1928 United States presidential election in Wyoming
November 6, 1928
 
Nominee Herbert Hoover Al Smith
Party Republican Democratic
Home state Iowa New York
Running mate Charles Curtis Joseph Robinson
Electoral vote 3 0
Popular vote 52,748 29,299
Percentage 63.68% 35.37%
County Results
President before election

Calvin Coolidge
Republican

 Elected President

Herbert Hoover
Republican

The 1928 United States presidential election in Wyoming took place on November 6, 1928, as part of the 1928 United States presidential election. State voters chose three representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Wyoming was won by the Republican candidate, former Secretary of Commerce and mining engineer Herbert Hoover. from the state of California, running with Senator Charles Curtis, with 63.68 percent of the popular vote, against the Democratic candidate, Governor of New York Al Smith, running with Arkansas Senator and former Governor Joseph Robinson, with 35.37 percent, a 28.3% margin of victory.[1] Hoover won all but one of the state's twenty-three counties, but Smith's victory in Sweetwater County – which had defied the 1924 GOP landslide by voting for Robert La Follette– would with the aid of extensive unionization create a run of Democratic wins in that county extending to 1968.[2]

Just 4 years earlier, Hoover's predecessor, fellow Republican Calvin Coolidge, had carried Wyoming by 20.9% against his nearest rival, Progressive Robert M. La Follette, however in that election the vote was split, with the combined Progressive and Democratic vote total equaling 47.6%, thus giving Coolidge, who received 52.4% of the vote, a victory margin of 4.8%. Hoover's 28.3 point victory marked a swing to the right of 23.5 points, and Wyoming voted 10.9% to the right of the nation in this election.

Voters associated the booming economy of The Roaring Twenties under Coolidge with Republicans, thus giving Hoover a significant edge in the campaign. In addition to facing an uphill battle to convince voters to abandon the popular Republican policies, Smith, a Roman Catholic, also dealt with significant anti-Catholic prejudice, with many protestants believing he would take orders from The Pope, with some even believing the Pope would move to Washington D.C. if Smith won. Additionally, Smith's opposition to Prohibition, which was the ban on alcoholic beverages, and his association with the corruption of Tammany Hall all but ensured his defeat. His performance was the second worst for a Democrat in Wyoming's history at that time, being surpassed only by James Cox's defeat to Warren Harding in 1920, and would remain the second worst until George McGovern's landslide defeat in 1972.

Despite his strong performance, over the course of his presidency, the economic boom of the 1920s that had propelled Republicans to success would transform into The Great Depression, which voters associated with Hoover, and he would go on to lose the state by 16 points to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. Hoover's raw vote total was the highest for a Republican in Wyoming's history up until that point, and would remain so until Dwight Eisenhower surpassed it in 1952.

This would be the last time a Republican would win Wyoming until Thomas Dewey in 1944, as well as the last time that a Republican would win Crook and Johnson Counties until Alf Landon in 1936, the last to win Campbell, Converse, Fremont, Goshen, Niobrara, Sublette, Washakie and Weston counties until Wendell Willkie in 1940, the last to carry Natrona, Park, Platte, and Teton counties until Dewey in 1944, and the last to carry Hot Springs, Laramie, Lincoln, and Uinta counties until Dwight Eisenhower in 1952. Hoover would also be the last Republican to receive 40% of more of the vote in the Democratic stronghold of Sweetwater County until Eisenhower in 1956.

Results

1928 United States presidential election in Wyoming[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Herbert Hoover 52,748 63.68%
Democratic Alfred E. Smith 29,299 35.37%
Socialist Norman Thomas 788 0.95%
Total votes 82,835 100.00%

Results by county

County Herbert Clark Hoover
Republican		 Alfred Emmanuel Smith
Democratic		 Norman Mattoon Thomas
Socialist		 Margin Total votes cast[3]
#  % #  % #  % #  %
Albany 2,941 64.13% 1,618 35.28% 27 0.59% 1,323 28.85% 4,586
Big Horn 2,646 73.58% 933 25.95% 17 0.47% 1,713 47.63% 3,596
Campbell 1,528 66.52% 744 32.39% 25 1.09% 784 34.13% 2,297
Carbon 3,019 64.85% 1,609 34.56% 27 0.58% 1,410 30.29% 4,655
Converse 2,040 70.52% 845 29.21% 8 0.28% 1,195 41.31% 2,893
Crook 1,466 71.41% 582 28.35% 5 0.24% 884 43.06% 2,053
Fremont 2,267 60.65% 1,449 38.76% 22 0.59% 818 21.89% 3,738
Goshen 2,483 75.29% 777 23.56% 38 1.15% 1,706 51.73% 3,298
Hot Springs 1,220 55.33% 940 42.63% 45 2.04% 280 12.70% 2,205
Johnson 1,369 69.25% 590 29.84% 18 0.91% 779 39.41% 1,977
Laramie 5,862 65.33% 3,029 33.76% 82 0.91% 2,833 31.57% 8,973
Lincoln 2,217 56.57% 1,687 43.05% 15 0.38% 530 13.52% 3,919
Natrona 7,141 64.78% 3,818 34.64% 64 0.58% 3,323 30.14% 11,023
Niobrara 1,424 74.21% 469 24.44% 26 1.35% 955 49.77% 1,919
Park 2,175 66.72% 1,062 32.58% 23 0.71% 1,113 34.14% 3,260
Platte 2,206 67.75% 932 28.62% 118 3.62% 1,274 39.13% 3,256
Sheridan 3,616 57.86% 2,563 41.01% 71 1.14% 1,053 16.85% 6,250
Sublette 573 59.69% 316 32.92% 71 7.40% 257 26.77% 960
Sweetwater 2,528 45.15% 2,974 53.12% 97 1.73% -446 -7.97% 5,599
Teton 495 64.29% 270 35.06% 5 0.65% 225 29.23% 770
Uinta 1,439 58.31% 1,012 41.00% 17 0.69% 427 17.31% 2,468
Washakie 966 70.72% 392 28.70% 8 0.59% 574 42.02% 1,366
Weston 1,127 61.28% 688 37.41% 24 1.31% 439 23.87% 1,839
Totals52,74863.68%29,29935.37%7880.95%23,44928.31%82,835
County flips from 1924:

Counties that flipped from Progressive to Democratic

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "1928 Presidential Election Results – Wyoming".
  2. ↑ Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 342-343 ISBN 0786422173
  3. ↑ Scammon, Richard M. (compiler); America at the Polls: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics 1920-1964; p. 515 ISBN 0405077114
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