How many electoral votes were needed to win in 1920?

A majority of the 531 electoral votes was required (266); Warren G. Harding finished with 404.

What share of the popular vote did Warren G. Harding win in 1920?

Warren G. Harding drew 60.32% of the national popular vote in 1920.

Roaring TwentiesCycle 34 / 60

1920

Warren G. Harding and the 1920 map.

Warren G. Harding (Republican) defeated James M. Cox (Democratic), 60.3% to 34.1% of the popular vote.

The 1920 U.S. presidential election was won by Warren G. Harding (Republican) with 404 of 531 electoral votes, defeating James M. Cox (Democratic). Electoral-vote margin: 277 (404 to 127). Popular-vote margin: 26.2 percentage points. Turnout was 49.2%. The cycle falls in the Roaring Twenties era of American electoral history.

Harding

404 EV

Cox

127 EV

0266 to win531

The map · 1920

37 states for Rep · 11 for Dem

Open the what-if calculator → — flip states and re-count. A toy, not history.

Narrative

Warren G. Harding and the 1920 map

Republican Warren Harding won in one of the largest landslides in US history, running on a promise of a 'Return to Normalcy' after the turbulence of World War I and Wilson's failed League of Nations fight. Cox, Wilson's chosen successor, defended the League but the war-weary public overwhelmingly chose Harding's reassuring normalcy. Notably, this was the first presidential election in which women could vote nationally under the 19th Amendment. Harding died in office in 1923 amid emerging Teapot Dome scandal.

Key issue

League of Nations; postwar recovery; 'Return to Normalcy'

Notable

First election with women's suffrage nationwide; Harding won by 26-point popular vote margin

This summary was drafted with AI tools and has not yet been checked sentence by sentence. The vote table and the National Archives note on this page come from named sources; where they differ from the summary, rely on them. Tell us about an error.

From the National Archives

Warren G. Harding died August 2, 1923. He was succeeded by Calvin Coolidge.

National Archives, Electoral College results for 1920, archives.gov, read October 3, 2026. Quoted as published.

States · 48 reporting

State results · 1920

Popular vote by state, with each state's electoral votes.

Closest states

Kentucky Cox by 4,017 · 0.4 pts
Tennessee Harding by 13,271 · 3.1 pts
Oklahoma Harding by 26,778 · 5.5 pts
New Mexico Harding by 10,966 · 10.4 pts
Arizona Harding by 7,462 · 11.2 pts

Tipping point

Rhode IslandHarding won it by 31.2 points; its electoral votes took the total to 267, past the 266 needed.

Line up the states the winner carried from widest margin to narrowest and add up their electoral votes: the tipping point is the state that takes the total past a majority.

Scroll the table sideways for every column.

1920 presidential election results by state: popular vote, margin and electoral votes
State	Electoral votes	Warren G. Harding Rep	James M. Cox Dem	Eugene V. Debs Soc	Also named	Margin	Leader
Alabama¹	12 EV	74,556¹ 31.4%	159,965¹ 67.3%	Not named	None	85,409 35.9 pts	Cox Dem
Arizona²	3 EV	37,016² 55.6%	29,554² 44.4%	Not named	None	7,462 11.2 pts	Harding Rep
Arkansas³	9 EV	71,117³ 38.7%	107,409³ 58.5%	5,111³ 2.8%	None	36,292 19.8 pts	Cox Dem
California⁴	13 EV	624,992⁴ 66.3%	229,191⁴ 24.3%	64,076⁴ 6.8%	Aaron S. Watkins 25,085 · 2.7%⁴	395,801 42.0 pts	Harding Rep
Colorado⁵	6 EV	173,248⁵ 59.3%	104,936⁵ 35.9%	8,046⁵ 2.8%	Parley P. Christensen 3,016 · 1.0%⁵	68,312 23.4 pts	Harding Rep
Connecticut⁶	7 EV	229,238⁶ 62.7%	120,721⁶ 33.0%	10,350⁶ 2.8%	None	108,517 29.7 pts	Harding Rep
Delaware^7,8	3 EV	52,858⁷ 55.7%	39,911⁷ 42.1%	988⁷ 1.0%	Aaron S. Watkins 986 · 1.0%⁷	12,947 13.6 pts	Harding Rep
Florida^9,10	6 EV	44,853⁹ 30.8%	90,515⁹ 62.1%	5,189⁹ 3.6%	Aaron S. Watkins 5,124 · 3.5%⁹	45,662 31.3 pts	Cox Dem
Georgia^11,12	14 EV	41,089¹¹ 27.7%	107,162¹¹ 72.3%	Not named	None	66,073 44.6 pts	Cox Dem
Idaho^13,14	4 EV	88,975¹³ 65.6%	46,579¹³ 34.3%	Not named	None	42,396 31.3 pts	Harding Rep
Illinois¹⁵	29 EV	1,420,480¹⁵ 67.8%	534,395¹⁵ 25.5%	74,747¹⁵ 3.6%	Parley P. Christensen 49,630 · 2.4%¹⁵	886,085 42.3 pts	Harding Rep
Indiana¹⁶	15 EV	696,370¹⁶ 55.1%	511,364¹⁶ 40.5%	24,703¹⁶ 2.0%	Parley P. Christensen 16,499 · 1.3%¹⁶ Aaron S. Watkins 13,462 · 1.1%¹⁶	185,006 14.6 pts	Harding Rep
Iowa¹⁷	13 EV	634,674¹⁷ 70.9%	227,921¹⁷ 25.5%	16,981¹⁷ 1.9%	Parley P. Christensen 10,321 · 1.2%¹⁷	406,753 45.4 pts	Harding Rep
Kansas¹⁸	10 EV	369,268¹⁸ 64.8%	185,464¹⁸ 32.5%	15,511¹⁸ 2.7%	None	183,804 32.2 pts	Harding Rep
Kentucky¹⁹	13 EV	452,480¹⁹ 49.3%	456,497¹⁹ 49.7%	Not named	None	4,017 0.4 pts	Cox Dem
Louisiana²⁰	10 EV	38,538²⁰ 30.6%	87,519²⁰ 69.4%	Not named	None	48,981 38.9 pts	Cox Dem
Maine^21,22	6 EV	136,355²¹ 68.9%	58,961²¹ 29.8%	2,214²¹ 1.1%	None	77,394 39.1 pts	Harding Rep
Maryland^23,24	8 EV	236,117²³ 55.1%	180,626²³ 42.2%	8,876²³ 2.1%	None	55,491 13.0 pts	Harding Rep
Massachusetts^25,26	18 EV	681,153²⁵ 68.5%	276,691²⁵ 27.8%	32,269²⁵ 3.2%	None	404,462 40.7 pts	Harding Rep
Michigan²⁷	15 EV	762,865²⁷ 72.8%	233,450²⁷ 22.3%	28,947²⁷ 2.8%	None	529,415 50.5 pts	Harding Rep
Minnesota^28,29	12 EV	519,421²⁸ 70.6%	142,994²⁸ 19.4%	56,106²⁸ 7.6%	Aaron S. Watkins 11,489 · 1.6%²⁸	376,427 51.2 pts	Harding Rep
Mississippi³⁰	10 EV	11,576³⁰ 14.0%	69,277³⁰ 84.0%	1,639³⁰ 2.0%	None	57,701 69.9 pts	Cox Dem
Missouri^31,32	18 EV	727,162³¹ 54.6%	574,799³¹ 43.1%	20,242³¹ 1.5%	None	152,363 11.4 pts	Harding Rep
Montana³³	4 EV	109,430³³ 61.1%	57,334³³ 32.0%	Not named	Parley P. Christensen 12,204 · 6.8%³³	52,096 29.1 pts	Harding Rep
Nebraska³⁴	8 EV	247,498³⁴ 64.7%	119,608³⁴ 31.3%	9,600³⁴ 2.5%	Aaron S. Watkins 5,947 · 1.6%³⁴	127,890 33.4 pts	Harding Rep
Nevada³⁵	3 EV	15,479³⁵ 56.9%	9,851³⁵ 36.2%	1,864³⁵ 6.9%	None	5,628 20.7 pts	Harding Rep
New Hampshire³⁶	4 EV	95,196³⁶ 59.8%	62,662³⁶ 39.4%	Not named	None	32,534 20.4 pts	Harding Rep
New Jersey³⁷	14 EV	615,333³⁷ 67.6%	258,761³⁷ 28.4%	27,385³⁷ 3.0%	None	356,572 39.2 pts	Harding Rep
New Mexico³⁸	3 EV	57,634³⁸ 54.7%	46,668³⁸ 44.3%	Not named	Parley P. Christensen 1,097 · 1.0%³⁸	10,966 10.4 pts	Harding Rep
New York³⁹	45 EV	1,871,167³⁹ 64.6%	781,238³⁹ 27.0%	203,201³⁹ 7.0%	None	1,089,929 37.6 pts	Harding Rep
North Carolina⁴⁰	12 EV	232,848⁴⁰ 43.2%	305,447⁴⁰ 56.7%	Not named	None	72,599 13.5 pts	Cox Dem
North Dakota^41,42	5 EV	160,072⁴¹ 77.8%	37,422⁴¹ 18.2%	Not named	None	122,650 59.6 pts	Harding Rep
Ohio^43,44	24 EV	1,182,022⁴³ 58.5%	780,037⁴³ 38.6%	57,147⁴³ 2.8%	None	401,985 19.9 pts	Harding Rep
Oklahoma⁴⁵	10 EV	243,831⁴⁵ 50.1%	217,053⁴⁵ 44.6%	25,726⁴⁵ 5.3%	None	26,778 5.5 pts	Harding Rep
Oregon^46,47	5 EV	143,592⁴⁶ 60.2%	80,019⁴⁶ 33.5%	9,801⁴⁶ 4.1%	Aaron S. Watkins 3,595 · 1.5%⁴⁶	63,573 26.7 pts	Harding Rep
Pennsylvania^48,49	38 EV	1,218,215⁴⁸ 65.8%	503,202⁴⁸ 27.2%	70,021⁴⁸ 3.8%	Aaron S. Watkins 42,612 · 2.3%⁴⁸	715,013 38.6 pts	Harding Rep
Rhode Island^50,51	5 EV	107,463⁵⁰ 64.0%	55,062⁵⁰ 32.8%	4,351⁵⁰ 2.6%	None	52,401 31.2 pts	Harding Rep
South Carolina^52,53	9 EV	2,244⁵² 3.4%	64,170⁵² 96.1%	Not named	None	61,926 92.7 pts	Cox Dem
South Dakota^54,55	5 EV	110,692⁵⁴ 60.7%	35,938⁵⁴ 19.7%	Not named	None	74,754 41.0 pts	Harding Rep
Tennessee⁵⁶	12 EV	219,829⁵⁶ 51.3%	206,558⁵⁶ 48.2%	Not named	None	13,271 3.1 pts	Harding Rep
Texas^57,58	20 EV	114,269⁵⁷ 23.5%	288,767⁵⁷ 59.4%	8,121⁵⁷ 1.7%	None	174,498 35.9 pts	Cox Dem
Utah⁵⁹	4 EV	81,555⁵⁹ 55.9%	56,639⁵⁹ 38.8%	3,159⁵⁹ 2.2%	Parley P. Christensen 4,475 · 3.1%⁵⁹	24,916 17.1 pts	Harding Rep
Vermont^60,61	4 EV	68,212⁶⁰ 75.8%	20,919⁶⁰ 23.3%	Not named	None	47,293 52.6 pts	Harding Rep
Virginia⁶²	12 EV	87,456⁶² 37.9%	141,670⁶² 61.3%	Not named	None	54,214 23.5 pts	Cox Dem
Washington⁶³	7 EV	223,137⁶³ 56.0%	84,298⁶³ 21.1%	8,913⁶³ 2.2%	Parley P. Christensen 77,246 · 19.4%⁶³	138,839 34.8 pts	Harding Rep
West Virginia⁶⁴	8 EV	282,007⁶⁴ 55.3%	220,789⁶⁴ 43.3%	5,618⁶⁴ 1.1%	None	61,218 12.0 pts	Harding Rep
Wisconsin⁶⁵	13 EV	498,576⁶⁵ 71.1%	113,422⁶⁵ 16.2%	80,635⁶⁵ 11.5%	Aaron S. Watkins 8,647 · 1.2%⁶⁵	385,154 54.9 pts	Harding Rep
Wyoming^66,67	3 EV	35,091⁶⁶ 66.8%	17,429⁶⁶ 33.2%	Not named	None	17,662 33.6 pts	Harding Rep

Shares are of each state’s total vote for president. “Not named”: the figures do not give that candidate a line of their own in that state — for example under 1% of the vote, not on the ballot there, or counted on an unnamed line (see the state’s note). Margin is the leader’s lead over the second-placed candidate.

Notes on the figures

Alabama The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Arizona The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Arkansas The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
California The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Colorado The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Connecticut The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Delaware The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Delaware The official table notes: Other tickets on the state page (in OthersState): Independent 93.
Florida The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Florida The official table notes: The summary table shows no Socialist or Prohibition figure for Florida; the state page (PDF page 3) gives Socialist 5,189 and Prohibitionist 5,124 (in SocState/ProhState). The state page also lists 'Republican and White Republican (one candidate)' 44,853, 'Republican' 37,409 and 'Republican (White)' 10,118: 44,853 is the highest Republican elector vote, the figure the summary uses; the other two are not added.
Georgia The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Georgia The official table notes: The Georgia heading carries footnote 1, 'Statistics not furnished by State authorities.' (PDF page 3); presidential figures are nonetheless printed.
Idaho The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Idaho The official table notes: The summary table prints 32 in the Watkins (Prohibition) column on Idaho's line; the Idaho state page (PDF page 3) lists only Republican, Democratic and Socialist (38). The 32 is kept as printed in the summary (the column then adds to its printed total).
Illinois The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Indiana The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Iowa The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Kansas The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Kentucky The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Louisiana The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Maine The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Maine The official table notes: The summary table shows no Socialist figure for Maine; the state page (PDF page 7) gives Socialist 2,214 (in SocState). Single Tax 310 is from the state page.
Maryland The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Maryland The official table notes: Other tickets on the state page (in OthersState): Labor 1,178; Third Party 1,645.
Massachusetts The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Massachusetts The official table notes: Other tickets on the state page (in OthersState): All others 24.
Michigan The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Minnesota The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Minnesota The official table notes: Other tickets on the state page (in OthersState): Industrial 5,828.
Mississippi The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Missouri The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Missouri The official table notes: Other tickets on the state page (in OthersState): Farmer-Workman 3,291.
Montana The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Nebraska The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Nevada The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
New Hampshire The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
New Jersey The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
New Mexico The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
New York The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
North Carolina The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
North Dakota The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
North Dakota The official table notes: Other tickets on the state page (in OthersState): Individual 8,282.
Ohio The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Ohio The official table notes: The summary table shows no Prohibition figure for Ohio; the state page (PDF page 14) gives Prohibitionist 294 (in ProhState).
Oklahoma The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Oregon The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Oregon The official table notes: Other tickets on the state page (in OthersState): Industrial Labor 1,515.
Pennsylvania The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Pennsylvania The official table notes: Other tickets on the state page (in OthersState): Industrialist 755; Labor 15,642.
Rhode Island The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Rhode Island The official table notes: The state page (PDF page 17) also lists Blank ballots 5,407 and Defective ballots 1,081; these are not votes for any ticket and are not transcribed.
South Carolina The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
South Carolina The official table notes: Other tickets on the state page (in OthersState): Insurgent Referendum 366.
South Dakota The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
South Dakota The official table notes: Other tickets on the state page (in OthersState): Nonpartisan 34,707; Independent 900. The page does not name the Nonpartisan ticket's candidate.
Tennessee The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Texas The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Texas The official table notes: Other tickets on the state page (in OthersState): Black and Tan Republican 27,201; American 47,968. The page does not name these tickets' candidates.
Utah The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Vermont The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Vermont The official table notes: Other tickets on the state page (in OthersState): Scattering 56.
Virginia The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Washington The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
West Virginia The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Wisconsin The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Wyoming The official table prints no state total here; the total is the sum of the tickets it lists.
Wyoming The official table notes: The state page (PDF page 20) lists Socialist and Labor tickets with no figures.

SourceStatistics of the Congressional and Presidential Election of November 2, 1920 (Public domain: a work of the United States government (17 U.S.C. 105), retrieved 2026-10-03). How these figures were compiled

Calvin Coolidge · Rep

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