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1916 United States presidential election in New Jersey

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1916 United States presidential election in New Jersey

1912 November 7, 1916 1920
Nominee Charles Evans Hughes Woodrow Wilson
Party Republican Democratic
Home state New York New Jersey
Running mate Charles W. Fairbanks Thomas R. Marshall
Electoral vote 14 0
Popular vote 268,982 211,018
Percentage 54.40% 42.68%

County Results

President before election

Woodrow Wilson
Democratic

Elected President

Woodrow Wilson
Democratic

The1916 United States presidential election in New Jerseytook place onNovember7,1916.All contemporary 48 states were part of the1916 United States presidential election.Voters chose 14 electors to theElectoral College,which selected thepresidentandvice president.

New Jerseywas won by theRepublicannominees,U.S. Supreme Court JusticeCharles Evans HughesofNew Yorkand his running mate, former Vice PresidentCharles W. FairbanksofIndiana.Hughes and Fairbanks defeated theDemocraticnominees, incumbentPresidentWoodrow WilsonofNew Jerseyand his running mate incumbentVice PresidentThomas R. MarshallofIndiana.

Hughes carried New Jersey decisively with 54.40 percent of the vote to Wilson's 42.68 percent, a victory margin of 11.72 points.[1]Coming in a distant third wasSocialistcandidateAllan L. Benson,who took 2.10 percent.

Like much of theNortheast,New Jersey in this era was a staunchly Republican state, having not given a majority of the vote to a Democratic presidential candidate since1892.However, in1912,Woodrow Wilson, then the sittingGovernor of New Jersey,had won the state's electoral votes, but with a plurality of only 41 percent in a 3-way race against a split Republican field, with former Republican PresidentTheodore Rooseveltrunning as athird partycandidate against incumbent Republican PresidentWilliam Howard Taft.However, with the Republican base re-united behind Charles Evans Hughes in 1916, Wilson lost his home state to the GOP by a decisive 12-point margin in a head-to-head match-up, despite having served as the state's governor.

On the county level map, reflecting his comfortable victory, Hughes carried 17 of the state's 21 counties, breaking sixty percent of the vote in three. Wilson's only significant win was urbanHudson County,while he also won the three rural counties in westernNorth Jersey,Warren,Sussex,andHunterdon,which had long been non-Yankee Democratic enclaves in the otherwise Republican Northeast.[2]Warren and Hunterdon had never voted Republican as of 1916 – and Sussex only forWilliam McKinleyin 1896 – yet Wilson would prove the last Democrat to win Sussex County untilLyndon Johnsonin 1964.[3]

Despite being Wilson's home state, New Jersey registered as the second most Republican state in the nation in terms of vote share afterVermontand the fourth most Republican state in the nation in terms of margin, the state being about 15 points more Republican than the national average.[4]Woodrow Wilsonis one of 4 presidents to lose his home state on a successful presidential bid. The others areJames K. PolkandDonald Trump.This was the first time a Democrat won without the state since 1844.

Results[edit]

1916 United States presidential election in New Jersey
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican Charles Evans Hughes 268,982 54.40% 14
Democratic Woodrow Wilson(incumbent) 211,018 42.68% 0
Socialist Allan L. Benson 10,405 2.10% 0
Prohibition Frank Hanly 3,182 0.64% 0
Socialist Labor Arthur E. Reimer 855 0.17% 0
Totals 494,442 100.0% 14

Results by county[edit]

County Charles Evans Hughes
Republican
Thomas Woodrow Wilson
Democratic
Allan Louis Benson
Socialist
James Franklin Hanly
Prohibition
Arthur Elmer Reimer
Socialist Labor
Margin Total votes cast[5]
# % # % # % # % # % # %
Atlantic 9,713 62.88% 5,467 35.39% 122 0.79% 133 0.86% 12 0.08% 4,246 27.49% 15,447
Bergen 18,494 60.05% 11,530 37.44% 595 1.93% 113 0.37% 65 0.21% 6,964 22.61% 30,797
Burlington 8,803 56.36% 6,535 41.84% 115 0.74% 158 1.01% 9 0.06% 2,268 14.52% 15,620
Camden 18,318 54.17% 14,010 41.43% 1,101 3.26% 350 1.03% 38 0.11% 4,308 12.74% 33,817
Cape May 2,904 56.85% 2,097 41.05% 37 0.72% 66 1.29% 4 0.08% 807 15.80% 5,108
Cumberland 5,692 52.14% 4,573 41.89% 308 2.82% 323 2.96% 21 0.19% 1,119 10.25% 10,917
Essex 54,167 59.24% 34,596 37.84% 2,280 2.49% 184 0.20% 212 0.23% 19,571 21.40% 91,439
Gloucester 5,352 54.82% 3,745 38.36% 118 1.21% 538 5.51% 9 0.09% 1,607 16.46% 9,762
Hudson 42,518 47.66% 44,663 50.07% 1,811 2.03% 73 0.08% 140 0.16% -2,145 -2.40% 89,205
Hunterdon 3,408 42.69% 4,462 55.89% 45 0.56% 65 0.81% 4 0.05% -1,054 -13.20% 7,984
Mercer 14,213 55.75% 10,621 41.66% 460 1.80% 154 0.60% 45 0.18% 3,592 14.09% 25,493
Middlesex 11,851 53.51% 9,975 45.04% 185 0.84% 103 0.47% 32 0.14% 1,876 8.47% 22,146
Monmouth 11,624 51.46% 10,729 47.49% 103 0.46% 120 0.53% 14 0.06% 895 3.96% 22,590
Morris 8,530 54.23% 6,798 43.22% 214 1.36% 172 1.09% 14 0.09% 1,732 11.01% 15,728
Ocean 3,386 61.26% 2,076 37.56% 31 0.56% 28 0.51% 6 0.11% 1,310 23.70% 5,527
Passaic 18,754 55.32% 13,340 39.35% 1,561 4.60% 128 0.38% 121 0.36% 5,414 15.97% 33,904
Salem 4,080 53.77% 3,353 44.19% 68 0.90% 84 1.11% 3 0.04% 727 9.58% 7,588
Somerset 4,707 55.70% 3,653 43.23% 34 0.40% 50 0.59% 7 0.08% 1,054 12.47% 8,451
Sussex 2,461 43.38% 3,093 54.52% 70 1.23% 42 0.74% 7 0.12% -632 -11.14% 5,673
Union 16,705 59.21% 10,328 36.61% 1,040 3.69% 97 0.34% 44 0.16% 6,377 22.60% 28,214
Warren 3,302 36.56% 5,374 59.50% 107 1.18% 201 2.23% 48 0.53% -2,072 -22.94% 9,032
Totals 268,982 54.40% 211,018 42.68% 10,405 2.10% 3,182 0.64% 855 0.17% 57,964 11.72% 494,442

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^"1916 Presidential General Election Results - New Jersey".Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.RetrievedFebruary 5,2014.
  2. ^Phillips, Kevin P.;The Emerging Republican Majority,pp. 121-134ISBN978-0-691-16324-6
  3. ^Menendez, Albert J.;The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004,pp. 258-259ISBN0786422173
  4. ^"1916 Presidential Election Statistics".Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.RetrievedMarch 5,2018.
  5. ^New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety Division of Elections;Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey1917 pp. 574-602