1896 United States presidential election in Idaho
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 County Results
Bryan 60-70% 70-80% 80-90% 90-100%
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.jpg)
.jpg)
| Elections in Idaho |
|---|
 |
The 1896 United States presidential election in Idaho took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. State voters chose three electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.
Background
Idaho, upon its organization as a territory was overwhelmingly Democratic,[1] but had been increasingly dominated by the Republican Party in the years leading up to statehood, as ex-Southern and Mormon mining settlers were increasingly outweighed by those from the Midwest.[2] The state Democratic Party would regroup and its pro-silver, anti-Mormon faction under Marshal Fred T. Dubois would bring the state into the Union in the late 1880s.[1]
Upon statehood, Idaho was shaken by a wave of strikes in the silver-mining regions[3] and even deeper conflict whereby an idled ore concentrator was destroyed in Gem.[4] This, alongside opposition to Republican Governor Norman Bushnell Willey’s declaration of martial law upon the miners, and against the absentee ownership of Idaho's land and water,[5] would turn the state's electorate strongly towards the Populist leader James B. Weaver, who carried the state in 1892 in an election where Gold Democrat and former President Grover Cleveland was not even on the ballot.
As the 1896 election approached, it was clear that silver politics would be the determining factor in Idaho's vote,[6] and that the state would not vote for any candidate opposing free silver. Senator Fred T. Dubois, who had been a critical player in giving Idaho statehood,[1] confirmed this in June. When William Jennings Bryan gained the Democratic nomination on a platform favouring the coinage of silver at 16:1 relative to gold, the Populist Party supported him throughout the country.[7]
Vote
Idaho was won by the Democratic/Populist nominees, William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska and his running mate Arthur Sewall of Maine. Bryan won every county, and only in three of twenty-one did McKinley crack a quarter of the vote. Despite half a century of overwhelming Republican dominance, no presidential nominee of either party has ever equaled Bryan's performance in the state.
Bryan would later defeat McKinley again in Idaho four year later but would later lose the state to William Howard Taft in 1908.
Results
| 1896 United States presidential election in Idaho[8] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes | |
| Democratic | William Jennings Bryan | 23,135 | 78.10% | 3 | |
| Republican | William McKinley | 6,314 | 21.32% | 0 | |
| Prohibition | Joshua Levering | 172 | 0.58% | 0 | |
| Totals | 29,621 | 100.00% | 3 | ||
| Voter turnout | — | ||||
Results by county
| County | William Jennings Bryan Democratic |
William McKinley Republican |
Joshua Levering Prohibition |
Margin | Total votes cast[9] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Ada | 1,531 | 63.55% | 851 | 35.33% | 27 | 1.12% | 680 | 28.23% | 2,409 |
| Bannock | 1,363 | 85.29% | 228 | 14.27% | 7 | 0.44% | 1,135 | 71.03% | 1,598 |
| Bear Lake | 851 | 77.29% | 249 | 22.62% | 1 | 0.09% | 602 | 54.68% | 1,101 |
| Bingham | 1,232 | 85.56% | 194 | 13.47% | 14 | 0.97% | 1,038 | 72.08% | 1,440 |
| Blaine | 1,228 | 95.19% | 59 | 4.57% | 3 | 0.23% | 1,169 | 90.62% | 1,290 |
| Boise | 862 | 78.87% | 226 | 20.68% | 5 | 0.46% | 636 | 58.19% | 1,093 |
| Canyon | 1,178 | 78.38% | 303 | 20.16% | 22 | 1.46% | 875 | 58.22% | 1,503 |
| Cassia | 579 | 81.43% | 129 | 18.14% | 3 | 0.42% | 450 | 63.29% | 711 |
| Custer | 599 | 95.08% | 29 | 4.60% | 2 | 0.32% | 570 | 90.48% | 630 |
| Elmore | 535 | 81.06% | 124 | 18.79% | 1 | 0.15% | 411 | 62.27% | 660 |
| Fremont | 1,526 | 92.21% | 121 | 7.31% | 8 | 0.48% | 1,405 | 84.89% | 1,655 |
| Idaho | 1,127 | 74.59% | 377 | 24.95% | 7 | 0.46% | 750 | 49.64% | 1,511 |
| Kootenai | 1,432 | 80.49% | 334 | 18.77% | 13 | 0.73% | 1,098 | 61.72% | 1,779 |
| Latah | 1,870 | 64.00% | 1,036 | 35.46% | 16 | 0.55% | 834 | 28.54% | 2,922 |
| Lemhi | 1,065 | 83.92% | 202 | 15.92% | 2 | 0.16% | 863 | 68.01% | 1,269 |
| Lincoln | 305 | 80.26% | 74 | 19.47% | 1 | 0.26% | 231 | 60.79% | 380 |
| Nez Perce | 1,089 | 60.97% | 675 | 37.79% | 22 | 1.23% | 414 | 23.18% | 1,786 |
| Oneida | 1,092 | 77.23% | 315 | 22.28% | 7 | 0.50% | 777 | 54.95% | 1,414 |
| Owyhee | 1,140 | 92.16% | 97 | 7.84% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,043 | 84.32% | 1,237 |
| Shoshone | 1,760 | 77.84% | 497 | 21.98% | 4 | 0.18% | 1,263 | 55.86% | 2,261 |
| Washington | 828 | 79.62% | 204 | 19.62% | 8 | 0.77% | 624 | 60.00% | 1,040 |
| Totals | 23,192 | 78.12% | 6,324 | 21.30% | 173 | 0.58% | 16,868 | 56.82% | 29,689 |
See also
Notes
References
- ^ a b c Owens, Kenneth N.; ‘Pattern and Structure in Western Territorial Politics’; Western Historical Quarterly, Vol. 1, No. 4 (October 1970), pp. 373-392
- ^ Weatherby, James B. and Stapilus, Randy; Governing Idaho: Politics, People and Power, pp. 35-36 ISBN 0870045210
- ^ Kennedy, David M. and Cohen, Lizabeth; American Pageant, Volume 2, p. 506 ISBN 1305537416
- ^ Schwantes, Carlos A.; The Pacific Northwest: An Interpretive History, p. 343
- ^ Larson, Robert W.; ‘Populism in the Mountain West: A Mainstream Movement’; Western Historical Quarterly, vol. 13, no. 2 (April 1982), pp. 143-164
- ^ Johnson, Claudius O.; ‘The Story of Silver Politics in Idaho, 1892-1902’; The Pacific Northwest Quarterly, vol. 33, no. 3 (July 1942), pp. 283-296
- ^ Case, Matthew H. and Sprague, Alan F. (1982); Northwest Frontier, p. 257
- ^ Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas; 1896 Presidential General Election Results – Idaho
- ^ Robinson, Edgar Eugene; The Presidential Vote 1896-1932, pp. 174-177 ISBN 9780804716963
