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All 8 West Virginia votes to the Electoral College | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 County Results
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| Elections in West Virginia |
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The 1956 United States presidential election in West Virginia took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. West Virginia voters chose eight[3] representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
West Virginia was won by incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R–Pennsylvania), running with Vice President Richard Nixon, with 54.08 percent of the popular vote, against Adlai Stevenson (D–Illinois), running with Senator Estes Kefauver, with 45.92 percent of the popular vote.[4][5] Along with Kentucky and Louisiana, West Virginia was one of three states that Dwight Eisenhower lost in 1952, but managed to flip in 1956.
This is the only time between the Republican landslides of 1928 and 1972 that a Republican won West Virginia, and only one of three times between 1932 and 1996 that a Republican did so (the others being the aforementioned 1972 as well as 1984).
Eisenhower was the first Republican to carry Jefferson County and Calhoun County since Ulysses S. Grant in 1868, and the first to carry Hampshire County since Abraham Lincoln in 1864.[6][note 2]
Results[edit]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Dwight D. Eisenhower (inc.) | 449,297 | 54.08% | |
| Democratic | Adlai Stevenson | 381,534 | 45.92% | |
| Total votes | 830,831 | 100.00% | ||
Results by county[edit]
| County | Dwight David Eisenhower Republican |
Adlai Stevenson II Democratic |
Margin | Total votes cast | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Barbour | 4,460 | 54.61% | 3,707 | 45.39% | 753 | 9.22% | 8,167 |
| Berkeley | 9,071 | 61.62% | 5,649 | 38.38% | 3,422 | 23.25% | 14,720 |
| Boone | 5,196 | 42.17% | 7,126 | 57.83% | -1,930 | -15.66% | 12,322 |
| Braxton | 3,441 | 46.79% | 3,913 | 53.21% | -472 | -6.42% | 7,354 |
| Brooke | 5,944 | 45.67% | 7,072 | 54.33% | -1,128 | -8.67% | 13,016 |
| Cabell | 28,882 | 61.07% | 18,408 | 38.93% | 10,474 | 22.15% | 47,290 |
| Calhoun | 2,094 | 52.06% | 1,928 | 47.94% | 166 | 4.13% | 4,022 |
| Clay | 2,820 | 51.76% | 2,628 | 48.24% | 192 | 3.52% | 5,448 |
| Doddridge | 2,594 | 73.51% | 935 | 26.49% | 1,659 | 47.01% | 3,529 |
| Fayette | 10,218 | 38.55% | 16,286 | 61.45% | -6,068 | -22.89% | 26,504 |
| Gilmer | 1,774 | 46.81% | 2,016 | 53.19% | -242 | -6.39% | 3,790 |
| Grant | 3,408 | 84.31% | 634 | 15.69% | 2,774 | 68.63% | 4,042 |
| Greenbrier | 7,684 | 52.99% | 6,817 | 47.01% | 867 | 5.98% | 14,501 |
| Hampshire | 2,676 | 53.18% | 2,356 | 46.82% | 320 | 6.36% | 5,032 |
| Hancock | 8,750 | 47.88% | 9,524 | 52.12% | -774 | -4.24% | 18,274 |
| Hardy | 2,202 | 49.36% | 2,259 | 50.64% | -57 | -1.28% | 4,461 |
| Harrison | 21,860 | 55.48% | 17,541 | 44.52% | 4,319 | 10.96% | 39,401 |
| Jackson | 4,984 | 65.75% | 2,596 | 34.25% | 2,388 | 31.50% | 7,580 |
| Jefferson | 3,380 | 50.20% | 3,353 | 49.80% | 27 | 0.40% | 6,733 |
| Kanawha | 58,597 | 53.81% | 50,289 | 46.19% | 8,308 | 7.63% | 108,886 |
| Lewis | 6,203 | 66.01% | 3,194 | 33.99% | 3,009 | 32.02% | 9,397 |
| Lincoln | 4,954 | 49.91% | 4,972 | 50.09% | -18 | -0.18% | 9,926 |
| Logan | 10,588 | 41.71% | 14,794 | 58.29% | -4,206 | -16.57% | 25,382 |
| Marion | 16,112 | 49.88% | 16,192 | 50.12% | -80 | -0.25% | 32,304 |
| Marshall | 10,223 | 57.80% | 7,463 | 42.20% | 2,760 | 15.61% | 17,686 |
| Mason | 6,306 | 62.59% | 3,769 | 37.41% | 2,537 | 25.18% | 10,075 |
| McDowell | 11,138 | 39.77% | 16,865 | 60.23% | -5,727 | -20.45% | 28,003 |
| Mercer | 14,648 | 52.53% | 13,236 | 47.47% | 1,412 | 5.06% | 27,884 |
| Mineral | 6,412 | 64.12% | 3,588 | 35.88% | 2,824 | 28.24% | 10,000 |
| Mingo | 7,916 | 44.15% | 10,014 | 55.85% | -2,098 | -11.70% | 17,930 |
| Monongalia | 14,046 | 56.05% | 11,016 | 43.95% | 3,030 | 12.09% | 25,062 |
| Monroe | 3,529 | 56.01% | 2,772 | 43.99% | 757 | 12.01% | 6,301 |
| Morgan | 2,946 | 72.74% | 1,104 | 27.26% | 1,842 | 45.48% | 4,050 |
| Nicholas | 5,263 | 51.89% | 4,880 | 48.11% | 383 | 3.78% | 10,143 |
| Ohio | 22,165 | 62.69% | 13,191 | 37.31% | 8,974 | 25.38% | 35,356 |
| Pendleton | 1,959 | 49.49% | 1,999 | 50.51% | -40 | -1.01% | 3,958 |
| Pleasants | 2,144 | 57.56% | 1,581 | 42.44% | 563 | 15.11% | 3,725 |
| Pocahontas | 2,937 | 53.69% | 2,533 | 46.31% | 404 | 7.39% | 5,470 |
| Preston | 7,953 | 70.27% | 3,365 | 29.73% | 4,588 | 40.54% | 11,318 |
| Putnam | 5,560 | 53.91% | 4,754 | 46.09% | 806 | 7.81% | 10,314 |
| Raleigh | 16,318 | 50.08% | 16,264 | 49.92% | 54 | 0.17% | 32,582 |
| Randolph | 5,448 | 48.88% | 5,697 | 51.12% | -249 | -2.23% | 11,145 |
| Ritchie | 4,140 | 73.78% | 1,471 | 26.22% | 2,669 | 47.57% | 5,611 |
| Roane | 4,701 | 59.85% | 3,153 | 40.15% | 1,548 | 19.71% | 7,854 |
| Summers | 3,712 | 48.99% | 3,865 | 51.01% | -153 | -2.02% | 7,577 |
| Taylor | 4,743 | 60.64% | 3,079 | 39.36% | 1,664 | 21.27% | 7,822 |
| Tucker | 2,326 | 52.21% | 2,129 | 47.79% | 197 | 4.42% | 4,455 |
| Tyler | 3,671 | 73.58% | 1,318 | 26.42% | 2,353 | 47.16% | 4,989 |
| Upshur | 5,707 | 73.28% | 2,081 | 26.72% | 3,626 | 46.56% | 7,788 |
| Wayne | 8,429 | 52.41% | 7,655 | 47.59% | 774 | 4.81% | 16,084 |
| Webster | 2,457 | 44.44% | 3,072 | 55.56% | -615 | -11.12% | 5,529 |
| Wetzel | 5,024 | 56.88% | 3,809 | 43.12% | 1,215 | 13.76% | 8,833 |
| Wirt | 1,444 | 54.95% | 1,184 | 45.05% | 260 | 9.89% | 2,628 |
| Wood | 21,096 | 61.30% | 13,320 | 38.70% | 7,776 | 22.59% | 34,416 |
| Wyoming | 7,044 | 49.74% | 7,118 | 50.26% | -74 | -0.52% | 14,162 |
| Totals | 449,297 | 54.08% | 381,534 | 45.92% | 67,763 | 8.16% | 830,831 |
Notes[edit]
- ^ Although he was born in Texas and grew up in Kansas before his military career, at the time of the 1952 election Eisenhower was president of Columbia University and was, officially, a resident of New York. During his first term as president, he moved his private residence to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and officially changed his residency to Pennsylvania.
- ^ At the time of the 1864 election, Hampshire County also included Mineral County, which would vote Republican continuously between 1888 and 1932 inclusive.
References[edit]
- ^ "United States Presidential election of 1956 — Encyclopædia Britannica". Retrieved July 6, 2017.
- ^ "The Presidents". David Leip. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
Eisenhower's home state for the 1956 Election was Pennsylvania
- ^ "1956 Election for the Forty-Fourth Term (1961-65)". Retrieved July 6, 2017.
- ^ "1956 Presidential General Election Results — West Virginia". Retrieved July 6, 2017.
- ^ "The American Presidency Project — Election of 1956". Retrieved July 6, 2017.
- ^ Menendez, Albert J. The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004. pp. 334–336. ISBN 0786422173.
- ^ "Presidential election of 1956 Popular Vote". Géoelections. (.xlsx file for €15)
