1896 United States presidential election in Wisconsin

The 1896 United States presidential election in Wisconsin was held on November 3, 1896 as part of the 1896 United States presidential election. State voters chose twelve electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

1896 United States presidential election in Wisconsin

November 3, 1896

Nominee William McKinley William Jennings Bryan Party Republican Democratic Home state Ohio Nebraska Running mate Garret Hobart Arthur Sewall Electoral vote 12 0 Popular vote 268,135 165,523 Percentage 59.93% 37.0%

County Results McKinley   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%   80-90% Bryan   50-60%

President before election Grover Cleveland Democratic Elected President William McKinley Republican

Background

Wisconsin during the Third Party System was a Republican-leaning but competitive state whereby historically anti-Civil War German Catholic counties stood opposed to highly pro-war and firmly Republican Yankee areas.[1] The German Catholics’ Democratic loyalties were related to their opposition to Republican pietism and to the fact that during the Civil War they had been extremely hostile to Abraham Lincoln’s wartime draft policies which often singled them out.[1]

The previous 1892 election had seen, aided by favourable demographic shifts,[2] opposition to the notorious “Bennett Law” requiring attendance at public schools,[3] and a shift of some GOP voters to Prohibition Party nominee John Bidwell, Democratic nominee Grover Cleveland carry the state for the first time since before the Republican Party was formed. However, expectations that demographic shifts would favour the Democrats were rudely crushed in 1894, when the Republicans took every Congressional seat in the state. President Cleveland became extremely unpopular and the Democratic Party turned towards the Populist movement active in the West in order to revive its fortunes.

Whilst the Populist movement would gain almost universal acceptance in the silver mining West, its inflationary monetary policies were opposed by almost all urban classes and viewed as dangerously radical by rural German Catholics,[4] with free silver being condemned by the Church hierarchy.[5]

Vote

Early polls always had Wisconsin strong for Republican nominee William McKinley, with his supporters saying it would be one of the most Republican states despite voting Democratic in 1892.[6] During his fall tour of the Midwest, Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan made fifteen speeches, but was disturbed by a member of McKinley’s club,[7] who attempted to mob Bryan in Janesville.[8]

As it turned out, McKinley would carry Wisconsin handsomely by over one hundred thousand votes and almost twenty-three percentage points. Wisconsin would be McKinley’s strongest state outside the Northeast.[9]

Results

1896 United States presidential election in Wisconsin[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	William McKinley	268,135	59.93%	12
	Democratic	William Jennings Bryan	165,523	37.00%	0
	Prohibition	Joshua Levering	7,507	1.68%	0
	National Democratic	John M. Palmer	4,584	1.02%	0
	Socialist Labor	Charles H. Matchett	1,314	0.29%	0
	National Prohibition	Charles E. Bentley	346	0.08%	0
Totals			447,409	100.0%	12

Results by county

County	William McKinley Republican		William Jennings Bryan Democratic		Joshua Levering Prohibition		John McAuley Palmer National Democratic		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast[11]
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Adams	1,432	76.74%	391	20.95%	27	1.45%	16	0.86%	0	0.00%	1,041	55.79%	1,866
Ashland	2,738	59.70%	1,743	38.01%	60	1.31%	26	0.57%	19	0.41%	995	21.70%	4,586
Barron	2,772	64.74%	1,324	30.92%	155	3.62%	27	0.63%	4	0.09%	1,448	33.82%	4,282
Bayfield	2,244	72.57%	770	24.90%	59	1.91%	13	0.42%	6	0.19%	1,474	47.67%	3,092
Brown	5,436	57.51%	3,841	40.64%	88	0.93%	69	0.73%	18	0.19%	1,595	16.87%	9,452
Buffalo	2,301	61.89%	1,302	35.02%	61	1.64%	51	1.37%	3	0.08%	999	26.87%	3,718
Burnett	800	67.51%	349	29.45%	28	2.36%	4	0.34%	4	0.34%	451	38.06%	1,185
Calumet	1,547	44.53%	1,869	53.80%	28	0.81%	27	0.78%	3	0.09%	-322	-9.27%	3,474
Chippewa	3,601	54.09%	2,929	44.00%	84	1.26%	35	0.53%	8	0.12%	672	10.09%	6,657
Clark	3,328	69.41%	1,318	27.49%	97	2.02%	39	0.81%	13	0.27%	2,010	41.92%	4,795
Columbia	4,845	63.57%	2,380	31.23%	280	3.67%	108	1.42%	9	0.12%	2,465	32.34%	7,622
Crawford	2,323	59.61%	1,509	38.72%	38	0.98%	24	0.62%	3	0.08%	814	20.89%	3,897
Dane	9,080	56.10%	6,521	40.29%	410	2.53%	159	0.98%	16	0.10%	2,559	15.81%	16,186
Dodge	5,610	51.55%	4,900	45.03%	120	1.10%	236	2.17%	16	0.15%	710	6.52%	10,882
Door	2,402	71.30%	895	26.57%	49	1.45%	21	0.62%	2	0.06%	1,507	44.73%	3,369
Douglas	4,274	61.45%	2,527	36.33%	96	1.38%	48	0.69%	10	0.14%	1,747	25.12%	6,955
Dunn	3,370	67.94%	1,418	28.59%	131	2.64%	33	0.67%	8	0.16%	1,952	39.35%	4,960
Eau Claire	4,522	63.42%	2,364	33.16%	186	2.61%	52	0.73%	6	0.08%	2,158	30.27%	7,130
Florence	488	78.08%	129	20.64%	6	0.96%	2	0.32%	0	0.00%	359	57.44%	625
Fond du Lac	6,174	54.15%	4,933	43.27%	157	1.38%	128	1.12%	9	0.08%	1,241	10.89%	11,401
Forest	406	68.01%	172	28.81%	15	2.51%	2	0.34%	2	0.34%	234	39.20%	597
Grant	5,315	57.40%	3,683	39.77%	188	2.03%	67	0.72%	7	0.08%	1,632	17.62%	9,260
Green	3,093	54.72%	2,339	41.38%	158	2.80%	53	0.94%	9	0.16%	754	13.34%	5,652
Green Lake	2,103	55.69%	1,568	41.53%	61	1.62%	32	0.85%	12	0.32%	535	14.17%	3,776
Iowa	3,115	57.42%	2,060	37.97%	174	3.21%	61	1.12%	15	0.28%	1,055	19.45%	5,425
Iron	1,288	72.04%	472	26.40%	26	1.45%	0	0.00%	2	0.11%	816	45.64%	1,788
Jackson	2,710	74.57%	778	21.41%	98	2.70%	39	1.07%	9	0.25%	1,932	53.16%	3,634
Jefferson	4,344	52.61%	3,504	42.44%	138	1.67%	263	3.19%	8	0.10%	840	10.17%	8,257
Juneau	2,832	61.49%	1,671	36.28%	59	1.28%	35	0.76%	9	0.20%	1,161	25.21%	4,606
Kenosha	2,827	60.54%	1,732	37.09%	40	0.86%	62	1.33%	9	0.19%	1,095	23.45%	4,670
Kewaunee	1,835	51.11%	1,649	45.93%	14	0.39%	91	2.53%	1	0.03%	186	5.18%	3,590
La Crosse	6,297	64.58%	3,058	31.36%	161	1.65%	225	2.31%	10	0.10%	3,239	33.22%	9,751
Lafayette	2,919	54.74%	2,236	41.94%	114	2.14%	59	1.11%	4	0.08%	683	12.81%	5,332
Langlade	1,457	58.80%	956	38.58%	23	0.93%	38	1.53%	4	0.16%	501	20.22%	2,478
Lincoln	1,706	47.69%	1,802	50.38%	44	1.23%	21	0.59%	4	0.11%	-96	-2.68%	3,577
Manitowoc	4,430	51.57%	3,919	45.62%	62	0.72%	164	1.91%	16	0.19%	511	5.95%	8,591
Marathon	3,958	49.62%	3,829	48.00%	70	0.88%	87	1.09%	33	0.41%	129	1.62%	7,977
Marinette	4,277	68.26%	1,867	29.80%	81	1.29%	29	0.46%	12	0.19%	2,410	38.46%	6,266
Marquette	1,476	62.84%	827	35.21%	25	1.06%	20	0.85%	1	0.04%	649	27.63%	2,349
Milwaukee	35,939	55.85%	26,536	41.24%	640	0.99%	520	0.81%	709	1.10%	9,403	14.61%	64,344
Monroe	3,683	59.46%	2,361	38.12%	103	1.66%	35	0.57%	12	0.19%	1,322	21.34%	6,194
Oconto	2,836	67.08%	1,290	30.51%	59	1.40%	35	0.83%	8	0.19%	1,546	36.57%	4,228
Oneida	1,453	70.64%	563	27.37%	27	1.31%	14	0.68%	0	0.00%	890	43.27%	2,057
Outagamie	5,433	55.42%	4,096	41.78%	139	1.42%	106	1.08%	30	0.31%	1,337	13.64%	9,804
Ozaukee	1,535	42.79%	1,947	54.28%	30	0.84%	62	1.73%	13	0.36%	-412	-11.49%	3,587
Pepin	1,301	72.48%	436	24.29%	37	2.06%	19	1.06%	2	0.11%	865	48.19%	1,795
Pierce	3,724	69.79%	1,412	26.46%	156	2.92%	38	0.71%	6	0.11%	2,312	43.33%	5,336
Polk	2,861	74.56%	891	23.22%	61	1.59%	23	0.60%	1	0.03%	1,970	51.34%	3,837
Portage	3,537	53.81%	2,890	43.97%	82	1.25%	54	0.82%	10	0.15%	647	9.84%	6,573
Price	1,448	70.22%	550	26.67%	37	1.79%	19	0.92%	8	0.39%	898	43.55%	2,062
Racine	5,849	57.61%	3,975	39.15%	213	2.10%	104	1.02%	12	0.12%	1,874	18.46%	10,153
Richland	2,636	54.03%	2,098	43.00%	129	2.64%	16	0.33%	0	0.00%	538	11.03%	4,879
Rock	8,282	67.46%	3,655	29.77%	237	1.93%	86	0.70%	17	0.14%	4,627	37.69%	12,277
Sauk	4,623	60.95%	2,611	34.42%	242	3.19%	97	1.28%	12	0.16%	2,012	26.53%	7,585
Sawyer	514	56.30%	369	40.42%	28	3.07%	2	0.22%	0	0.00%	145	15.88%	913
Shawano	3,035	64.16%	1,594	33.70%	54	1.14%	32	0.68%	15	0.32%	1,441	30.47%	4,730
Sheboygan	6,644	62.50%	3,327	31.30%	90	0.85%	247	2.32%	323	3.04%	3,317	31.20%	10,631
St. Croix	3,462	56.38%	2,475	40.31%	158	2.57%	38	0.62%	7	0.11%	987	16.07%	6,140
Taylor	1,387	64.51%	710	33.02%	20	0.93%	27	1.26%	6	0.28%	677	31.49%	2,150
Trempealeau	3,306	67.66%	1,394	28.53%	152	3.11%	24	0.49%	10	0.20%	1,912	39.13%	4,886
Vernon	4,393	71.35%	1,627	26.43%	102	1.66%	28	0.45%	7	0.11%	2,766	44.92%	6,157
Vilas	754	62.01%	443	36.43%	8	0.66%	9	0.74%	2	0.16%	311	25.58%	1,216
Walworth	5,347	70.41%	1,894	24.94%	282	3.71%	57	0.75%	14	0.18%	3,453	45.47%	7,594
Washburn	771	73.29%	250	23.76%	21	2.00%	8	0.76%	2	0.19%	521	49.52%	1,052
Washington	2,877	53.19%	2,404	44.44%	31	0.57%	86	1.59%	11	0.20%	473	8.74%	5,409
Waukesha	5,411	60.93%	3,192	35.95%	162	1.82%	108	1.22%	7	0.08%	2,219	24.99%	8,880
Waupaca	5,472	75.19%	1,577	21.67%	129	1.77%	65	0.89%	35	0.48%	3,895	53.52%	7,278
Waushara	3,210	84.36%	456	11.98%	102	2.68%	27	0.71%	10	0.26%	2,754	72.38%	3,805
Winnebago	7,898	59.23%	5,089	38.17%	211	1.58%	101	0.76%	35	0.26%	2,809	21.07%	13,334
Wood	2,839	58.99%	1,877	39.00%	54	1.12%	31	0.64%	12	0.25%	962	19.99%	4,813
Totals	268,135	59.93%	165,523	37.00%	7,507	1.68%	4,584	1.02%	1,660	0.37%	102,612	22.93%	447,409

References

1. Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 381-382, 414 ISBN 978-0-691-16324-6
2. Kleppner, Paul; The Third Electoral System, 1853-1892: Parties, Votes and Political Cultures, pp. 198-207 ISBN 0807813281
3. Hill, Perry C.; ‘Wisconsin Votes for President’, The Wisconsin Magazine of History, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Autumn, 1952), pp. 11-16
4. Phillips; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 384
5. Harpine, William D.; From the Front Porch to the Front Page: McKinley and Bryan in the 1896 Presidential Campaign, pp. 166-167 ISBN 9781585444502
6. ‘ Good News for McKinley Leaders: Strong in the Great West – Wisconsin Solid for the Ohio Man’; San Francisco Chronicle, August 13, 1896, p. 5
7. ‘Bryan in Wisconsin: Fifteen Short Speeches to the Badger State Voters’; The Washington Post, October 31, 1896, p. 3
8. ‘Men Almost Mobbed: Bryan in Wisconsin, Palmer and Buckner in Missouri’; Boston Daily Globe, October 31, 1896, p. 3
9. "1896 Presidential General Election Data – National by State". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2018-03-05.
10. "1896 Presidential General Election Results – Wisconsin". Retrieved August 18, 2016.
11. Géoelections; Popular Vote at the Presidential Election for 1896 (.xlsx file for €30 including full minor party figures)