1956 United States presidential election in West Virginia
← 1952 November 6, 1956[1] 1960 →
All 8 West Virginia votes to the Electoral College
 
Nominee Dwight D. Eisenhower Adlai Stevenson
Party Republican Democratic
Home state Pennsylvania[note 1][2] Illinois
Running mate Richard Nixon Estes Kefauver
Electoral vote 8 0
Popular vote 449,297 381,534
Percentage 54.08% 45.92%
County Results
President before election

Dwight D. Eisenhower
Republican

Elected President

Dwight D. Eisenhower
Republican

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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

1956 United States presidential election in West Virginia
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

1956 United States presidential election in West Virginia by county[7]
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

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ At the time of the 1864 election, Hampshire County also included Mineral County, which would vote Republican continuously between 1888 and 1932 inclusive.

References

  1. ^ "United States Presidential election of 1956 — Encyclopædia Britannica". Retrieved July 6, 2017.
  2. ^ "The Presidents". David Leip. Retrieved September 27, 2017. Eisenhower's home state for the 1956 Election was Pennsylvania
  3. ^ "1956 Election for the Forty-Fourth Term (1961-65)". Retrieved July 6, 2017.
  4. ^ "1956 Presidential General Election Results — West Virginia". Retrieved July 6, 2017.
  5. ^ "The American Presidency Project — Election of 1956". Retrieved July 6, 2017.
  6. ^ Menendez, Albert J. The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004. pp. 334–336. ISBN 0786422173.
  7. ^ "Presidential election of 1956 Popular Vote". Géoelections. (.xlsx file for €15)
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