1972 United States presidential election in Alaska

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Nominee Richard Nixon George McGovern John G. Schmitz Party Republican Democratic American Independent Home state California South Dakota California Running mate Spiro Agnew Sargent Shriver Thomas J. Anderson Electoral vote 3 0 0 Popular vote 55,349 32,967 6,903 Percentage 58.10% 34.61% 7.25%

Borough Results State House District Results Nixon   40–50%   50–60%   60–70% McGovern   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%

President before election Richard Nixon Republican Elected President Richard Nixon Republican

Elections in Alaska
Federal government Presidential elections 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 Presidential primaries and caucuses Democratic 2008 2016 2020 Republican 2008 2012 2016 2024 U.S. Senate elections 1958 1960 1962 1966 1968 1970 sp 1972 1974 1978 1980 1984 1986 1990 1992 1996 1998 2002 2004 2008 2010 2014 2016 2020 2022 2026 2028 U.S. House of Representatives elections 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1973 sp 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 sp 2022 2024
State government Statewide elections 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 Gubernatorial elections 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 Senate elections 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 House of Representatives elections 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 Ballot measures 1990 2 1998 2 2008 ACWI 2014 2 2020 2
Anchorage Mayoral elections 1981 1984 1987 1990 1994 1997 2000 2003 2006 2009 2012 2015 2018 2021 2024 Propositions 2018 (1)
v t e

The 1972 United States presidential election in Alaska took place on November 7, 1972, as part of the 1972 United States presidential election. Voters chose three representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Alaska was won by incumbent President Richard Nixon (R-California) with 58.1% of the popular vote against George McGovern (D-South Dakota) with 34.6%.^[1] Nixon ultimately won the national vote as well, defeating McGovern and Representative John G. Schmitz (R-California), who ran under the American Independent Party ticket.

Results

Analysis

Although Alaska has only voted Democratic once, which was for Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, during the state's first four presidential elections Alaska was not substantially more Republican than the nation at-large: indeed owing to a fairly strong third-party campaign Nixon won 2.57 percent less of the vote in Alaska that over the entire country, although McGovern received 2.88 percent less than his national share.^[3] Nonetheless, Alaska weighed in for this election as 0.3% more Democratic than the nation-at-large.

While Alaska would prove to be John Schmitz's second strongest state after Idaho,^[4] he failed to equal the success of George Wallace’s campaign in the previous election.^[1] This is the only time that Alaska voted to the left of Hawaii.