1964 United States presidential election in Wisconsin

The 1964 United States presidential election in Wisconsin was held on November 3, 1964 as part of 1964 United States presidential election. State voters chose twelve electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

1964 United States presidential election in Wisconsin

November 3, 1964

Nominee Lyndon B. Johnson Barry Goldwater Party Democratic Republican Home state Texas Arizona Running mate Hubert Humphrey William E. Miller Electoral vote 12 0 Popular vote 1,050,424 638,495 Percentage 62.1% 37.7%

County Results Johnson   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90% Goldwater   50–60%

President before election Lyndon B. Johnson Democratic Elected President Lyndon B. Johnson Democratic

Background

Politics in Wisconsin since the Populist movement had been dominated by the Republican Party,[1] as the upper classes, along with the majority of workers who followed them, fled from William Jennings Bryan's agrarian and free silver sympathies.[2] Competition between the "League" under Robert M. La Follette, and the conservative "Regular" faction[3] would develop into the Wisconsin Progressive Party in the late 1930s, which was opposed to the conservative German Democrats and to the national Republican Party, and allied with Franklin D. Roosevelt at the federal level. During the two wartime elections, the formerly Democratic German counties in the east of the state – which had been powerfully opposed to the Civil War because they saw it as a "Yankee" war and opposed the military draft instituted during it[4] – viewed Communism as a much greater threat to America than Nazism and consequently opposed President Roosevelt's war effort.[5] Consequently, these historically Democratic counties became virtually the most Republican in the entire state, and became a major support base for populist conservative Senator Joe McCarthy, who became notorious for his investigations into Communists inside the American government. The state's populace's opposition to Communism and the Korean War turned Wisconsin strongly to Republican nominee Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1952 and 1956 presidential elections.

The 1958 midterm elections, however, saw a major change in Wisconsin politics, as Gaylord A. Nelson became only the state's second Democratic Governor since 1895, and the state also elected Democrats to the position of treasurer and Senator, besides that party gaining a majority in the State Assembly for only the second time since the middle 1890s. They maintained a close balance in the early 1960s, signalling the state's transition to a swing state.

Vote

During the Republican primaries, Wisconsin supported favorite son John W. Byrnes but no other state joined him. Ultimate Republican nominee Barry Goldwater considered Wisconsin a useful state to combine with his Southern and Western strategy for winning the presidency and directing the GOP away from the declining Yankee Northeast.[6] The Republican would campaign in Wisconsin late in September, but met with severe hostility at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.[7] Signs saying "Bring the Bomb—Back Barry" were common in Madison.

Early polls nevertheless showed incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson leading Goldwater comfortably,[8] despite predictions of a severe backlash to the Civil Rights Act from Wisconsin's anti-black German-American and Polish-American populations.[9] Extreme fears of financial loss for farmers accounted for a 66—28 lead for Johnson in September,[10] and fear of Goldwater's policy of strategic use of nuclear weapons,[11] rather than enthusiasm for the domestic and foreign policies of President Johnson, was cited as the cause of the President's continuing strong lead one month later.[12]

Ultimately, Wisconsin would vote strongly for President Johnson, who defeated Goldwater by a margin of 24.35 percent - a large margin though considerably less than some early polls had expected. Goldwater held up slightly better in the German areas where conservative Republicanism had been established by anti-World War II sentiment, whilst he lost heavily in the Yankee counties of the south.[11] As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Dodge County, Fond du Lac County, Green Lake County, Ozaukee County, Vilas County, Washington County, and Waukesha County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.[13]

Results

1964 United States presidential election in Wisconsin[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Lyndon B. Johnson	1,050,424	62.09%	12
	Republican	Barry Goldwater	638,495	37.74%	0
	Independent	Clifton DeBerry	1,692	0.10%	0
	Independent	Eric Hass	1,204	0.07%	0
Totals			1,691,815	100.0%	12

Results by county

County	Lyndon Baines Johnson Democratic		Barry Morris Goldwater Republican		Clifton DeBerry Independent		Eric Hass Independent		Margin		Total votes cast[15]
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Adams	2,262	64.83%	1,219	34.94%	3	0.09%	5	0.14%	1,043	29.89%	3,489
Ashland	5,383	70.91%	2,198	28.96%	6	0.08%	4	0.05%	3,185	41.96%	7,591
Barron	8,332	59.28%	5,701	40.56%	17	0.12%	6	0.04%	2,631	18.72%	14,056
Bayfield	3,875	67.08%	1,886	32.65%	14	0.24%	2	0.03%	1,989	34.43%	5,777
Brown	30,851	59.26%	21,134	40.59%	61	0.12%	18	0.03%	9,717	18.66%	52,064
Buffalo	3,663	63.60%	2,091	36.31%	5	0.09%	0	0.00%	1,572	27.30%	5,759
Burnett	2,921	65.45%	1,536	34.42%	5	0.11%	1	0.02%	1,385	31.03%	4,463
Calumet	5,356	57.75%	3,905	42.11%	10	0.11%	3	0.03%	1,451	15.65%	9,274
Chippewa	10,911	63.38%	6,277	36.46%	18	0.10%	8	0.05%	4,634	26.92%	17,214
Clark	7,781	61.25%	4,897	38.55%	16	0.13%	10	0.08%	2,884	22.70%	12,704
Columbia	10,093	61.66%	6,253	38.20%	17	0.10%	7	0.04%	3,840	23.46%	16,370
Crawford	3,930	58.98%	2,726	40.91%	4	0.06%	3	0.05%	1,204	18.07%	6,663
Dane	68,118	71.38%	27,124	28.42%	83	0.09%	101	0.11%	40,994	42.96%	95,426
Dodge	15,497	58.91%	10,772	40.95%	30	0.11%	9	0.03%	4,725	17.96%	26,308
Door	4,416	50.68%	4,289	49.22%	8	0.09%	1	0.01%	127	1.46%	8,714
Douglas	15,237	76.80%	4,579	23.08%	12	0.06%	11	0.06%	10,658	53.72%	19,839
Dunn	6,475	61.91%	3,964	37.90%	14	0.13%	5	0.05%	2,511	24.01%	10,458
Eau Claire	15,775	64.33%	8,700	35.48%	34	0.14%	12	0.05%	7,075	28.85%	24,521
Florence	1,029	63.25%	596	36.63%	1	0.06%	1	0.06%	433	26.61%	1,627
Fond du Lac	18,040	58.61%	12,708	41.29%	26	0.08%	4	0.01%	5,332	17.32%	30,778
Forest	2,479	69.79%	1,069	30.10%	3	0.08%	1	0.03%	1,410	39.70%	3,552
Grant	9,309	54.09%	7,872	45.74%	16	0.09%	14	0.08%	1,437	8.35%	17,211
Green	5,548	50.76%	5,364	49.08%	14	0.13%	3	0.03%	184	1.68%	10,929
Green Lake	3,893	50.12%	3,871	49.83%	2	0.03%	2	0.03%	22	0.28%	7,768
Iowa	4,620	58.43%	3,275	41.42%	9	0.11%	3	0.04%	1,345	17.01%	7,907
Iron	2,514	72.24%	963	27.67%	2	0.06%	1	0.03%	1,551	44.57%	3,480
Jackson	3,818	60.06%	2,532	39.83%	6	0.09%	1	0.02%	1,286	20.23%	6,357
Jefferson	13,295	60.20%	8,741	39.58%	28	0.13%	20	0.09%	4,554	20.62%	22,084
Juneau	4,583	60.57%	2,976	39.33%	5	0.07%	3	0.04%	1,607	21.24%	7,567
Kenosha	30,522	67.29%	14,764	32.55%	40	0.09%	30	0.07%	15,758	34.74%	45,356
Kewaunee	4,792	61.59%	2,980	38.30%	6	0.08%	2	0.03%	1,812	23.29%	7,780
La Crosse	16,625	55.78%	13,135	44.07%	26	0.09%	17	0.06%	3,490	11.71%	29,803
Lafayette	4,471	58.28%	3,194	41.64%	4	0.05%	2	0.03%	1,277	16.65%	7,671
Langlade	5,077	62.83%	2,994	37.05%	8	0.10%	2	0.02%	2,083	25.78%	8,081
Lincoln	5,883	60.06%	3,894	39.75%	10	0.10%	9	0.09%	1,989	20.30%	9,796
Manitowoc	21,927	68.92%	9,849	30.96%	24	0.08%	15	0.05%	12,078	37.96%	31,815
Marathon	24,603	65.74%	12,766	34.11%	38	0.10%	19	0.05%	11,837	31.63%	37,426
Marinette	9,657	64.32%	5,332	35.52%	12	0.08%	12	0.08%	4,325	28.81%	15,013
Marquette	1,927	50.50%	1,881	49.29%	8	0.21%	0	0.00%	46	1.21%	3,816
Menominee	647	89.12%	78	10.74%	1	0.14%	0	0.00%	569	78.37%	726
Milwaukee	288,577	65.67%	149,962	34.12%	401	0.09%	519	0.12%	138,615	31.54%	439,459
Monroe	6,385	55.41%	5,126	44.48%	7	0.06%	6	0.05%	1,259	10.93%	11,524
Oconto	6,360	58.92%	4,420	40.94%	11	0.10%	4	0.04%	1,940	17.97%	10,795
Oneida	6,431	62.11%	3,909	37.75%	10	0.10%	5	0.05%	2,522	24.36%	10,355
Outagamie	21,556	53.62%	18,595	46.26%	35	0.09%	12	0.03%	2,961	7.37%	40,198
Ozaukee	9,517	52.51%	8,581	47.35%	15	0.08%	10	0.06%	936	5.16%	18,123
Pepin	2,154	66.71%	1,069	33.11%	4	0.12%	2	0.06%	1,085	33.60%	3,229
Pierce	6,351	65.70%	3,291	34.05%	14	0.14%	10	0.10%	3,060	31.66%	9,666
Polk	7,215	65.57%	3,754	34.12%	18	0.16%	16	0.15%	3,461	31.46%	11,003
Portage	11,887	72.05%	4,579	27.75%	21	0.13%	11	0.07%	7,308	44.30%	16,498
Price	4,289	63.97%	2,406	35.88%	7	0.10%	3	0.04%	1,883	28.08%	6,705
Racine	37,785	63.71%	21,434	36.14%	52	0.09%	35	0.06%	16,351	27.57%	59,306
Richland	4,315	57.17%	3,224	42.71%	6	0.08%	3	0.04%	1,091	14.45%	7,548
Rock	28,257	58.04%	20,372	41.85%	44	0.09%	11	0.02%	7,885	16.20%	48,684
Rusk	4,176	65.20%	2,214	34.57%	7	0.11%	8	0.12%	1,962	30.63%	6,405
Sauk	9,288	59.33%	6,345	40.53%	12	0.08%	11	0.07%	2,943	18.80%	15,656
Sawyer	2,591	56.17%	2,012	43.62%	7	0.15%	3	0.07%	579	12.55%	4,613
Shawano	6,560	50.06%	6,519	49.74%	18	0.14%	8	0.06%	41	0.31%	13,105
Sheboygan	26,410	66.95%	12,968	32.88%	48	0.12%	19	0.05%	13,442	34.08%	39,445
St. Croix	8,864	65.86%	4,565	33.92%	16	0.12%	13	0.10%	4,299	31.94%	13,458
Taylor	4,624	67.03%	2,261	32.78%	10	0.14%	3	0.04%	2,363	34.26%	6,898
Trempealeau	6,320	65.91%	3,264	34.04%	3	0.03%	2	0.02%	3,056	31.87%	9,589
Vernon	6,242	57.28%	4,640	42.58%	11	0.10%	5	0.05%	1,602	14.70%	10,898
Vilas	2,841	50.03%	2,827	49.78%	3	0.05%	8	0.14%	14	0.25%	5,679
Walworth	11,746	48.92%	12,225	50.92%	30	0.12%	8	0.03%	-479	-2.00%	24,009
Washburn	3,181	62.84%	1,865	36.84%	8	0.16%	8	0.16%	1,316	26.00%	5,062
Washington	11,563	55.62%	9,191	44.21%	27	0.13%	10	0.05%	2,372	11.41%	20,791
Waukesha	39,796	52.76%	35,502	47.07%	85	0.11%	46	0.06%	4,294	5.69%	75,429
Waupaca	6,990	45.42%	8,381	54.46%	15	0.10%	3	0.02%	-1,391	-9.04%	15,389
Waushara	3,004	46.64%	3,437	53.36%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	-433	-6.72%	6,441
Winnebago	23,636	52.72%	21,084	47.03%	85	0.19%	30	0.07%	2,552	5.69%	44,835
Wood	15,378	64.65%	8,388	35.26%	16	0.07%	5	0.02%	6,990	29.39%	23,787
Totals	1,050,424	62.09%	638,495	37.74%	1,692	0.10%	1,204	0.07%	411,929	24.35%	1,691,815

References

1. Burnham, Walter Dean; 'The System of 1896: An Analysis'; in The Evolution of American Electoral Systems, pp. 178-179 ISBN 0313213798
2. Sundquist, James; Politics and Policy: The Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson Years, p. 526 ISBN 0815719094
3. Hansen, John Mark; Shigeo Hirano, and Snyder, James M. Jr.; 'Parties within Parties: Parties, Factions, and Coordinated Politics, 1900-1980'; in Gerber, Alan S. and Schickler, Eric; Governing in a Polarized Age: Elections, Parties, and Political Representation in America, pp. 165-168 ISBN 978-1-107-09509-0
4. Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 381-382, 414 ISBN 978-0-691-16324-6
5. Phillips; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 387-388
6. Kelley, Stanley junior; 'The Goldwater Strategy'; The Princeton Review; pp. 8-11
7. Yerxa, Fendall W.; 'Goldwater Takes Campaign North: Senator Meets Opposition on Leaving the South'; Special to The New York Times', September 25, 1964, p. 61
8. 'President Scans Favorable Polls: Surveys in 7 States Show Him Leading Goldwater'; Special to The New York Times , August 22, 1964, p. 9
9. Pomfrets, John D.; 'Milwaukee Poles in Johnson Camp: While Openly Anti-Negro, They Oppose Goldwater'; Special to The New York Times', August 22, 1964, p. 22
10. Janson, Donald; 'Johnson Gaining Corn Belt Vote: Farmers Voice Wariness of Goldwater's Philosophy'; Special to The New York Times', September 13, 1964, p. 72
11. Phillips; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 396
12. 'Goldwater Lacks in Wisconsin Poll: Fear of His Nuclear Policy Is Cited in Survey'; Special to The New York Times', October 11, 1964, p. 61
13. Sullivan, Robert David; 'How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century'; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
14. "1964 Presidential General Election Results – Wisconsin". Retrieved August 19, 2016.
15. "WI US President Race, November 03, 1964". Our Campaigns.