1924 United States presidential election in Idaho
The 1924 United States presidential election in Idaho took place on November 4, 1924, as part of the 1924 United States presidential election. State voters chose four representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
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Background
At state level, Idaho had begun in 1902 to be very much a one-party Republican state,[1] which it has largely remained since apart from the New Deal era of the 1930s and 1940s. For a time there was also a perception that the William Jennings Bryan-led Democratic Party had failed as a “party of reform”.[2]
However, with the aid of a powerful “peace vote” due to opposition to participation in World War I,[3] and a considerable part of the substantial vote for Eugene Debs[4] Woodrow Wilson almost completely swept the Western and Plains States in 1916 (Idaho included), losing only South Dakota and Oregon. These gains were to be lost due to growing anti-Asian and isolationist feelings in the West[5] – James M. Cox in 1920 lost every Idaho county by double digits.
During the pre-election primaries the Democratic Party was divided between a rural, southern and Western wing led by Woodrow Wilson’s son-in-law William Giibs McAdoo, opposed to an urban, immigrant and anti-Prohibition faction in major northern cities.[6] The man who would ultimately represent this urban faction was New York Governor Al Smith, whose Catholic faith was vehemently opposed by many rural Appalachian Democrats.[6] Even in his adopted West, McAdoo was not universally liked because of his links to Edward L. Doheny and Harding’s “Teapot Dome” petroleum scandal;[7] nonetheless there was sufficient hostility in Idaho to Smith that the state’s delegation – alongside others in the West – held a parade for McAdoo at the beginning of the party’s convention in New York City.[8]
Results
| Presidential Candidate | Running Mate | Party | Electoral Vote (EV) | Popular Vote (PV)[9] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calvin Coolidge | Charles G. Dawes | Republican | 4 | 69,879 | 47.12% |
| Robert M. LaFollette | Burton K. Wheeler | Progressive | 0 | 54,160 | 36.52% |
| John W. Davis | Charles W. Bryan | Democratic | 0 | 24,256 | 16.36% |
Results by county
| County | John Calvin Coolidge Republican |
John William Davis Democratic |
Robert Marion La Follette, Sr. Progressive |
Margin[lower-alpha 1] | Total votes cast[10] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Ada | 7,220 | 54.47% | 2,255 | 17.01% | 3,780 | 28.52% | 3,440 | 25.95% | 13,255 |
| Adams | 422 | 42.24% | 208 | 20.82% | 369 | 36.94% | 53 | 5.31% | 999 |
| Bannock | 4,520 | 44.99% | 1,612 | 16.05% | 3,914 | 38.96% | 606 | 6.03% | 10,046 |
| Bear Lake | 1,611 | 54.19% | 881 | 29.63% | 481 | 16.18% | 730[lower-alpha 2] | 24.55% | 2,973 |
| Benewah | 1,158 | 46.98% | 318 | 12.90% | 989 | 40.12% | 169 | 6.86% | 2,465 |
| Bingham | 2,693 | 53.45% | 696 | 13.82% | 1,649 | 32.73% | 1,044 | 20.72% | 5,038 |
| Blaine | 732 | 41.59% | 543 | 30.85% | 485 | 27.56% | 189[lower-alpha 2] | 10.74% | 1,760 |
| Boise | 388 | 43.02% | 198 | 21.95% | 316 | 35.03% | 72 | 7.98% | 902 |
| Bonner | 1,714 | 40.19% | 543 | 12.73% | 2,008 | 47.08% | -294 | -6.89% | 4,265 |
| Bonneville | 2,880 | 53.62% | 431 | 8.02% | 2,060 | 38.35% | 820 | 15.27% | 5,371 |
| Boundary | 829 | 46.97% | 244 | 13.82% | 692 | 39.21% | 137 | 7.76% | 1,765 |
| Butte | 409 | 46.01% | 196 | 22.05% | 284 | 31.95% | 125 | 14.06% | 889 |
| Camas | 226 | 35.26% | 113 | 17.63% | 302 | 47.11% | -76 | -11.86% | 641 |
| Canyon | 3,820 | 38.40% | 965 | 9.70% | 5,163 | 51.90% | -1,343 | -13.50% | 9,948 |
| Caribou | 508 | 58.80% | 148 | 17.13% | 208 | 24.07% | 300 | 34.72% | 864 |
| Cassia | 2,031 | 52.01% | 538 | 13.78% | 1,336 | 34.21% | 695 | 17.80% | 3,905 |
| Clark | 496 | 69.47% | 43 | 6.02% | 175 | 24.51% | 321 | 44.96% | 714 |
| Clearwater | 946 | 47.47% | 322 | 16.16% | 725 | 36.38% | 221 | 11.09% | 1,993 |
| Custer | 585 | 45.99% | 394 | 30.97% | 293 | 23.03% | 191[lower-alpha 2] | 15.02% | 1,272 |
| Elmore | 789 | 38.01% | 381 | 18.35% | 906 | 43.64% | -117 | -5.64% | 2,076 |
| Franklin | 1,361 | 51.87% | 540 | 20.58% | 723 | 27.55% | 638 | 24.31% | 2,624 |
| Fremont | 1,662 | 45.30% | 530 | 14.45% | 1,477 | 40.26% | 185 | 5.04% | 3,669 |
| Gem | 1,072 | 41.31% | 380 | 14.64% | 1,143 | 44.05% | -71 | -2.74% | 2,595 |
| Gooding | 1,097 | 45.42% | 422 | 17.47% | 896 | 37.10% | 201 | 8.32% | 2,415 |
| Idaho | 1,363 | 38.17% | 779 | 21.81% | 1,429 | 40.02% | -66 | -1.85% | 3,571 |
| Jefferson | 1,393 | 50.07% | 305 | 10.96% | 1,084 | 38.96% | 309 | 11.11% | 2,782 |
| Jerome | 1,117 | 46.76% | 376 | 15.74% | 896 | 37.51% | 221 | 9.25% | 2,389 |
| Kootenai | 3,289 | 44.84% | 790 | 10.77% | 3,256 | 44.39% | 33 | 0.45% | 7,335 |
| Latah | 3,053 | 52.28% | 838 | 14.35% | 1,949 | 33.37% | 1,104 | 18.90% | 5,840 |
| Lemhi | 1,005 | 54.38% | 442 | 23.92% | 401 | 21.70% | 563[lower-alpha 2] | 30.47% | 1,848 |
| Lewis | 650 | 32.44% | 601 | 29.99% | 753 | 37.57% | -103 | -5.14% | 2,004 |
| Lincoln | 692 | 54.36% | 154 | 12.10% | 427 | 33.54% | 265 | 20.82% | 1,273 |
| Madison | 1,417 | 53.82% | 601 | 22.83% | 615 | 23.36% | 802 | 30.46% | 2,633 |
| Minidoka | 1,046 | 39.92% | 204 | 7.79% | 1,370 | 52.29% | -324 | -12.37% | 2,620 |
| Nez Perce | 2,250 | 42.42% | 1,212 | 22.85% | 1,842 | 34.73% | 408 | 7.69% | 5,304 |
| Oneida | 956 | 42.81% | 530 | 23.73% | 747 | 33.45% | 209 | 9.36% | 2,233 |
| Owyhee | 564 | 36.53% | 309 | 20.01% | 671 | 43.46% | -107 | -6.93% | 1,544 |
| Payette | 1,160 | 47.39% | 401 | 16.38% | 887 | 36.23% | 273 | 11.15% | 2,448 |
| Power | 757 | 43.13% | 314 | 17.89% | 684 | 38.97% | 73 | 4.16% | 1,755 |
| Shoshone | 3,034 | 51.02% | 835 | 14.04% | 2,078 | 34.94% | 956 | 16.08% | 5,947 |
| Teton | 665 | 55.70% | 186 | 15.58% | 343 | 28.73% | 322 | 26.97% | 1,194 |
| Twin Falls | 4,630 | 51.04% | 1,641 | 18.09% | 2,800 | 30.87% | 1,830 | 20.17% | 9,071 |
| Valley | 486 | 40.57% | 214 | 17.86% | 498 | 41.57% | -12 | -1.00% | 1,198 |
| Washington | 1,183 | 41.33% | 623 | 21.77% | 1,056 | 36.90% | 127 | 4.44% | 2,862 |
| Totals | 69,879 | 47.12% | 24,256 | 16.36% | 54,160 | 36.52% | 15,719 | 10.60% | 148,295 |
Notes
- Because La Follette finished ahead of Davis in Idaho as a whole, all margins given are Coolidge vote minus La Follette vote and all percentage margins Coolidge percentage minus La Follette percentage unless otherwise stated for the county in question.
- In this county where Davis did run second ahead of La Follette, margin given is Coolidge vote minus Davis vote and percentage margin Coolidge percentage minus Davis percentage.
References
- Burnham, Walter Dean; ‘The System of 1896’, in Kleppner, Paul (editor), The Evolution of American Electoral Systems, pp. 176-179 ISBN 0313213798
- Robinson, Edgar Eugene; ‘The Decline of the Democratic Party’; American Journal of Sociology, vol. 20, no. 3 (November 1914), pp. 313-334
- Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, p. 47 ISBN 0786422173
- Sarasohn, David; 'The Election of 1916: Realigning the Rockies', Western Historical Quarterly, Vol. 11, No. 3 (July 1980), pp. 285-305
- Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 498 ISBN 9780691163246
- Tucker, Garland; High Tide of American Conservatism: Davis, Coolidge, and the 1924 Election, pp. 81-82 ISBN 9781937110291
- Ranson, Edward; ‘“A Snarling Roughhouse”: The Democratic Convention of 1924’; History Today; volume 44, issue 7, (July 1994), pp. 27-33
- ‘Westerners Hold Parade for McAdoo: Californians and Other Groups Demonstrate on Fifth Avenue – Audience Is Cool’; New York Times, June 24, 1924, p. 2
- "1924 Presidential General Election Results – Idaho". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
- Idaho Secretary of State Election Division; State of Idaho Presidential Vote Cast at the General Election November 4, 1924
