1972 United States presidential election in Maryland

The 1972 United States presidential election in Maryland was held on November 7, 1972 as part of the 1972 United States presidential election. Both the Democratic and Republican (Sargent Shriver and Spiro Agnew, respectively) Vice Presidential nominees were from Maryland.

1972 United States presidential election in Maryland

November 7, 1972
All 10 Maryland electoral votes to the Electoral College
Nominee Richard Nixon George McGovern Party Republican Democratic Home state California South Dakota Running mate Spiro Agnew Sargent Shriver Electoral vote 10 0 Popular vote 829,305 505,781 Percentage 61.3% 37.4%
County Results Nixon   50-60%   60-70%   70-80% McGovern   50-60%

Maryland was won by incumbent President Richard Nixon of California and Vice President Spiro Agnew (a Maryland native), winning 61.26% of the vote to George McGovern and Shriver's 37.36%. Nixon won every county-equivalent in the state except Baltimore City. He won over 77% of the vote in Carroll County, and over 70% in 9 counties overall. This is the last time Prince George's County has voted Republican in a presidential election,[1] and the last of only 6 occasions[lower-alpha 1] since the emergence of the Republican Party that Maryland has voted more Republican than the nation as a whole.[2]

Of his three presidential campaigns, this is the only time in which Nixon carried the home state of his running mate. Nixon failed to carry Maryland in 1968 and in 1960 did not carry Massachusetts, the home state of his then running mate Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.

Results

1972 United States presidential election in Maryland[3]
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Richard Nixon	Spiro Agnew	829,305	61.26%	10
	Democratic	George McGovern	Sargent Shriver	505,781	37.36%	0
	American Independent	John G. Schmitz	Thomas J. Anderson	18,726	1.38%	0

Results by county

County	Richard Milhous Nixon Republican		George Stanley McGovern Democratic		John George Schmitz American Independent		Margin		Total votes cast[4]
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Allegany	20,687	64.55%	10,808	33.72%	553	1.73%	9,879	30.83%	32,048
Anne Arundel	71,707	72.26%	26,082	26.28%	1,450	1.46%	45,625	45.97%	99,239
Baltimore County	175,897	70.30%	70,309	28.10%	4,018	1.61%	105,588	42.20%	250,224
Baltimore City	119,486	45.15%	141,323	53.40%	3,843	1.45%	-21,837	-8.25%	264,652
Calvert	4,024	63.43%	2,232	35.18%	88	1.39%	1,792	28.25%	6,344
Caroline	4,325	72.71%	1,567	26.34%	56	0.94%	2,758	46.37%	5,948
Carroll	16,847	77.25%	4,408	20.21%	553	2.54%	12,439	57.04%	21,808
Cecil	10,759	70.82%	4,113	27.08%	319	2.10%	6,646	43.75%	15,191
Charles	9,665	67.34%	4,502	31.37%	186	1.30%	5,163	35.97%	14,353
Dorchester	6,859	74.97%	2,136	23.35%	154	1.68%	4,723	51.62%	9,149
Frederick	19,907	69.48%	8,235	28.74%	509	1.78%	11,672	40.74%	28,651
Garrett	5,480	76.60%	1,510	21.11%	164	2.29%	3,970	55.49%	7,154
Harford	25,141	73.16%	8,737	25.42%	488	1.42%	16,404	47.73%	34,366
Howard	19,265	63.55%	10,668	35.19%	383	1.26%	8,597	28.36%	30,316
Kent	4,036	64.36%	2,168	34.57%	67	1.07%	1,868	29.79%	6,271
Montgomery	133,090	56.50%	100,228	42.55%	2,239	0.95%	32,862	13.95%	235,557
Prince George's	116,166	58.55%	79,914	40.28%	2,330	1.17%	36,252	18.27%	198,410
Queen Anne's	4,380	70.45%	1,712	27.54%	125	2.01%	2,668	42.91%	6,217
Somerset	4,342	67.33%	2,036	31.57%	71	1.10%	2,306	35.76%	6,449
St. Mary's	7,689	67.55%	3,571	31.37%	122	1.07%	4,118	36.18%	11,382
Talbot	6,620	74.73%	2,181	24.62%	58	0.65%	4,439	50.11%	8,859
Washington	24,234	69.27%	10,039	28.70%	712	2.04%	14,195	40.57%	34,985
Wicomico	13,115	69.71%	5,510	29.29%	190	1.01%	7,605	40.42%	18,815
Worcester	5,584	75.22%	1,792	24.14%	48	0.65%	3,792	51.08%	7,424
Totals	829,305	61.26%	505,781	37.36%	18,726	1.38%	323,524	23.90%	1,353,812

See also

• United States presidential elections in Maryland

References

1. Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
2. Counting the Votes; Maryland Archived 2017-11-07 at the Wayback Machine
3. Maryland Manual 1969–1970. The Hall of Records Commission of the State of Maryland. p. 473. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
4. Maryland State Board of Elections, ‘For President of the United States’ Maryland General Election Returns – November 7, 1972 (Annapolis, 1972)

Notes

1. The other five are 1896 under William Jennings Bryan's "cross of gold" opposed by Northeastern industrialists, and the four elections from 1944 to 1956