United States presidential elections in Utah

Utah is a state in the Mountain West sub-region of the Western United States.[1] Since its admission to the Union in January 1896, it has participated in 32 United States presidential elections. In the 1896 presidential election, first presidential election in which the state participated, Utah was won in a landslide by Democrat William Jennings Bryan, who received almost 83 percent of the state's vote.[2] However, the state would quickly swing towards the Republican Party in the years that followed, although it would remain a swing state at the presidential level well into the 1940s.[3] In the 1912 election, Utah was one of only two states won by incumbent Republican President William Howard Taft.[4] However, the state would vote for the Democratic nominee by a large margin in 1916, 1932, 1936, 1940, and 1944, and by a narrow margin in 1948. However, since the latter election, the state has become very heavily Republican and has only voted for a Democratic presidential nominee once (in 1964, amidst a national Democratic landslide).[3][5]

Presidential elections in Utah
Map of the United States with Utah highlighted
Number of elections32
Voted Democratic8
Voted Republican24
Voted other0
Voted for winning candidate23
Voted for losing candidate9

In the 1992 presidential election, Utah was one of only two states in which independent Ross Perot finished second, placing ahead of Democrat Bill Clinton.[6] In the 2016 presidential election, independent Evan McMullin ran ran as an independent and won almost 21.5% of the vote in the state, his strongest performance in the nation.[7][8][9] As of 2020, the Republican Party has won Utah in 17 of the last 18 presidential elections.[10] Recent national surveys show Utah to be one of the most Republican states in the nation.[11]

Presidential elections

Key for parties
  American Party – (A)
  Constitution Party – (CP)
  Democratic Party – (D)
  Farmer-Labor Party – (FL)
  Green Party – (G)
  Libertarian Party – (LI)
  Progressive Party (1912) – (PR-1912)
  Progressive Party (1924) – (PR-1924)
  Progressive Party (1948) – (PR-1948)
  Reform Party – (RE)
  Republican Party – (R)
  Union Party – (U)
Note – A double dagger (‡) indicates the national winner.
Presidential elections in Utah from 1896 to present
YearWinnerRunner-upOther candidate[a]EVRef.
CandidateVotes%CandidateVotes%CandidateVotes%
William Jennings Bryan (D)64,60782.73%William McKinley (R)13,49117.27%
3
William McKinley (R)47,08950.59%William Jennings Bryan (D)44,94948.3%Eugene Debs (S)7170.77%3
Theodore Roosevelt (R)62,44661.45%Alton B. Parker (D)33,41332.88%Eugene Debs (S)5,7675.67%3
William Howard Taft (R)61,16556.24%William Jennings Bryan (D)42,61039.18%Eugene Debs (S)4,8904.5%3
William Howard Taft (R)42,01337.42%Woodrow Wilson (D)36,57632.58%Theodore Roosevelt (PR-1912)24,17421.53%4
Woodrow Wilson (D)84,14558.78%Charles Evans Hughes (R)54,13737.82%Allan L. Benson (S)4,4603.12%4
Warren G. Harding (R)81,55555.93%James M. Cox (D)56,63938.84%Parley P. Christensen (FL)4,4753.07%4
Calvin Coolidge (R)77,32749.26%John W. Davis (D)47,00129.94%Robert M. La Follette (PR-1924)32,66220.81%4
Herbert Hoover (R)94,61853.58%Al Smith (D)80,98545.86%Norman Thomas (S)9540.54%4
Franklin D. Roosevelt (D)116,75056.52%Herbert Hoover (R)84,79541.05%Norman Thomas (S)4,0871.98%4
Franklin D. Roosevelt (D)150,24669.34%Alf Landon (R)64,55529.79%William Lemke (U)1,1210.52%4
Franklin D. Roosevelt (D)154,27762.25%Wendell Willkie (R)93,15137.59%Norman Thomas (S)2000.08%4
Franklin D. Roosevelt (D)150,08860.44%Thomas E. Dewey (R)97,89139.42%Norman Thomas (S)3400.14%4
Harry S. Truman (D)149,15153.98%Thomas E. Dewey (R)124,40245.02%Henry A. Wallace (PR-1948)2,6790.97%4
Dwight D. Eisenhower (R)194,19058.93%Adlai Stevenson (D)135,36441.07%
4
Dwight D. Eisenhower (R)215,63164.56%Adlai Stevenson (D)118,36435.44%
4
Richard Nixon (R)205,36154.81%John F. Kennedy (D)169,24845.17%Farrell Dobbs (SW)1000.03%4
Lyndon B. Johnson (D)219,62854.71%Barry Goldwater (R)180,68245.01%
4
Richard Nixon (R)238,72856.49%Hubert Humphrey (D)156,66537.07%George Wallace (AI)26,9066.37%4
Richard Nixon (R)323,64367.64%George McGovern (D)126,28426.39%John G. Schmitz (AI)28,5495.97%4
Gerald Ford (R)337,90862.44%Jimmy Carter (D)182,11033.65%Thomas J. Anderson (A)13,2842.45%4
Ronald Reagan (R)439,68772.77%Jimmy Carter (D)124,26620.57%John B. Anderson (I)30,2845.01%5
Ronald Reagan (R)469,10574.5%Walter Mondale (D)155,36924.68%David Bergland (LI)2,4470.39%5
George H. W. Bush (R)428,44266.22%Michael Dukakis (D)207,34332.05%Ron Paul (LI)7,4731.16%5
George H. W. Bush (R)322,63243.36%Ross Perot (I)203,40027.34%Bill Clinton (D)183,42924.65%5
Bob Dole (R)361,91154.37%Bill Clinton (D)221,63333.3%Ross Perot (RE)66,4619.98%5
George W. Bush (R)515,09666.83%Al Gore (D)203,05326.34%Ralph Nader (G)35,8504.65%5
George W. Bush (R)663,74271.54%John Kerry (D)241,19926%Ralph Nader (I)11,3051.22%5
John McCain (R)596,03062.58%Barack Obama (D)327,67034.41%Chuck Baldwin (CP)12,0121.26%5
Mitt Romney (R)740,60072.79%Barack Obama (D)251,81324.75%Gary Johnson (LI)12,5721.24%6
Donald Trump (R)515,23145.54%Hillary Clinton (D)310,67627.46%Evan McMullin (I)243,69021.54%6
Donald Trump (R)865,14058.13%Joe Biden (D)560,28237.65%Jo Jorgensen (LI)38,4472.58%6

Graph

See also

Notes

References

Works cited