1972 United States presidential election in Colorado

The 1972 United States presidential election in Colorado took place on November 7, 1972 as part of the 1972 United States presidential election. State voters chose seven representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

1972 United States presidential election in Colorado

November 7, 1972

Nominee Richard Nixon George McGovern Party Republican Democratic Home state California South Dakota Running mate Spiro Agnew Sargent Shriver Electoral vote 7 0 Popular vote 597,189 329,980 Percentage 62.6% 34.6%

County Results Nixon   50–60%   60–70%   70-80% McGovern   50–60%

President before election Richard Nixon Republican Elected President Richard Nixon Republican

Colorado voted for the Republican incumbent, Richard Nixon, over the Democratic challenger, South Dakota Senator George McGovern. Nixon took 62.61% of the vote to McGovern's 34.59%, a margin of 28.01 points.

Like most of the rest of the Mountain West, Colorado voted powerfully Republican in 1972, giving Nixon a margin in excess of his national margin by 4.8%. Nevertheless, Pitkin County, home to Aspen, shifted powerfully against the national trend, switching from supporting Nixon in 1968 to supporting McGovern in 1972.

Results

1972 United States presidential election in Colorado[1][2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Richard Nixon (incumbent)	597,189	62.61%	7
	Democratic	George McGovern	329,980	34.59%	0
	American Independent	John G. Schmitz	17,269	1.81%	0
	Socialist Labor	Louis Fisher	4,361	0.46%	0
	People's	Benjamin Spock	2,403	0.25%	0
	Libertarian	John Hospers	1,111	0.12%	0
	Socialist Workers	Linda Jenness	666	0.07%	0
	Prohibition	E. Harold Munn	467	0.05%	0
	Communist	Gus Hall	432	0.05%	0
	Write-ins	Scattered (write-ins)	6	0.00%	0
Totals			953,884	100.00%	7
Voter turnout					—

Results by county

County	Richard Milhous Nixon[3] Republican		George Stanley McGovern[3] Democratic		John George Schmitz[3] American Independent		Various candidates[3] Other parties		Margin
	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#
Hinsdale	77.83%	172	19.91%	44	2.26%	5	0.00%	0	57.92%	128
Rio Blanco	77.29%	1,586	20.18%	414	2.24%	46	0.29%	6	57.12%	1,172
Jackson	76.82%	623	21.95%	178	0.86%	7	0.37%	3	54.87%	445
Ouray	74.67%	669	20.76%	186	3.68%	33	0.89%	8	53.91%	483
Douglas	75.60%	3,625	21.86%	1,048	2.09%	100	0.46%	22	53.74%	2,577
Baca	74.00%	1,645	23.71%	527	2.25%	50	0.04%	1	50.29%	1,118
Elbert	73.52%	1,416	23.42%	451	2.91%	56	0.16%	3	50.10%	965
Custer	71.53%	495	22.25%	154	6.21%	43	0.00%	0	49.28%	341
Dolores	71.86%	498	23.95%	166	4.04%	28	0.14%	1	47.91%	332
Montezuma	73.49%	3,391	26.51%	1,223	0.00%	0	0.00%	0	46.99%	2,168
Moffat	67.70%	1,928	20.75%	591	11.55%	329	0.00%	0	46.95%	1,337
Arapahoe	72.60%	52,283	25.87%	18,631	1.13%	816	0.40%	289	46.73%	33,652
Kit Carson	70.93%	2,316	25.24%	824	3.80%	124	0.03%	1	45.70%	1,492
Washington	69.90%	1,837	24.47%	643	5.14%	135	0.49%	13	45.43%	1,194
Yuma	71.10%	2,873	26.38%	1,066	2.33%	94	0.20%	8	44.72%	1,807
Teller	70.62%	1,440	26.24%	535	2.45%	50	0.69%	14	44.38%	905
Rio Grande	69.74%	2,787	25.75%	1,029	4.28%	171	0.23%	9	43.99%	1,758
Crowley	70.76%	1,094	26.78%	414	2.26%	35	0.19%	3	43.98%	680
Mineral	71.18%	247	27.67%	96	1.15%	4	0.00%	0	43.52%	151
Park	70.39%	1,001	27.14%	386	1.62%	23	0.84%	12	43.25%	615
Morgan	70.48%	5,365	27.34%	2,081	1.81%	138	0.37%	28	43.14%	3,284
Jefferson	70.25%	80,082	27.68%	31,555	1.59%	1,813	0.48%	544	42.57%	48,527
Grand	70.10%	1,721	27.90%	685	1.63%	40	0.37%	9	42.20%	1,036
El Paso	69.15%	53,892	27.25%	21,234	2.90%	2,262	0.70%	543	41.91%	32,658
Lincoln	70.06%	1,678	28.60%	685	1.17%	28	0.17%	4	41.46%	993
Delta	67.79%	4,890	26.38%	1,903	5.49%	396	0.33%	24	41.41%	2,987
Mesa	68.70%	15,527	28.13%	6,358	2.78%	628	0.39%	89	40.57%	9,169
Fremont	68.46%	6,701	28.74%	2,813	2.53%	248	0.27%	26	39.72%	3,888
Sedgwick	67.93%	1,129	29.18%	485	2.59%	43	0.30%	5	38.75%	644
Montrose	64.78%	4,571	26.50%	1,870	8.29%	585	0.43%	30	38.28%	2,701
Kiowa	67.97%	849	29.78%	372	2.16%	27	0.08%	1	38.19%	477
Logan	67.31%	5,352	30.51%	2,426	1.89%	150	0.29%	23	36.80%	2,926
Garfield	66.31%	4,452	31.10%	2,088	2.13%	143	0.46%	31	35.21%	2,364
Chaffee	66.83%	2,859	31.65%	1,354	1.05%	45	0.47%	20	35.18%	1,505
Weld	66.68%	24,695	31.57%	11,690	1.12%	416	0.63%	233	35.12%	13,005
Phillips	65.34%	1,480	30.33%	687	4.15%	94	0.18%	4	35.01%	793
Otero	66.40%	6,016	32.33%	2,929	0.77%	70	0.50%	45	34.07%	3,087
Archuleta	64.67%	606	32.02%	300	3.20%	30	0.11%	1	32.66%	306
Larimer	65.30%	27,462	32.65%	13,731	1.56%	658	0.48%	202	32.65%	13,731
Cheyenne	63.42%	815	31.13%	400	5.29%	68	0.16%	2	32.30%	415
La Plata	62.28%	5,691	30.97%	2,830	6.29%	575	0.46%	42	31.31%	2,861
Bent	64.35%	1,525	33.21%	787	2.19%	52	0.25%	6	31.14%	738
Gunnison	64.05%	2,231	34.08%	1,187	1.67%	58	0.20%	7	29.97%	1,044
Clear Creek	62.66%	1,557	32.80%	815	3.78%	94	0.76%	19	29.86%	742
Alamosa	62.52%	2,916	33.02%	1,540	4.10%	191	0.36%	17	29.50%	1,376
Saguache	63.21%	1,062	34.40%	578	2.26%	38	0.12%	2	28.81%	484
Prowers	61.64%	3,272	35.04%	1,860	3.00%	159	0.32%	17	26.60%	1,412
Adams	61.19%	40,372	36.63%	24,170	1.72%	1,133	0.46%	306	24.56%	16,202
San Juan	58.48%	238	34.40%	140	6.88%	28	0.25%	1	24.08%	98
Routt	59.36%	2,629	36.42%	1,613	3.59%	159	0.63%	28	22.94%	1,016
Summit	59.09%	1,082	38.61%	707	0.76%	14	1.53%	28	20.48%	375
Eagle	58.22%	1,920	39.60%	1,306	1.52%	50	0.67%	22	18.62%	614
Conejos	55.53%	1,658	38.18%	1,140	6.16%	184	0.13%	4	17.35%	518
Gilpin	57.14%	516	40.09%	362	2.10%	19	0.66%	6	17.05%	154
Boulder	57.00%	40,766	41.22%	29,484	1.17%	837	0.61%	433	15.77%	11,282
San Miguel	55.05%	583	40.23%	426	3.97%	42	0.76%	8	14.83%	157
Pueblo	55.01%	25,607	42.15%	19,620	2.39%	1,113	0.45%	211	12.86%	5,987
Denver	54.50%	121,995	43.81%	98,062	1.03%	2,306	0.66%	1,485	10.69%	23,933
Lake	54.12%	1,556	43.93%	1,263	0.97%	28	0.97%	28	10.19%	293
Huerfano	53.59%	1,620	44.36%	1,341	1.59%	48	0.46%	14	9.23%	279
Las Animas	52.63%	3,659	46.35%	3,222	0.85%	59	0.17%	12	6.29%	437
Pitkin	44.20%	2,064	54.20%	2,531	0.71%	33	0.90%	42	-10.00%	-467
Costilla	42.79%	602	52.88%	744	1.28%	18	3.06%	43	-10.09%	-142

References

1. "Guide to U.S. Elections (p. 848)". CQ Press (12 January 2016). Retrieved 2016-02-09.
2. "1972 Presidential General Election Results - Colorado". Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved 2016-02-09.
3. Our Campaigns; CO US President, November 07, 1972