1972 United States presidential election in Mississippi

The 1972 United States presidential election in Mississippi was held on November 7, 1972. Incumbent President Nixon won the state of Mississippi with 78.20% of the vote, his most overwhelming dominance in any of the fifty states, carrying the Magnolia State's seven electoral votes.[1] Nixon defeated McGovern by a whopping margin of 58.57%, a margin never equalled in any state since and exceeded by any Republican nominee in the party's history only five times.[lower-alpha 1] This also marked the first time since 1944 that the state was on the winning side of the presidential election.

1972 United States presidential election in Mississippi

November 7, 1972

Nominee Richard Nixon George McGovern Party Republican Democratic Home state California South Dakota Running mate Spiro Agnew Sargent Shriver Electoral vote 7 0 Popular vote 505,125 126,782 Percentage 78.2% 19.6%

County Results Nixon   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%   80-90%   90-100% McGovern   50-60%

President before election Richard Nixon Republican Elected President Richard Nixon Republican

Elections in Mississippi
Federal government U.S. President 1820 1824 1828 1832 1836 1840 1844 1848 1852 1856 1860 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 Dem Rep 2012 Dem Rep 2016 Dem Rep 2020 Dem Rep U.S. Senate 1817 1820 1820 sp 1823 1823 1826 sp 1828 1830 sp 1833 sp 1835 1838 1839 sp 1841 1844 1846 sp 1848 sp 1850 1852 sp 1852 sp 1854 sp 1859 1870 1874 1874 sp 1876 1880 1883 1886 1886 sp 1889 1892 1894 sp 1899 1900 1900 sp 1904 1906 1908 1910 sp 1912 1916 1918 1922 1924 1928 1930 1934 1936 1940 1941 sp 1942 1946 1947 sp 1948 1952 1954 1958 1960 1964 1966 1970 1972 1976 1978 1982 1984 1988 1990 1994 1996 2000 2002 2006 2008 2008 sp 2012 2014 2018 2018 sp 2020 2024 2026 U.S. House 1801 1802 (Terr sp) 1806 1817 1819 1820 1822 1824 1826 At-large sp 1828 At-large sp 1830 1832 1835 1837 1839 1841 1843 1845 1847 1849 1851 1853 1855 1857 1858 5th sp 1859 1865 1868 1869 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1934 1940 1942 1946 1950 1956 1962 1968 3rd sp 1972 1980 1981 4th sp 1982 1984 1986 1988 1989 5th sp 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2006 2008 1st sp 2010 2012 2014 2015 1st sp 2016 2018 2020 2022
State government State elections 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2020 2023 Gubernatorial elections 1873 1877 1881 1885 1889 1895 1899 1903 1907 1911 1915 1919 1923 1927 1931 1935 1939 1943 1947 1951 1955 1959 1963 1967 1971 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023 State Senate elections 2023 House of Representatives elections 2023 Attorney General elections 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Ballot measures 2001 Flag referendum 2004 Amendment 1 2020 Initiative 65 Measure 3
City of Jackson Mayoral elections 2005 2009 2013 2014 2017 2021

In Mississippi, voters voted for electors individually instead of as a slate, as in the other states.

McGovern carried only three counties – Claiborne, Holmes and Jefferson – all of which have overwhelming majority black populations. In archconservative Mississippi,[2] McGovern was universally viewed as a left-wing extremist because of his support for busing and civil rights, plus his opposition to the Vietnam War, support for granting amnesty to draft dodgers[3] and support for a thousand-dollar giveaway to each American as a solution to poverty.[4] Many, especially Republican campaigners, also believed McGovern would legalize abortion and illicit drugs if he were elected[5] – despite the fact that his running mate Sargent Shriver was firmly pro-life.

Consequently, the proportion of white voters supporting McGovern was utterly negligible, and even the newly enfranchised and loyally Democratic African-American population did not universally accept McGovern's ideas, with the result that for the second time in three elections one of the historically strongest members of the former Democratic Solid South became the most Republican state in the nation. Even in a massive landslide, Mississippi voted 35% more Republican than the nation at-large.[6] As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which the following counties voted for a Republican presidential candidate: Marshall, Quitman, Bolivar, Sharkey, Wilkinson, Humphreys, Coahoma, Noxubee, and Tunica.[7] This is also the last presidential election in which one of the two major-party nominees received less than 20% of the vote in a state. Nixon's margin of victory in Mississippi even exceeded McGovern's 56-point win in the District of Columbia, making this one of only two presidential elections in history (the other being the 1964 election, also in Mississippi) in which any state was decided by a larger margin than the District of Columbia.