1960 United States presidential election in Idaho

1960 United States presidential election in Idaho

← 1956 November 8, 1960[1] 1964 →
 
Nominee Richard Nixon John F. Kennedy
Party Republican Democratic
Home state California Massachusetts
Running mate Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. Lyndon B. Johnson
Electoral vote 4 0
Popular vote 161,597 138,853
Percentage 53.78% 46.22%

County Results

President before election

Dwight D. Eisenhower
Republican

Elected President

John F. Kennedy
Democratic

The 1960 United States presidential election in Idaho took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. State voters chose four[2] representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Idaho was won by incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon (RCalifornia), running with United States Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., with 53.78 percent of the popular vote, against Senator John F. Kennedy (DMassachusetts), running with Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, with 46.22 percent of the popular vote.[3][4] As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Custer County and Camas County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.[5]

Nixon won Idaho by 22,744 votes, or 7.6%, which was significantly less than fellow Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956, who won the state by a margin of 22.4%, or 61,111 votes. This marked the first time since its admission to the union in 1890 that Idaho would back a losing Republican in a presidential election. This was also the first time since 1900 that the state failed to back the winning candidate in a presidential election. 4 years later, Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson would win the state by a margin of 1.83%, or 5,363 votes, which as of the 2020 presidential election, is the last time a Democratic presidential candidate has carried the state, or even broken 40% of the total vote. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time a Democratic presidential candidate has lost Idaho by a single-digit margin.

  1. ^ "United States Presidential election of 1960 - Encyclopædia Britannica". Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  2. ^ "1960 Election for the Forty-Fourth Term (1961-65)". Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  3. ^ "1960 Presidential General Election Results - Idaho". Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  4. ^ "The American Presidency Project - Election of 1960". Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  5. ^ Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016