1916 United States presidential election in Wisconsin

The 1916 United States presidential election in Wisconsin was held on November 7, 1916 as part of the 1916 United States presidential election. State voters chose thirteen electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

1916 United States presidential election in Wisconsin

November 7, 1916

Nominee Charles E. Hughes Woodrow Wilson Allan L. Benson Party Republican Democratic Socialist Home state New York New Jersey New York Running mate Charles W. Fairbanks Thomas R. Marshall George Ross Kirkpatrick Electoral vote 13 0 Popular vote 220,822 191,363 27,631 Percentage 49.4% 42.8% 6.18%

County Results Hughes   40-50%   50-60%   60-70% Wilson   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%

President before election Woodrow Wilson Democratic Elected President Woodrow Wilson Democratic

Background

Ever since the decline of the Populist movement, Wisconsin had become almost a one-party state dominated by the Republican Party.[1] The Democratic Party became entirely uncompetitive outside certain German Catholic counties adjoining Lake Michigan as the upper classes, along with the majority of workers who followed them, completely fled from William Jennings Bryan’s agrarian and free silver sympathies.[2] As Democratic strength weakened severely after 1894 – although the state did develop a strong Socialist Party to provide opposition to the GOP – Wisconsin developed the direct Republican primary in 1903 and this ultimately created competition between the “League” under Robert M. La Follette, and the conservative “Regular” faction.[3]

At the turn of the decade, the Democratic Party underwent a brief revival, as it made significant gains upon its small share of state legislative seats and many people in the state saw in New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson the possibility of the party returning to the progressive ideals it was felt to have deserted with Bryan fifteen years beforehand.[4] Wilson would carry Wisconsin in 1912 and in fact improve upon Bryan’s share of the vote from 1908.

During his term, however, Wisconsin‘s heavily German-American population turned against Wilson, with the result that in 1914 the Democrats lost ground in the state legislature, and with the outbreak of war in Europe this opposition increased, because the concurrent Irish rebellion was believed to lie in the interests of the Central Powers, and Wilson was viewed as strongly pro-British.[5] The position of President Wilson as strongly pro-British was intensified when he failed to accept clemency for Roger Casement.[5]

Vote

Republican nominee Charles Evans Hughes campaigned in the state during September,[6] but President Wilson did not campaign in the state, although it was viewed as doubtful in September despite strong feelings that German-American opposition would eliminate Wilson’s chance.[7] Near the end of October, a Tennessean polls suggested that Wilson would carry the state due to his anti-war sentiment,[8] but the Los Angeles Times said Hughes would carry the state by a “moderate margin” despite a straw poll in favour of Wilson.[9] The Oshkosh Northwestern on October 26 viewed the state as “doubtful”, but said their polls indicated Hughes would win by around fifteen thousand votes.[10]

As things turned out, Wisconsin would be comfortably, if not overwhelmingly, carried by Republican nominee Hughes, who won the state by 6.59 percentage points. Sign of the collapse of German Catholic Democratic loyalties was seen in Hughes carrying Ozaukee County, which no Republican had ever won before and was Wisconsin’s only county to resist the landslides against both William Jennings Bryan in 1896 and Alton Brooks Parker in 1904.[11] This German Catholic Democratic collapse – broken abruptly by a powerful vote for coreligionist Al Smith in 1928 and for Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 – would be a major feature of interwar Wisconsin presidential politics.

Results

1916 United States presidential election in Wisconsin[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Charles Evans Hughes	220,822	49.39%	13
	Democratic	Woodrow Wilson	191,363	42.8%	0
	Socialist	Allan Benson	27,631	6.18%	0
	Prohibition	James Hanly	7,318	1.64%	0
Totals			447,134	100.0%	13

Results by county

County	Charles Evans Hughes Republican		Thomas Woodrow Wilson Democratic		Allan Louis Benson Socialist		James Franklin Hanly Prohibition		Margin		Total votes cast[13]
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Adams	957	51.15%	824	44.04%	48	2.57%	42	2.24%	133	7.11%	1,871
Ashland	1,998	51.98%	1,582	41.16%	187	4.86%	77	2.00%	416	10.82%	3,844
Barron	2,746	54.95%	1,863	37.28%	138	2.76%	250	5.00%	883	17.67%	4,997
Bayfield	1,320	51.10%	996	38.56%	226	8.75%	41	1.59%	324	12.54%	2,583
Brown	4,132	40.02%	5,771	55.90%	220	2.13%	201	1.95%	-1,639	-15.88%	10,324
Buffalo	1,492	56.54%	1,043	39.52%	65	2.46%	39	1.48%	449	17.01%	2,639
Burnett	1,007	53.97%	638	34.19%	169	9.06%	52	2.79%	369	19.77%	1,866
Calumet	1,979	57.18%	1,382	39.93%	76	2.20%	24	0.69%	597	17.25%	3,461
Chippewa	3,324	58.15%	2,233	39.07%	71	1.24%	88	1.54%	1,091	19.09%	5,716
Clark	3,371	64.84%	1,614	31.04%	130	2.50%	84	1.62%	1,757	33.79%	5,199
Columbia	3,395	57.52%	2,299	38.95%	82	1.39%	126	2.13%	1,096	18.57%	5,902
Crawford	1,883	50.63%	1,764	47.43%	34	0.91%	38	1.02%	119	3.20%	3,719
Dane	6,931	40.13%	9,859	57.08%	192	1.11%	291	1.68%	-2,928	-16.95%	17,273
Dodge	4,887	50.66%	4,519	46.85%	112	1.16%	128	1.33%	368	3.82%	9,646
Door	1,656	56.25%	1,204	40.90%	39	1.32%	45	1.53%	452	15.35%	2,944
Douglas	3,007	43.57%	2,940	42.60%	801	11.61%	154	2.23%	67	0.97%	6,902
Dunn	2,556	60.04%	1,447	33.99%	171	4.02%	83	1.95%	1,109	26.05%	4,257
Eau Claire	2,922	53.00%	2,290	41.54%	187	3.39%	114	2.07%	632	11.46%	5,513
Florence	412	69.36%	162	27.27%	9	1.52%	11	1.85%	250	42.09%	594
Fond du Lac	5,781	52.16%	5,021	45.30%	128	1.15%	154	1.39%	760	6.86%	11,084
Forest	738	52.19%	637	45.05%	17	1.20%	22	1.56%	101	7.14%	1,414
Grant	4,718	56.29%	3,459	41.27%	72	0.86%	133	1.59%	1,259	15.02%	8,382
Green	2,422	55.77%	1,687	38.84%	66	1.52%	168	3.87%	735	16.92%	4,343
Green Lake	1,647	53.47%	1,352	43.90%	34	1.10%	47	1.53%	295	9.58%	3,080
Iowa	2,271	48.78%	2,230	47.90%	20	0.43%	135	2.90%	41	0.88%	4,656
Iron	672	54.63%	475	38.62%	43	3.50%	40	3.25%	197	16.02%	1,230
Jackson	1,866	64.17%	963	33.12%	50	1.72%	29	1.00%	903	31.05%	2,908
Jefferson	3,785	49.57%	3,645	47.73%	86	1.13%	120	1.57%	140	1.83%	7,636
Juneau	2,292	58.65%	1,442	36.90%	109	2.79%	65	1.66%	850	21.75%	3,908
Kenosha	3,537	50.99%	2,813	40.55%	501	7.22%	86	1.24%	724	10.44%	6,937
Kewaunee	1,104	35.07%	2,011	63.88%	17	0.54%	16	0.51%	-907	-28.81%	3,148
La Crosse	3,597	44.37%	4,123	50.86%	278	3.43%	108	1.33%	-526	-6.49%	8,106
Lafayette	2,544	54.07%	2,059	43.76%	19	0.40%	83	1.76%	485	10.31%	4,705
Langlade	1,538	45.09%	1,755	51.45%	81	2.37%	37	1.08%	-217	-6.36%	3,411
Lincoln	2,189	60.69%	1,282	35.54%	100	2.77%	36	1.00%	907	25.15%	3,607
Manitowoc	4,224	46.46%	4,338	47.72%	459	5.05%	70	0.77%	-114	-1.25%	9,091
Marathon	5,838	57.03%	3,677	35.92%	607	5.93%	115	1.12%	2,161	21.11%	10,237
Marinette	2,767	53.12%	2,205	42.33%	145	2.78%	92	1.77%	562	10.79%	5,209
Marquette	1,377	58.75%	923	39.38%	15	0.64%	29	1.24%	454	19.37%	2,344
Milwaukee	27,831	34.78%	34,812	43.51%	16,943	21.18%	425	0.53%	-6,981	-8.73%	80,011
Monroe	3,013	57.58%	1,991	38.05%	123	2.35%	106	2.03%	1,022	19.53%	5,233
Oconto	2,570	56.21%	1,892	41.38%	70	1.53%	40	0.87%	678	14.83%	4,572
Oneida	1,089	45.19%	1,054	43.73%	254	10.54%	13	0.54%	35	1.45%	2,410
Outagamie	5,302	52.97%	4,442	44.38%	164	1.64%	101	1.01%	860	8.59%	10,009
Ozaukee	1,610	49.42%	1,577	48.40%	51	1.57%	20	0.61%	33	1.01%	3,258
Pepin	766	53.23%	622	43.22%	25	1.74%	26	1.81%	144	10.01%	1,439
Pierce	1,945	51.88%	1,650	44.01%	73	1.95%	81	2.16%	295	7.87%	3,749
Polk	2,080	51.21%	1,713	42.17%	195	4.80%	74	1.82%	367	9.03%	4,062
Portage	2,520	44.52%	3,000	53.00%	71	1.25%	69	1.22%	-480	-8.48%	5,660
Price	1,620	56.39%	1,049	36.51%	147	5.12%	57	1.98%	571	19.87%	2,873
Racine	5,081	47.77%	4,495	42.26%	455	4.28%	606	5.70%	586	5.51%	10,637
Richland	2,051	48.56%	1,845	43.68%	89	2.11%	239	5.66%	206	4.88%	4,224
Rock	7,011	61.09%	4,015	34.98%	224	1.95%	227	1.98%	2,996	26.10%	11,477
Rusk	989	47.59%	926	44.56%	115	5.53%	48	2.31%	63	3.03%	2,078
St. Croix	2,731	51.09%	2,352	44.00%	178	3.33%	84	1.57%	379	7.09%	5,345
Sauk	3,779	59.66%	2,257	35.63%	43	0.68%	255	4.03%	1,522	24.03%	6,334
Sawyer	550	46.57%	562	47.59%	52	4.40%	17	1.44%	-12	-1.02%	1,181
Shawano	3,415	68.71%	1,367	27.51%	131	2.64%	57	1.15%	2,048	41.21%	4,970
Sheboygan	5,562	52.92%	3,885	36.96%	983	9.35%	80	0.76%	1,677	15.96%	10,510
Taylor	1,544	60.22%	845	32.96%	135	5.27%	40	1.56%	699	27.26%	2,564
Trempealeau	2,138	56.04%	1,578	41.36%	29	0.76%	70	1.83%	560	14.68%	3,815
Vernon	2,912	58.63%	1,830	36.84%	49	0.99%	176	3.54%	1,082	21.78%	4,967
Vilas	531	48.45%	467	42.61%	82	7.48%	16	1.46%	64	5.84%	1,096
Walworth	3,988	59.66%	2,440	36.50%	58	0.87%	199	2.98%	1,548	23.16%	6,685
Washburn	938	55.37%	644	38.02%	78	4.60%	34	2.01%	294	17.36%	1,694
Washington	2,892	50.30%	2,732	47.52%	76	1.32%	49	0.85%	160	2.78%	5,749
Waukesha	3,768	45.21%	4,192	50.29%	151	1.81%	224	2.69%	-424	-5.09%	8,335
Waupaca	4,492	69.85%	1,720	26.75%	99	1.54%	120	1.87%	2,772	43.10%	6,431
Waushara	2,345	67.31%	1,015	29.13%	78	2.24%	46	1.32%	1,330	38.17%	3,484
Winnebago	5,923	50.49%	5,242	44.69%	406	3.46%	160	1.36%	681	5.81%	11,731
Wood	2,954	50.37%	2,625	44.76%	200	3.41%	86	1.47%	329	5.61%	5,865
Totals	220,822	49.39%	191,363	42.80%	27,631	6.18%	7,318	1.64%	29,459	6.59%	447,134

References

1. Burnham, Walter Dean; 'The System of 1896: An Analysis'; in The Evolution of American Electoral Systems, pp. 178-179 ISBN 0313213798
2. Sundquist, James; Politics and Policy: The Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson Years, p. 526 ISBN 0815719094
3. Hansen, John Mark; Shigeo Hirano, and Snyder, James M. Jr.; ‘Parties within Parties: Parties, Factions, and Coordinated Politics, 1900-1980’; in Gerber, Alan S. and Schickler, Eric; Governing in a Polarized Age: Elections, Parties, and Political Representation in America, pp. 165-168 ISBN 978-1-107-09509-0
4. Crews, Kenneth D.; ‘Woodrow Wilson, Wisconsin, and the Election of 1912’; Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 3: ‘Presidents, Vice Presidents and Political Parties: Performance and Prospects’ (Summer, 1982), pp. 369-376
5. Leary, William M. (jr.); ‘Woodrow Wilson, Irish Americans, and the Election of 1916’; The Journal of American History, Vol. 54, No. 1 (June 1967), pp. 57-72
6. ‘The Barometer of Public Opinion’; The Watertown News (Watertown, Wisconsin), September 27, 1916, p. 4
7. ‘Hughes or Wilson in Wisconsin?’; The La Crosse Tribunal, September 15, 1916, p. 3
8. ‘Drift Continues Unmistakably to Wilson; Republicans Are Still Striving to Stem the Swelling Tide of Defeat’; The Tennesseean, October 29, 1916, p. 11
9. ‘Tribune’s Poll’; Los Angeles Times, October 29, 1916, p. 4
10. ‘Wisconsin Is Doubtful: One Summary of State’; Oshkosh Northwestern, October 26, 1916, p. 11
11. Menendez, Albert J. The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, p. 48 ISBN 0786422173
12. "1916 Presidential General Election Results – Wisconsin". Retrieved August 18, 2016.
13. Wisconsin State Election Board; ‘Summary of Vote for President, November 7, 1916, By Counties’; Wisconsin Blue Book 1917, p. 238