1968 United States presidential election in Vermont

1968 United States presidential election in Vermont

← 1964 November 5, 1968 1972 →

Nominee Richard Nixon Hubert Humphrey Party Republican Democratic Home state New York[a] Minnesota Running mate Spiro Agnew Edmund Muskie Electoral vote 3 0 Popular vote 85,142 70,255 Percentage 52.75% 43.53%

County results Municipality results Nixon   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%   80-90%   90-100% Humphrey   30-40%   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%

President before election Lyndon Johnson Democratic Elected President Richard Nixon Republican

Elections in Vermont
Federal government Presidential elections 1792 1796 1800 1804 1808 1812 1816 1820 1824 1828 1832 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 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 Presidential primaries Democratic 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 Republican 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 U.S. Senate elections 1791 1794 1796 1796 sp 1797 sp 1800 1801 sp 1802 1806 1807 sp 1808 1809 1812 1814 1817 sp 1818 1818 sp 1821 1825 1827 1831 1833 1833 sp 1837 1839 1842 sp 1843 1845 1848 1850 1854 sp 1855 1856 1861 1862 1866 1866 sp 1868 1872 1874 1878 1880 1884 1886 1890 1892 1892 sp 1896 1898 1900 sp 1902 1904 1908 1908 sp 1909 sp 1910 1914 1916 1920 1922 1923 sp 1926 1928 1931 sp 1932 1934 1934 sp 1938 1940 1940 sp 1944 1946 1946 sp 1950 1952 1956 1958 1962 1964 1968 1970 1972 sp 1974 1976 1980 1982 1986 1988 1992 1994 1998 2000 2004 2006 2010 2012 2016 2018 2022 2024 2028 U.S. House elections 1791 1793 1794/95 1796/97 1797 2nd sp 1798 1800 1802/03 1804/05 1806 1808 1st sp 1810 1812 1814 1816 1818 1820/21 1822 1824 AL sp 1826/27 1828/29 1830/32 1831 2nd sp 1832 1st sp 1833 1834 5th sp 1836 1838 1840 1843 1844 1846 1848 1849 3rd sp 1850 1852 1854 1856 1858 1860 1863 1864 1866 1868 1870 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1923 2nd sp 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 AL sp 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 AL sp 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024
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v t e

The 1968 United States presidential election in Vermont took place on November 5, 1968, as part of the 1968 United States presidential election which was held throughout all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Voters chose three representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Vermont was won by the Republican nominee, former Vice President Richard Nixon of California, and his running mate Governor Spiro Agnew of Maryland, defeating incumbent Democratic Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota and his running mate Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine.

Nixon took 52.75% of the vote to Humphrey’s 43.53%, a margin of 9.22%. The American Independent candidate, Southern populist Governor George Wallace of Alabama, did not have a serious impact on the race. While taking 13.53% nationally and winning electoral votes from 5 Southern states, Wallace would take only 3.16% of the vote in Vermont. Wallace's base of support was in the South, and he had practically no appeal in Northeastern states like Vermont, which would be Wallace’s third weakest state in the nation after Hawaii and Maine.

Vermont historically was a bastion of Northeastern Republicanism, and by 1968 Vermont had gone Republican in every presidential election since the founding of the Republican Party, except in the Democratic landslide of 1964, when the GOP had nominated staunch New Right conservative Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona. Goldwater had lost the 1964 election in a nationwide landslide, but the loss in Vermont was especially severe from a historical perspective. From 1856 to 1960, Vermont had the longest streak of voting Republican of any state, having never voted Democratic before, but in 1964 it rejected Goldwater's conservatism and went Democratic for the first time – and by a landslide 66-33 margin.

In 1968, the GOP sought to recover from their crippling defeat with Goldwater, and the party looked to former Vice President and the party’s narrowly defeated 1960 presidential nominee, Richard Nixon. Nixon was seen as a mainstream moderate Republican who could unite the competing factions of the Republican Party, and win back the moderate voters that Goldwater had alienated. The party recovered successfully and won back the White House, Vermont was returned to the Republican column, and Nixon’s 1968 victory in Vermont established another twenty-year winning streak for the GOP in the state. The state would finally flip to the Democrats for good in 1992 after the GOP again embraced a more conservative stance in the 1980s.
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