixon went on to win the election nationally, by a landslide margin of 23.15% of the popular vote. McGovern carried only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.

As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time Minnesota, a state that has generally favored Democrats since the New Deal, was carried by a Republican. Minnesota would go on to have the longest streak voting for Democrats out of any state after this election, as every other state would be won by Ronald Reagan in the landslide year of 1984. This is also the last time a Republican has won heavily populated Hennepin County. Nixon further became the first-ever Republican to win the White House without carrying Stevens County, which was one of six counties outside of McGovern's home state of South Dakota that he flipped nationwide.

During Nixon's second term as president, the Watergate scandal resulted in the loss of the Republican Party's credibility both nationally and in Minnesota. The damage caused by Watergate was so pronounced that the Republican Party of Minnesota was forced to rebrand itself as the "Independent-Republican Party" from 1975 to 1995 to distance itself from the national Republican Party.