1924 United States presidential election in Utah

The 1924 United States presidential election in Utah took place on November 4, 1924 as part of the 1924 United States presidential election. All contemporary forty-eight states took part, and state voters selected four voters to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

1924 United States presidential election in Utah

November 4, 1924

Nominee Calvin Coolidge John W. Davis Robert M. La Follette Party Republican Democratic Progressive Home state Massachusetts West Virginia Wisconsin Running mate Charles G. Dawes Charles W. Bryan Burton K. Wheeler Electoral vote 4 0 0 Popular vote 77,327 47,001 32,662 Percentage 49.26% 29.94% 20.81%

County Results Coolidge   30-40%   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%   80-90%

President before election Calvin Coolidge Republican Elected President Calvin Coolidge Republican

Rapid recovery of the economy from a sharp recession following World War I transformed the 1920s into a strongly Republican decade. Even the problematic issue of a farm depression had eased by the time of the election as prices recovered.[1] It was also widely thought that the Teapot Dome scandal could do nothing to revive the Democrats as they were well known to have equally severe problems therewith via the fact that recently deceased Woodrow Wilson had paid one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in legal fees to nomination frontrunner William McAdoo.[2]

Consequently, Utah voters strongly supported incumbent president Calvin Coolidge, who had come to power after Harding's death in 1923. As Harding had done four years earlier, Coolidge won all twenty-nine counties in Utah, a feat to be repeated by later Republican candidates in 1956, 1972, 1980, 1984, 2000, 2004 and 2012. The conservatism of Coolidge and Democratic nominee John W. Davis – the only ever presidential nominee to win an electoral vote from West Virginia and the first from an antebellum slave state (including border states) since the Civil War[3] – led more liberal supporters of both parties to support Progressive Robert M. La Follette. Utah's conservative Mormonism meant that La Follette was not as popular as in other western states, and he finished third well behind Davis. La Follette nonetheless did outpoll Davis in the Wasatch Front counties of Salt Lake and Weber, as well as the eastern, ethnically more diverse Carbon County.

For this election, Utah essentially voted as the nation did, with the state on a two-party basis coming out as 5.90 percent more Democratic than the nation at-large,[4] although the total Davis vote was within one percent of the national average, and the La Follette vote three percent higher than the country at-large, though lower than any state to the north or west. Utah was along with Arizona and New Mexico the only Mountain state where La Follette did not carry any county.

Results

1924 United States presidential election in Utah[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Calvin Coolidge	77,327	49.26%	4
	Democratic	John W. Davis	47,001	29.94%	0
	Independent Progressive	Robert M. La Follette	32,662	20.81%	0
Totals			156,990	100.00%	4

Results by county

County	John Calvin Coolidge Republican		John William Davis Democratic		Robert M. La Follette, Sr. Independent Progressive		Margin		Total votes cast[6]
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Beaver	989	53.34%	578	31.18%	287	15.48%	411	22.17%	1,854
Box Elder	3,086	56.18%	1,841	33.52%	566	10.30%	1,245	22.67%	5,493
Cache	4,973	52.01%	3,915	40.94%	674	7.05%	1,058	11.06%	9,562
Carbon	1,878	37.59%	1,528	30.58%	1,590	31.83%	350[lower-alpha 1]	7.01%	4,996
Daggett	97	74.05%	26	19.85%	8	6.11%	71	54.20%	131
Davis	2,265	55.51%	1,507	36.94%	308	7.55%	758	18.58%	4,080
Duchesne	1,277	57.60%	731	32.97%	209	9.43%	546	24.63%	2,217
Emery	979	42.98%	916	40.21%	383	16.81%	63	2.77%	2,278
Garfield	823	69.57%	308	26.04%	52	4.40%	515	43.53%	1,183
Grand	278	47.93%	243	41.90%	59	10.17%	35	6.03%	580
Iron	1,429	66.47%	485	22.56%	236	10.98%	944	43.91%	2,150
Juab	1,325	43.57%	1,241	40.81%	475	15.62%	84	2.76%	3,041
Kane	515	80.22%	117	18.22%	10	1.56%	398	61.99%	642
Millard	1,917	55.74%	1,025	29.81%	497	14.45%	892	25.94%	3,439
Morgan	482	54.10%	360	40.40%	49	5.50%	122	13.69%	891
Piute	398	61.42%	208	32.10%	42	6.48%	190	29.32%	648
Rich	403	62.48%	211	32.71%	31	4.81%	192	29.77%	645
Salt Lake	27,215	46.44%	14,853	25.35%	16,534	28.21%	12,362[lower-alpha 1]	21.09%	58,602
San Juan	380	56.89%	232	34.73%	56	8.38%	148	22.16%	668
Sanpete	3,374	56.39%	2,228	37.24%	381	6.37%	1,146	19.15%	5,983
Sevier	2,111	56.44%	1,201	32.11%	428	11.44%	910	24.33%	3,740
Summit	1,597	57.16%	825	29.53%	372	13.31%	772	27.63%	2,794
Tooele	1,295	52.47%	674	27.31%	499	20.22%	621	25.16%	2,468
Uintah	1,296	60.90%	716	33.65%	116	5.45%	580	27.26%	2,128
Utah	6,946	46.28%	5,226	34.82%	2,838	18.91%	1,720	11.46%	15,010
Wasatch	1,105	52.39%	727	34.47%	277	13.13%	378	17.92%	2,109
Washington	1,181	54.96%	868	40.39%	100	4.65%	313	14.56%	2,149
Wayne	331	57.27%	241	41.70%	6	1.04%	90	15.57%	578
Weber	7,382	43.60%	3,970	23.45%	5,579	32.95%	3,412[lower-alpha 1]	20.15%	16,931
Totals	77,327	49.26%	47,001	29.94%	32,662	20.81%	30,326	19.32%	156,990

Notes

1. In this county where Davis ran third behind Coolidge and La Follette, margin given is Coolidge vote minus La Follette vote and percentage margin Coolidge percentage minus La Follette percentage.

References

1. Roseboom, Eugene Holloway and Eckes, Alfred E.; A History of Presidential Elections, from George Washington to Jimmy Carter; pp. 151-158 ISBN 0020364202
2. Yergin, Daniel; The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power; p. 198 ISBN 1439134839
3. ‘What States do Presidents Come From?’
4. Counting the Votes; Utah
5. "1924 Presidential Election Results - Utah". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
6. Scammon, Richard M. (compiler); America at the Polls: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics 1920-1964; p. 400 ISBN 0405077114