The American Vote
Cold War RealignmentCycle 46 / 60

1968

A turbulent year remakes the electorate.
Richard Nixon (Republican) defeated Hubert Humphrey (Democratic), 43.4% to 42.7% of the popular vote.

The 1968 U.S. presidential election was won by Richard Nixon (Republican) with 301 of 538 electoral votes, defeating Hubert Humphrey (Democratic). Electoral-vote margin: 110 (301 to 191). Popular-vote margin: 0.7 percentage points. Turnout was 62.5%. The cycle falls in the Cold War Realignment era of American electoral history.

Nixon
301 EV
Humphrey
191 EV
Other
46 EV
0270 to win538
The map · 1968
32 states for Rep · 14 for Dem
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Open the what-if calculator → — flip states and re-count. A toy, not history.

Narrative

A turbulent year remakes the electorate

Richard Nixon won a narrow victory in a tumultuous year marked by the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, riots at the Democratic convention in Chicago, and the Vietnam War. Nixon appealed to the 'Silent Majority' and promised new leadership that would end the war and 'win the peace', without ever detailing how. Alabama Governor George Wallace ran on the American Independent Party ticket, winning five Deep South states and 46 electoral votes, nearly throwing the election to the House. Humphrey surged late after partially distancing himself from Johnson's Vietnam policy.

Key issue

Vietnam War; civil unrest and riots; law and order; Nixon's 'Silent Majority'

Notable

Wallace won 46 EC votes; year of assassinations and riots; Nixon won with 43.4% popular vote

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

American Independent Party candidate Wallace received 9,906,473 popular votes for President.

National Archives, Electoral College results for 1968, archives.gov, read October 3, 2026. Quoted as published.

States · 51 reporting

State results · 1968

Popular vote by state, with each state's electoral votes.
Closest states
  1. Missouri Nixon by 20,488 · 1.1 pts
  2. Texas Humphrey by 38,960 · 1.3 pts
  3. Maryland Humphrey by 20,315 · 1.6 pts
  4. Washington Humphrey by 27,527 · 2.1 pts
  5. New Jersey Nixon by 61,261 · 2.1 pts
Tipping point

OhioNixon won it by 2.3 points; its electoral votes took the total to 272, past the 270 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.

1968 presidential election results by state: popular vote, margin and electoral votes
StateElectoral votes
Richard Nixon
Rep
Hubert Humphrey
Dem
George Wallace
AI
MarginLeader
Alabama1,2
10 EV
146,9231
14.0%
196,5791
18.7%
691,4251
65.9%
494,846
47.1 pts
Wallace AI
Alaska
3 EV
37,600
45.3%
35,411
42.6%
10,024
12.1%
2,189
2.6 pts
Nixon Rep
Arizona3
5 EV
266,7213
54.8%
170,5143
35.0%
46,5733
9.6%
96,207
19.8 pts
Nixon Rep
Arkansas
6 EV
189,062
31.0%
184,901
30.3%
235,627
38.7%
46,565
7.6 pts
Wallace AI
California
40 EV
3,407,851
48.0%
3,186,270
44.9%
481,665
6.8%
221,581
3.1 pts
Nixon Rep
Colorado4
6 EV
409,3454
50.7%
331,0634
41.0%
60,8134
7.5%
78,282
9.7 pts
Nixon Rep
Connecticut
8 EV
556,721
44.3%
621,561
49.5%
76,650
6.1%
64,840
5.2 pts
Humphrey Dem
Delaware
3 EV
96,714
45.1%
89,194
41.6%
28,459
13.3%
7,520
3.5 pts
Nixon Rep
District of Columbia
3 EV
31,012
18.2%
139,566
81.8%
Not named
108,554
63.6 pts
Humphrey Dem
Florida
14 EV
886,804
40.5%
676,794
30.9%
624,207
28.5%
210,010
9.6 pts
Nixon Rep
Georgia
12 EV
366,611
29.6%
334,439
27.0%
535,550
43.3%
168,939
13.7 pts
Wallace AI
Hawaii
4 EV
91,425
38.7%
141,324
59.8%
3,469
1.5%
49,899
21.1 pts
Humphrey Dem
Idaho
4 EV
165,369
56.8%
89,273
30.7%
36,541
12.5%
76,096
26.1 pts
Nixon Rep
Illinois
26 EV
2,174,774
47.1%
2,039,814
44.2%
390,958
8.5%
134,960
2.9 pts
Nixon Rep
Indiana
13 EV
1,067,885
50.3%
806,659
38.0%
243,108
11.4%
261,226
12.3 pts
Nixon Rep
Iowa5
9 EV
619,1065
53.0%
476,6995
40.8%
66,4225
5.7%
142,407
12.2 pts
Nixon Rep
Kansas6,7
7 EV
478,6746
54.8%
302,9966
34.7%
88,9216
10.2%
175,678
20.1 pts
Nixon Rep
Kentucky
9 EV
462,411
43.8%
397,541
37.6%
193,098
18.3%
64,870
6.1 pts
Nixon Rep
Louisiana
10 EV
257,535
23.5%
309,615
28.2%
530,300
48.3%
220,685
20.1 pts
Wallace AI
Maine
4 EV
169,254
43.1%
217,312
55.3%
6,370
1.6%
48,058
12.2 pts
Humphrey Dem
Maryland
10 EV
517,995
41.9%
538,310
43.6%
178,734
14.5%
20,315
1.6 pts
Humphrey Dem
Massachusetts
14 EV
766,844
32.9%
1,469,218
63.0%
87,088
3.7%
702,374
30.1 pts
Humphrey Dem
Michigan8
21 EV
1,370,6658
41.5%
1,593,0828
48.2%
331,9688
10.0%
222,417
6.7 pts
Humphrey Dem
Minnesota9
10 EV
658,6439
41.5%
857,7389
54.0%
68,9319
4.3%
199,095
12.5 pts
Humphrey Dem
Mississippi
7 EV
88,516
13.5%
150,644
23.0%
415,349
63.5%
264,705
40.4 pts
Wallace AI
Missouri
12 EV
811,932
44.9%
791,444
43.7%
206,126
11.4%
20,488
1.1 pts
Nixon Rep
Montana10
4 EV
138,83510
50.6%
114,11710
41.6%
20,01510
7.3%
24,718
9.0 pts
Nixon Rep
Nebraska
5 EV
321,163
59.8%
170,784
31.8%
44,904
8.4%
150,379
28.0 pts
Nixon Rep
Nevada
3 EV
73,188
47.5%
60,598
39.3%
20,432
13.2%
12,590
8.2 pts
Nixon Rep
New Hampshire11
4 EV
154,90311
52.1%
130,58911
43.9%
11,17311
3.8%
24,314
8.2 pts
Nixon Rep
New Jersey
17 EV
1,325,467
46.1%
1,264,206
44.0%
262,187
9.1%
61,261
2.1 pts
Nixon Rep
New Mexico12
4 EV
169,69212
51.8%
130,08112
39.7%
25,73712
7.9%
39,611
12.1 pts
Nixon Rep
New York13,14,15,16
43 EV
3,007,93213
44.3%
3,378,47015
49.8%
358,86413
5.3%
370,538
5.5 pts
Humphrey Dem
North Carolina
13 EV
Nixon 12, Wallace 1 (faithless elector)
627,192
39.5%
464,113
29.2%
496,188
31.3%
131,004
8.3 pts
Nixon Rep
North Dakota17
4 EV
138,66917
55.9%
94,76917
38.2%
14,24417
5.7%
43,900
17.7 pts
Nixon Rep
Ohio18
26 EV
1,791,01418
45.2%
1,700,58618
42.9%
467,49518
11.8%
90,428
2.3 pts
Nixon Rep
Oklahoma
8 EV
449,697
47.7%
301,658
32.0%
191,731
20.3%
148,039
15.7 pts
Nixon Rep
Oregon
6 EV
408,433
50.0%
358,866
43.9%
49,683
6.1%
49,567
6.1 pts
Nixon Rep
Pennsylvania
29 EV
2,090,017
44.0%
2,259,403
47.6%
378,582
8.0%
169,386
3.6 pts
Humphrey Dem
Rhode Island
4 EV
122,359
31.8%
246,518
64.0%
15,678
4.1%
124,159
32.3 pts
Humphrey Dem
South Carolina
8 EV
254,062
38.1%
197,486
29.6%
215,430
32.3%
38,632
5.8 pts
Nixon Rep
South Dakota
4 EV
149,841
53.3%
118,023
42.0%
13,400
4.8%
31,818
11.3 pts
Nixon Rep
Tennessee
11 EV
472,592
37.8%
351,233
28.1%
424,792
34.0%
47,800
3.8 pts
Nixon Rep
Texas
25 EV
1,227,844
39.9%
1,266,804
41.1%
584,269
19.0%
38,960
1.3 pts
Humphrey Dem
Utah
4 EV
238,728
56.5%
156,665
37.1%
26,906
6.4%
82,063
19.4 pts
Nixon Rep
Vermont19
3 EV
85,14219
52.8%
70,25519
43.5%
5,10419
3.2%
14,887
9.2 pts
Nixon Rep
Virginia
12 EV
590,319
43.4%
442,387
32.5%
320,272
23.6%
147,932
10.9 pts
Nixon Rep
Washington20
9 EV
588,51020
45.1%
616,03720
47.2%
96,99020
7.4%
27,527
2.1 pts
Humphrey Dem
West Virginia
7 EV
307,555
40.8%
374,091
49.6%
72,560
9.6%
66,536
8.8 pts
Humphrey Dem
Wisconsin
12 EV
809,997
47.9%
748,804
44.3%
127,835
7.6%
61,193
3.6 pts
Nixon Rep
Wyoming
3 EV
70,927
55.8%
45,173
35.5%
11,105
8.7%
25,754
20.2 pts
Nixon 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

  1. Alabama Humphrey's figure is the combined vote of the Democratic and National Democratic parties of Alabama.
  2. Alabama The official table notes: Democrat figure: footnote 1, 'Total vote for the Democratic and National Democratic Parties.' Others 10,960: footnote 2, 'Alabama Independent Party.'
  3. Arizona The official table notes: Others 2,751: footnote 3, 'New Party.'
  4. Colorado The official table notes: Others 1,393: footnote 3, 'New Party.'
  5. Iowa The official table notes: Others 3,519: footnote 4, 'Includes 3,377 votes for nomination by Petition Party and 142 votes for Universal Party.'
  6. Kansas Wallace's electors appeared on the Kansas ballot under the Conservative label.
  7. Kansas The official table notes: No American Independent entry; the Conservative column shows 88,921 for Kansas.
  8. Michigan The official table notes: Others 4,585: footnote 5, 'New Politics Party.'
  9. Minnesota The official table notes: Others 700: footnote 6, 'Includes 285 votes for Industrial Government Party and 415 votes for Communist Party.'
  10. Montana The official table notes: Others 470: footnote 7, 'New Reform Party.'
  11. New Hampshire The official table notes: Others 421: footnote 3, 'New Party.'
  12. New Mexico The official table notes: Others 1,519: footnote 8, 'People's Constitutional Party.'
  13. New York Wallace's electors appeared on the New York ballot as the Courage Party. Humphrey also had 311,622 votes on the Liberal Party line, counted here under other candidates.
  14. New York New York's Others figure carries footnote 9, 'Courage Party': Wallace's electors ran in New York under that label.
  15. New York Hubert Humphrey's figure is the sum of the lines the official table prints separately (Democrat 3,066,848; Liberal 311,622).
  16. New York The official table notes: No American Independent entry; the Others column shows 358,864 for New York, footnote 9 'Courage Party'. Liberal column 311,622.
  17. North Dakota The official table notes: Others 34: footnote 10, 'Constitution Party.'
  18. Ohio The official table notes: Others 23: footnote 11, 'Communist Party.'
  19. Vermont The official table notes: Others 579: footnote 3, 'New Party.'
  20. Washington The official table notes: Others 377: footnote 12, 'Free Ballot Party.'

SourceStatistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 5, 1968 (Public domain: a work of the United States government (17 U.S.C. 105), retrieved 2026-10-03). How these figures were compiled