1972 United States presidential election in Minnesota
The 1972 United States presidential election in Minnesota took place on November 7, 1972 as part of the 1972 United States presidential election.
Minnesota was won by the Republican Party candidate, incumbent President Richard Nixon, won the state over U.S. Senator George McGovern of South Dakota by a margin of 95,923 votes, or 5.51%, the closest state in the election. Nixon went on to win the election nationally, by a landslide margin of 23.15% of the popular vote. McGovern carried only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.
The 1972 election was the last time Minnesota—a state which has generally favored Democrats since the New Deal—was carried by a Republican. During Nixon's second term as President, the Watergate scandal resulted in the loss of the Republican Party's credibility both nationally and in Minnesota. The damage caused by Watergate was so pronounced that the Republican Party of Minnesota was forced to rebrand itself as the "Independent-Republican Party" from 1975 to 1995 in order to distance itself from the national Republican Party.
Nixon also remains the last Republican to carry heavily populated Hennepin County, with 1972 also the last time that county did not vote the same as neighboring Ramsey County.
Although Republicans have not won Minnesota's electoral votes since, they have come extremely close in the 1984 and 2016 United States Presidential Elections.Results
Results by county
