1924 United States presidential election in Michigan
← 1920 November 4, 1924 1928 →
All 15 Michigan votes to the Electoral College
 
Nominee Calvin Coolidge John W. Davis Robert M. La Follette
Party Republican Democratic Progressive
Home state Massachusetts West Virginia Wisconsin
Running mate Charles G. Dawes Charles W. Bryan Burton K. Wheeler
Electoral vote 15 0 0
Popular vote 874,631 152,359 122,014
Percentage 75.37% 13.13% 10.51%
County Results
Coolidge
  40-50%
  50-60%
  60-70%
  70-80%
  80-90%
  90-100%

President before election

Calvin Coolidge
Republican

Elected President

Calvin Coolidge
Republican

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The 1924 United States presidential election in Michigan took place on November 4, 1924, as part of the 1924 United States presidential election. Voters chose fifteen[1] representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Ever since the Panic of 1893 and the Populist movement, Michigan had been rigidly one-party polity dominated by the Republican Party.[2] In the 1894 elections, the Democratic Party lost all but one seat in the Michigan legislature,[3] and over the four ensuing decades the party would never make major gains there.[2] The dominance of the culture of the Lower Peninsula by anti-slavery Yankees[4] would be augmented by the turn of formerly Democratic-leaning German Catholics away from that party as a result of the remodelled party’s agrarian and free silver sympathies, which became rigidly opposed by both the upper class and workers who followed them,[5] while the Populist movement eliminated Democratic ties with the business and commerce of Michigan and other Northern states.[6] By the 1920s, the only significant financial backer of the state Democratic Party was billionaire William Comstock.[7]

Unlike the other states of the Upper Midwest, the Yankee influence on the culture of the Lower Peninsula was so strong that left-wing third parties did not provide significant opposition to the Republicans, nor was there more than a moderate degree of coordinated factionalism within the hegemonic Michigan Republican Party.[8]

By taking a substantial proportion of the 1912 “Bull Moose” vote, incumbent president Woodrow Wilson would manage the best performance in Michigan by a Democrat since Grover Cleveland in 1888,[9] but 1918 saw a major reaction against Wilson throughout the Midwest, due to supposed preferential treatment of Southern farmers.[10] Republicans would hold every seat in the State Senate for over a decade after the fall election,[11] as they had between 1895 and 1897 and between 1905 and 1911, and every seat in both houses of the state legislature between 1921 and 1923.

The only campaigning done in the state by any of the three major candidates – Republican Party incumbent Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts, Democratic nominee John W. Davis of West Virginia and third-party candidate Robert M. La Follette Sr. of the Progressive Party — was a tour by conservative Southern Democrat Davis in September,[12] during which he campaigned to eliminate the income tax burden of the poorer classes.[13]

Results

1924 United States presidential election in Michigan
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Calvin Coolidge (inc.) 874,631 75.37%
Democratic John W. Davis 152,359 13.13%
Progressive Robert M. La Follette 122,014 10.51%
Prohibition Herman P. Faris 6,085 0.52%
Communist William Z. Foster 5,330 0.46%
Total votes 1,160,419 100%

Results by county

1924 United States presidential election in Michigan by county
County John Calvin Coolidge
Republican 		John William Davis
Democratic 		Robert M. La Follette
Progressive 		Herman Preston Faris
Prohibition 		William Zebulon Foster
Communist 		Margin Total votes cast[14]
# % # % # % # % # % # %
Alcona 1,027 72.32% 184 12.96% 179 12.61% 21 1.48% 9 0.63% 843 59.37% 1,420
Alger 1,623 66.52% 228 9.34% 505 20.70% 38 1.56% 46 1.89% 1,118[a] 45.82% 2,440
Allegan 9,417 79.32% 1,562 13.16% 795 6.70% 68 0.57% 30 0.25% 7,855 66.16% 11,872
Alpena 4,628 75.78% 948 15.52% 488 7.99% 21 0.34% 22 0.36% 3,680 60.26% 6,107
Antrim 2,246 76.79% 371 12.68% 270 9.23% 23 0.79% 15 0.51% 1,875 64.10% 2,925
Arenac 1,767 67.57% 575 21.99% 254 9.71% 14 0.54% 5 0.19% 1,192 45.58% 2,615
Baraga 1,714 71.84% 208 8.72% 391 16.39% 36 1.51% 37 1.55% 1,323[a] 55.45% 2,386
Barry 5,656 70.72% 2,046 25.58% 242 3.03% 44 0.55% 10 0.13% 3,610 45.14% 7,998
Bay 14,861 64.75% 5,881 25.62% 1,991 8.68% 142 0.62% 76 0.33% 8,980 39.13% 22,951
Benzie 1,922 73.84% 198 7.61% 419 16.10% 44 1.69% 20 0.77% 1,503[a] 57.74% 2,603
Berrien 15,612 63.73% 4,445 18.15% 4,183 17.08% 158 0.64% 99 0.40% 11,167 45.59% 24,497
Branch 6,016 64.67% 2,253 24.22% 943 10.14% 69 0.74% 21 0.23% 3,763 40.45% 9,302
Calhoun 18,165 71.91% 4,020 15.91% 2,782 11.01% 170 0.67% 125 0.49% 14,145 55.99% 25,262
Cass 4,545 59.93% 2,328 30.70% 645 8.50% 43 0.57% 23 0.30% 2,217 29.23% 7,584
Charlevoix 3,346 79.65% 406 9.66% 387 9.21% 37 0.88% 25 0.60% 2,940 69.98% 4,201
Cheboygan 2,683 64.16% 994 23.77% 441 10.55% 45 1.08% 19 0.45% 1,689 40.39% 4,182
Chippewa 5,443 77.44% 516 7.34% 997 14.18% 36 0.51% 37 0.53% 4,446[a] 63.25% 7,029
Clare 1,920 77.67% 358 14.48% 157 6.35% 19 0.77% 18 0.73% 1,562 63.19% 2,472
Clinton 6,637 76.81% 1,359 15.73% 596 6.90% 38 0.44% 11 0.13% 5,278 61.08% 8,641
Crawford 840 72.92% 163 14.15% 137 11.89% 7 0.61% 5 0.43% 677 58.77% 1,152
Delta 4,761 49.83% 463 4.85% 4,204 44.00% 48 0.50% 78 0.82% 557[a] 5.83% 9,554
Dickinson 4,538 68.66% 400 6.05% 1,495 22.62% 80 1.21% 96 1.45% 3,043[a] 46.04% 6,609
Eaton 8,232 73.66% 2,462 22.03% 394 3.53% 55 0.49% 32 0.29% 5,770 51.63% 11,175
Emmet 3,020 69.23% 773 17.72% 501 11.49% 35 0.80% 33 0.76% 2,247 51.51% 4,362
Genesee 34,264 83.82% 4,225 10.34% 2,124 5.20% 125 0.31% 140 0.34% 30,039 73.48% 40,878
Gladwin 1,908 78.36% 255 10.47% 242 9.94% 23 0.94% 7 0.29% 1,653 67.89% 2,435
Gogebic 5,128 66.54% 487 6.32% 1,781 23.11% 168 2.18% 143 1.86% 3,347[a] 43.43% 7,707
Grand Traverse 4,011 74.86% 558 10.41% 709 13.23% 54 1.01% 26 0.49% 3,302[a] 61.63% 5,358
Gratiot 6,720 76.09% 1,839 20.82% 200 2.26% 53 0.60% 20 0.23% 4,881 55.26% 8,832
Hillsdale 6,556 68.45% 1,980 20.67% 947 9.89% 67 0.70% 28 0.29% 4,576 47.78% 9,578
Houghton 13,833 83.02% 1,045 6.27% 1,579 9.48% 83 0.50% 122 0.73% 12,254[a] 73.54% 16,662
Huron 8,843 81.14% 988 9.07% 983 9.02% 60 0.55% 24 0.22% 7,855 72.08% 10,898
Ingham 28,005 81.16% 4,814 13.95% 1,488 4.31% 146 0.42% 52 0.15% 23,191 67.21% 34,505
Ionia 9,502 73.21% 2,821 21.74% 559 4.31% 79 0.61% 18 0.14% 6,681 51.48% 12,979
Iosco 1,713 71.43% 304 12.68% 329 13.72% 32 1.33% 20 0.83% 1,384[a] 57.71% 2,398
Iron 2,802 65.06% 247 5.73% 1,143 26.54% 60 1.39% 55 1.28% 1,659[a] 38.52% 4,307
Isabella 5,245 77.08% 1,208 17.75% 285 4.19% 52 0.76% 15 0.22% 4,037 59.32% 6,805
Jackson 19,640 69.18% 5,639 19.86% 2,880 10.14% 141 0.50% 90 0.32% 14,001 49.32% 28,390
Kalamazoo 18,451 75.31% 3,587 14.64% 2,283 9.32% 97 0.40% 82 0.33% 14,864 60.67% 24,500
Kalkaska 966 70.46% 205 14.95% 177 12.91% 18 1.31% 5 0.36% 761 55.51% 1,371
Kent 45,207 76.61% 7,982 13.53% 5,356 9.08% 260 0.44% 203 0.34% 37,225 63.08% 59,008
Keweenaw 1,421 91.15% 50 3.21% 67 4.30% 6 0.38% 15 0.96% 1,354[a] 86.85% 1,559
Lake 1,069 68.79% 313 20.14% 160 10.30% 4 0.26% 8 0.51% 756 48.65% 1,554
Lapeer 6,297 83.65% 929 12.34% 248 3.29% 40 0.53% 14 0.19% 5,368 71.31% 7,528
Leelanau 1,792 75.36% 301 12.66% 249 10.47% 23 0.97% 13 0.55% 1,491 62.70% 2,378
Lenawee 13,358 72.65% 3,950 21.48% 958 5.21% 82 0.45% 40 0.22% 9,408 51.16% 18,388
Livingston 4,886 67.37% 2,037 28.09% 274 3.78% 40 0.55% 15 0.21% 2,849 39.29% 7,252
Luce 850 80.65% 112 10.63% 83 7.87% 9 0.85% 0 0.00% 738 70.02% 1,054
Mackinac 1,606 51.62% 998 32.08% 481 15.46% 12 0.39% 14 0.45% 608 19.54% 3,111
Macomb 11,147 69.96% 3,191 20.03% 1,506 9.45% 54 0.34% 35 0.22% 7,956 49.93% 15,933
Manistee 3,701 58.09% 1,314 20.62% 1,294 20.31% 43 0.67% 19 0.30% 2,387 37.47% 6,371
Marquette 9,771 70.70% 845 6.11% 2,984 21.59% 121 0.88% 99 0.72% 6,787[a] 49.11% 13,820
Mason 3,567 67.18% 815 15.35% 791 14.90% 63 1.19% 74 1.39% 2,752 51.83% 5,310
Mecosta 3,884 76.96% 794 15.73% 304 6.02% 33 0.65% 32 0.63% 3,090 61.22% 5,047
Menominee 4,142 53.35% 1,055 13.59% 2,459 31.67% 48 0.62% 60 0.77% 1,683[a] 21.68% 7,764
Midland 4,004 79.08% 625 12.34% 358 7.07% 64 1.26% 12 0.24% 3,379 66.74% 5,063
Missaukee 1,723 85.09% 208 10.27% 79 3.90% 13 0.64% 2 0.10% 1,515 74.81% 2,025
Monroe 8,940 58.12% 4,981 32.38% 1,343 8.73% 73 0.47% 46 0.30% 3,959 25.74% 15,383
Montcalm 6,942 78.97% 1,396 15.88% 349 3.97% 78 0.89% 26 0.30% 5,546 63.09% 8,791
Montmorency 748 63.93% 140 11.97% 264 22.56% 14 1.20% 4 0.34% 484[a] 41.37% 1,170
Muskegon 14,422 79.22% 1,462 8.03% 2,188 12.02% 68 0.37% 66 0.36% 12,234[a] 67.20% 18,206
Newaygo 4,243 79.22% 720 13.44% 333 6.22% 48 0.90% 12 0.22% 3,523 65.78% 5,356
Oakland 28,603 81.27% 4,105 11.66% 2,201 6.25% 162 0.46% 125 0.36% 24,498 69.60% 35,196
Oceana 3,335 74.94% 650 14.61% 380 8.54% 50 1.12% 35 0.79% 2,685 60.34% 4,450
Ogemaw 1,714 79.32% 258 11.94% 156 7.22% 19 0.88% 14 0.65% 1,456 67.38% 2,161
Ontonagon 2,249 71.42% 417 13.24% 399 12.67% 23 0.73% 61 1.94% 1,832 58.18% 3,149
Osceola 3,050 77.79% 566 14.44% 256 6.53% 40 1.02% 9 0.23% 2,484 63.35% 3,921
Oscoda 389 82.24% 52 10.99% 30 6.34% 0 0.00% 2 0.42% 337 71.25% 473
Otsego 1,144 73.81% 249 16.06% 143 9.23% 8 0.52% 6 0.39% 895 57.74% 1,550
Ottawa 11,688 78.55% 1,871 12.57% 1,220 8.20% 54 0.36% 47 0.32% 9,817 65.97% 14,880
Presque Isle 2,315 67.45% 431 12.56% 645 18.79% 27 0.79% 14 0.41% 1,670[a] 48.66% 3,432
Roscommon 484 69.64% 99 14.24% 101 14.53% 6 0.86% 5 0.72% 383[a] 55.11% 695
Saginaw 23,618 67.99% 6,206 17.87% 4,649 13.38% 162 0.47% 103 0.30% 17,412 50.12% 34,738
Sanilac 7,767 84.53% 983 10.70% 366 3.98% 50 0.54% 22 0.24% 6,784 73.84% 9,188
Schoolcraft 1,515 61.34% 190 7.69% 720 29.15% 24 0.97% 21 0.85% 795[a] 32.19% 2,470
Shiawassee 8,987 72.99% 1,738 14.12% 1,366 11.09% 144 1.17% 78 0.63% 7,249 58.87% 12,313
St. Clair 17,435 76.54% 3,600 15.80% 1,635 7.18% 68 0.30% 42 0.18% 13,835 60.73% 22,780
St. Joseph 6,633 61.34% 2,649 26.13% 747 7.37% 52 0.51% 56 0.55% 3,984 39.30% 10,137
Tuscola 7,490 80.37% 1,076 11.55% 653 7.01% 91 0.98% 9 0.10% 6,414 68.83% 9,319
Van Buren 7,384 71.55% 1,646 15.95% 1,170 11.34% 72 0.70% 48 0.47% 5,738 55.60% 10,320
Washtenaw 14,326 72.24% 3,603 18.17% 1,728 8.71% 93 0.47% 80 0.40% 10,723 54.07% 19,830
Wayne 268,653 80.11% 23,817 7.10% 39,773 11.86% 1,121 0.33% 1,972 0.59% 228,880[a] 68.25% 335,336
Wexford 3,926 77.47% 592 11.68% 443 8.74% 74 1.46% 33 0.65% 3,334 65.79% 5,068
Totals 874,631 75.37% 152,359 13.13% 122,014 10.51% 6,085 0.52% 5,330 0.46% 722,272 62.24% 1,160,419

Analysis

The first poll taken showed it clearly that Coolidge would carry Michigan by a huge margin,[15] although there was substantial debate as to whom the opposition vote would go — early polls had La Follette receiving twice as many votes as Davis, but Democratic spokesmen worried that the state’s few Democrats would desert to Coolidge said Davis would out-poll the Wisconsin Senator.[7] Ultimately, Davis did out-poll the Wisconsin Senator, whose figures of around 20 percent in October would fall to only 10.51 percent of the vote on election day, whilst Coolidge carried Michigan with a percentage even higher than originally predicted and which surpassed Warren G. Harding’s record performance from 1920.[16][17]

Coolidge carried Michigan with 75.37 percent of the popular vote. This remains the best performance in a presidential election in Michigan as of the 2020 election, and Coolidge emulated Theodore Roosevelt in 1904 and William Howard Taft in 1908 by carrying every county in the state. Michigan was to be Coolidge's second strongest state in the 1924 election in terms of popular vote percentage after his birth state of Vermont.[18]

Democrat Davis gathered only 13.13 percent of the vote and did not pass one-third in any of Michigan’s eighty-three counties, whilst La Follette, who carried his neighbouring home state of Wisconsin and received over thirty percent in all other states of the Upper Midwest, received limited support in Michigan because it was less German[19] and more Yankee and Polish than any other Midwestern state.[20] La Follette’s best performance was in the heavily Finnish and anti-clerical Upper Peninsula,[21] where he received forty-four percent in Delta County and over twenty percent in seven other counties in the western Upper Peninsula. However, in the more populous Lower Peninsula, La Follette exceeded his national vote share of 16.62 percent only in four of sixty-eight counties,[b] and consequently the Wisconsin Senator won only 10.51 percent of Michigan’s total vote, making it his third-weakest state in the Midwest after heavily Southern-leaning Indiana and Missouri. As in 1920, the Republican presidential landslide was accompanied by a clean sweep of every seat in both houses of the State legislature.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t In this county where La Follette ran second ahead of Davis, margin given is Coolidge vote minus La Follette vote, and percentage margin Collidge percentage minus La Follette percentage.
  2. ^ These were Presque Isle, Manistee, Montmorency, and Berrien Counties

References

  1. ^ "1924 Election for the Thirty-Fifth Term (1925-1929)". Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  2. ^ a b Burnham, Walter Dean. "The System of 1896: An Analysis". The Evolution of American Electoral Systems. pp. 178–179. ISBN 0313213798.
  3. ^ "Swamped! The Democrats Drowned Out by a Tremendous Republican Tidal Wave". The L'Anse Sentinel. L'Anse. November 10, 1894. p. 1.
  4. ^ English, Gustavus P.; Proceedings of the Ninth Republican National Convention (1888), p. 234
  5. ^ Sundquist, James. Politics and Policy: The Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson Years. p. 526. ISBN 0815719094.
  6. ^ Rogowski, Ronald (2020). Commerce and Coalitions: How Trade Affects Domestic Political Alignments. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691219435.
  7. ^ a b "Davis Forces See Upset in Michigan: Democrats Claim Nominee Will Lead La Follette Despite Result Indicated in Poll". The San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, California. October 18, 1924. p. 2.
  8. ^ Hansen, John Mark; Shigeo, Hirano; Snyder Jr., James M. "Parties within Parties: Parties, Factions, and Coordinated Politics, 1900-1980". In Gerber, Alan S.; Schickler, Eric (eds.). Governing in a Polarized Age: Elections, Parties, and Political Representation in America. pp. 165–168. ISBN 978-1-107-09509-0.
  9. ^ "Presidential General Election Results Comparison — Michigan". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas.
  10. ^ Morello, John A. Albert D. Lasker, Advertising, and the Election of Warren G. Harding. p. 64. ISBN 0275970302.
  11. ^ Kang, Michael S. (May 29, 2019). "Hyperpartisan Gerrymandering". Boston College Law Review. 69: 1395.
  12. ^ Tucker, Garland. High Tide of American Conservatism: Davis, Coolidge, and the 1924 Election. p. 191. ISBN 193711029X.
  13. ^ Richardson, Danny G. Others: "Fighting Bob" La Follette and the Progressive Movement: Third-Party Politics in the 1920s. p. 180. ISBN 0595481264.
  14. ^ Michigan Department of State – Bureau of Elections; Michigan Manual, (1925), p. 387
  15. ^ "Latest Totals in Nationwide Presidential Straw Ballot". The San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, California. October 18, 1924. p. 2.
  16. ^ "1924 Presidential General Election Results — Michigan". Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  17. ^ "The American Presidency Project — Election of 1924". Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  18. ^ "1924 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  19. ^ Phillips, Kevin P. (1970). The Emerging Republican Majority. p. 405. ISBN 978-0-691-16324-6.
  20. ^ See Lichtman, Allan J. Prejudice and the Old Politics : the Presidential Election of 1928. pp. 98–99. ISBN 0807813583.
  21. ^ Stark, Rodney and Christiano, Kevin J.; 'Support for the American Left, 1920-1924: The Opiate Thesis Reconsidered'; Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 31, No. 1 (March, 1992), pp. 62-75
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