1912 United States presidential election in Vermont


The 1912 United States presidential election in Vermont took place on November 5, 1912, as part of the 1912 United States presidential election which was held throughout all contemporary 48 states. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Vermont was won by the Republican nominees, incumbent President William Howard Taft, and his running mate Vice President James S. Sherman. Taft and Sherman defeated the Progressive Party candidates, former President Theodore Roosevelt and his running mate California Governor Hiram Johnson, and the Democratic nominees, New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson and Indiana Governor Thomas R. Marshall.
Taft won the state with a plurality of 37.13%, to Roosevelt’s 35.22%, with Wilson in third place at 24.43%. Taft’s victory margin over Roosevelt was 1.91%.
Vermont historically was a bastion of liberal Northeastern Republicanism, and by 1912 the Green Mountain State had gone Republican in every presidential election since the founding of the Republican Party. From 1856 to 1908, Vermont had had the longest streak of voting Republican of any state, having never voted Democratic before, and this tradition continued in 1912.
Vermont was one of only two states to vote for incumbent Republican President William Howard Taft, who was pushed into third place nationally by the strong third party candidacy of Theodore Roosevelt, a former Republican president who ran in 1912 with his own Bull Moose Party. Taft and Roosevelt split the Republican vote nationally in 1912, with Roosevelt coming in second place behind Wilson nationwide and carrying six states. However Vermont Republicans proved to be mostly loyal to President Taft as the official Republican nominee, allowing Taft to narrowly edge out Roosevelt to carry the state, leaving Wilson a distant third. Were Taft and Roosevelt voters united behind a single Republican candidate, they would have combined to over 72% of the vote in Vermont.
Vermont was the third most Republican state in nation in 1912, only beaten by Utah and neighboring New Hampshire. However Taft’s margin over Wilson was much greater in Vermont than in Utah or any other state.
With Taft only winning 37.13% of the vote, he became the first Republican presidential candidate to win Vermont's popular vote with only a plurality. This was also the only time of that occurring until Ronald Reagan won Vermont in 1980 with only a plurality of 44.37% of the popular vote.
Taft carried seven counties in Vermont to Roosevelt’s six, while Wilson won only tiny Grand Isle County in the far northwest of the state, with a plurality of less than 40% of the vote. This was the first time since Lewis Cass carried Washington County in 1848 that a Democrat had carried any of Vermont’s counties as well as the first time since Free Soil Party candidate John P. Hale won Lamoille County in 1852 that a third party candidate was able to carry any of Vermont’s counties and the most recent time such has occurred to date.
Vermont was one of only two states where Wilson finished third, the other being Michigan where he finished a much closer third behind Taft. Since 1912 there has been only one occasion where a winning presidential candidate finished third place in any non-Confederate state.

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