Idaho was one of 44 states carried in a national landslide by incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson. However, it was by far the weakest state that Johnson carried in the election. Johnson carried the state by a margin of 5,363 votes, or 1.83%, making Idaho’s vote about 20.75% more Republican than the national average. Johnson’s strongest performances were in Clearwater and Lewis counties where he took over 76% of the vote in both counties. Goldwater’s strongest performance was Jerome County, taking 63% of the vote. While Johnson carried slightly over half of the state’s 44 counties, Goldwater carried the more populated counties such as Ada, Bonneville, Canyon and Twin Falls, thus keeping the vote close.
This is the last presidential election where Idaho was carried by a Democrat and the only such instance since 1948. In presidential elections since 1964, Idaho has solidified itself as a stronghold of the Republican Party, with Republicans carrying the state by 55% or more of the vote on ten occasions, while no Democrat since Johnson has been able to get 40% or more of the state’s popular vote. [1][2]
At a more local level, the only counties in Idaho to have ever given a Democrat majority or plurality since 1968 have been Teton in the far east, Blaine in the centre of the state, and the seven northern counties of, clockwise from north, Bonner, Shoshone, Clearwater, Lewis, Nez Perce, Latah, and Benewah Counties.[3] Of these, Bonner County was carried only by a narrow Bill Clinton plurality in 1992 as a result of strong support for Ross Perot cutting into the Republican vote[4] whilst Benewah County were carried only by a narrow Carter majority in 1976[5] and Bill Clinton plurality in 1992. All forty-four Idaho counties voted Republican in 1972, 1980 and 1984, only Blaine County voted for Gore in 2000 and Kerry in 2004, and since then only Latah and Teton Counties have been remotely competitive electorally.
