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1964 United States presidential election in Mississippi

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Main article: 1964 United States presidential election

The 1964 United States presidential election in Mississippi was held on November 3, 1964, as part of the 1964 United States presidential election, which was held on that day throughout all fifty states and the District of Columbia. Voters chose seven electors, or representatives to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

1964 United States presidential election in Mississippi
← 1960 November 3, 1964 1968 →
 
Nominee Barry Goldwater Lyndon B. Johnson
Party Republican Democratic
Home state Arizona Texas
Running mate William Miller Hubert Humphrey
Electoral vote 7 0
Popular vote 356,528 52,618
Percentage 87.14% 12.86%
Goldwater
  60-70%
  70-80%
  80-90%
  90-100%

Less than 10% of Mississippi's black population were registered voters.[1] Governor Paul B. Johnson Jr. told Mississippians to disobey the Civil Rights Act of 1964.[2][3] Ultimately, Goldwater won Mississippi with a 74.28 point margin of victory over Johnson, making Mississippi 97% more Republican than the nation and Goldwater the first Republican to win the state since Reconstruction, even outperforming Johnson's 71% margin of victory in the District of Columbia. While Goldwater would suffer a landslide defeat to Johnson in both the national popular vote and Electoral College, his performance in Mississippi was the largest presidential vote share of any Republican presidential nominee ever in any state.[4] Goldwater's victory, alongside Johnson's victory in Rhode Island marked the last time a Presidential nominee won over 80% of the vote in a state.

Over ninety percent of Mississippi's electorate viewed President Johnson as having done a bad job and 96.4 percent opposed the Civil Rights Act, compared to only 54 percent in the antebellum slave states and Oklahoma.[5] 87 percent of Mississippi voters, vis-à-vis 48 percent in the South as a whole, believed that President Johnson was failing at countering domestic Communism.[5] This reflected the widespread belief among Mississippi whites that civil rights activists were funded by communists.[6][7] Mississippi was one of five states that swung more Republican in 1964, alongside Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, and South Carolina.

Campaign

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Neither Governor Johnson nor any other major state or federal politician offered President Johnson any support in his statewide campaign, which was left to inexperienced Greenville lawyer Douglas Wynn.[8] Governor Johnson and four of the state's five Congressmen were silent about supporting Goldwater, though Congressman John Bell Williams supported him openly.[8]

In July, polling suggested Goldwater would receive ninety percent of Mississippi's vote,[9] but this fell to seventy in August[10] and to between sixty and sixty-five in October due to fears that he would abolish the Rural Electrification Administration.[9] By the weekend before election day, University of California political scientist Peter H. Odegard believed that Goldwater would win only Alabama[a] and Mississippi.[11]

Goldwater defeated Johnson by a margin comparable to what had been predicted in the earliest polls, and much greater than predicted immediately before the election. Over-representation of urban areas in polling was blamed for this discrepancy.[12] As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time that Claiborne, Holmes and Jefferson counties voted for a Republican presidential candidate.[13] Goldwater received 90% of the white vote in the state.[14]

Results

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1964 United States presidential election in Mississippi[15]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Mississippi Republican Barry Goldwater 356,528 87.14% 7
National Democratic Lyndon B. Johnson (incumbent) 52,618 12.86% 0
Totals 409,146 100.00% 7
Voter turnout (Voting age) 33.9%

Results by county

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County Barry Goldwater
Republican 		Lyndon B. Johnson
Democratic 		Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # %
Adams 5,900 84.37% 1,093 15.63% 4,807 68.74% 6,993
Alcorn 3,377 63.79% 1,917 36.21% 1,460 27.58% 5,294
Amite 2,742 96.38% 103 3.62% 2,639 92.76% 2,845
Attala 4,409 94.37% 263 5.63% 4,146 88.74% 4,672
Benton 934 79.83% 236 20.17% 698 59.66% 1,170
Bolivar 4,680 86.49% 731 13.51% 3,949 72.98% 5,411
Calhoun 3,224 91.64% 294 8.36% 2,930 83.28% 3,518
Carroll 2,043 95.42% 98 4.58% 1,945 90.84% 2,141
Chickasaw 3,138 91.83% 279 8.17% 2,859 83.66% 3,417
Choctaw 2,096 93.32% 150 6.68% 1,946 86.64% 2,246
Claiborne 1,226 93.59% 84 6.41% 1,142 87.18% 1,310
Clarke 3,591 93.42% 253 6.58% 3,338 86.84% 3,844
Clay 2,848 92.65% 226 7.35% 2,622 85.30% 3,074
Coahoma 4,172 81.23% 964 18.77% 3,208 62.46% 5,136
Copiah 4,506 94.96% 239 5.04% 4,267 89.92% 4,745
Covington 3,033 88.55% 392 11.45% 2,641 77.10% 3,425
DeSoto 2,928 86.40% 461 13.60% 2,467 72.80% 3,389
Forrest 9,291 89.17% 1,128 10.83% 8,163 78.34% 10,419
Franklin 2,211 96.05% 91 3.95% 2,120 92.10% 2,302
George 2,797 92.04% 242 7.96% 2,555 84.08% 3,039
Greene 1,845 89.52% 216 10.48% 1,629 79.04% 2,061
Grenada 3,648 95.92% 155 4.08% 3,493 91.84% 3,803
Hancock 2,550 62.95% 1,501 37.05% 1,049 25.90% 4,051
Harrison 16,301 75.14% 5,393 24.86% 10,908 50.28% 21,694
Hinds 36,831 87.93% 5,058 12.07% 31,773 75.86% 41,889
Holmes 3,115 96.59% 110 3.41% 3,005 93.18% 3,225
Humphreys 1,863 95.69% 84 4.31% 1,779 91.38% 1,947
Issaquena 456 93.06% 34 6.94% 422 86.12% 490
Itawamba 2,140 65.50% 1,127 34.50% 1,013 31.00% 3,267
Jackson 11,357 82.73% 2,371 17.27% 8,986 65.46% 13,728
Jasper 2,994 92.69% 236 7.31% 2,758 85.38% 3,230
Jefferson 1,258 94.80% 69 5.20% 1,189 89.60% 1,327
Jefferson Davis 2,351 90.91% 235 9.09% 2,116 81.82% 2,586
Jones 12,123 85.95% 1,981 14.05% 10,142 71.90% 14,104
Kemper 2,185 91.96% 191 8.04% 1,994 83.92% 2,376
Lafayette 3,202 81.64% 720 18.36% 2,482 63.28% 3,922
Lamar 3,372 90.99% 334 9.01% 3,038 81.98% 3,706
Lauderdale 13,291 89.36% 1,583 10.64% 11,708 78.72% 14,874
Lawrence 2,373 90.95% 236 9.05% 2,137 81.90% 2,609
Leake 4,343 96.23% 170 3.77% 4,173 92.46% 4,513
Lee 5,165 68.19% 2,409 31.81% 2,756 36.38% 7,574
Leflore 5,589 93.63% 380 6.37% 5,209 87.26% 5,969
Lincoln 6,750 93.92% 437 6.08% 6,313 87.84% 7,187
Lowndes 6,135 92.01% 533 7.99% 5,602 84.02% 6,668
Madison 3,283 92.90% 251 7.10% 3,032 85.80% 3,534
Marion 5,469 91.55% 505 8.45% 4,964 83.10% 5,974
Marshall 2,251 86.78% 343 13.22% 1,908 73.56% 2,594
Monroe 5,627 85.10% 985 14.90% 4,642 70.20% 6,612
Montgomery 3,181 95.53% 149 4.47% 3,032 91.06% 3,330
Neshoba 5,431 94.88% 293 5.12% 5,138 89.76% 5,724
Newton 4,735 95.21% 238 4.79% 4,497 90.42% 4,973
Noxubee 1,980 96.59% 70 3.41% 1,910 93.18% 2,050
Oktibbeha 3,795 90.68% 390 9.32% 3,405 81.36% 4,185
Panola 4,002 90.65% 413 9.35% 3,589 81.30% 4,415
Pearl River 4,009 84.51% 735 15.49% 3,274 69.02% 4,744
Perry 1,775 86.42% 279 13.58% 1,496 72.84% 2,054
Pike 6,418 92.20% 543 7.80% 5,875 84.40% 6,961
Pontotoc 2,699 79.36% 702 20.64% 1,997 58.72% 3,401
Prentiss 2,289 69.32% 1,013 30.68% 1,276 38.64% 3,302
Quitman 2,065 86.01% 336 13.99% 1,729 72.02% 2,401
Rankin 7,541 95.78% 332 4.22% 7,209 91.56% 7,873
Scott 4,729 95.21% 238 4.79% 4,491 90.42% 4,967
Sharkey 1,116 89.71% 128 10.29% 988 79.42% 1,244
Simpson 4,949 94.81% 271 5.19% 4,678 89.62% 5,220
Smith 4,045 94.44% 238 5.56% 3,807 88.88% 4,283
Stone 1,776 90.84% 179 9.16% 1,597 81.68% 1,955
Sunflower 4,127 94.27% 251 5.73% 3,876 88.54% 4,378
Tallahatchie 3,126 92.46% 255 7.54% 2,871 84.92% 3,381
Tate 2,390 89.41% 283 10.59% 2,107 78.82% 2,673
Tippah 2,482 71.82% 974 28.18% 1,508 43.64% 3,456
Tishomingo 1,934 66.44% 977 33.56% 957 32.88% 2,911
Tunica 945 90.52% 99 9.48% 846 81.04% 1,044
Union 2,939 70.38% 1,237 29.62% 1,702 40.76% 4,176
Walthall 3,014 95.14% 154 4.86% 2,860 90.28% 3,168
Warren 7,409 81.96% 1,631 18.04% 5,778 63.92% 9,040
Washington 5,611 73.68% 2,004 26.32% 3,607 47.36% 7,615
Wayne 3,539 92.77% 276 7.23% 3,263 85.54% 3,815
Webster 2,884 92.41% 237 7.59% 2,647 84.82% 3,121
Wilkinson 1,473 93.46% 103 6.54% 1,370 86.92% 1,576
Winston 3,922 94.30% 237 5.70% 3,685 88.60% 4,159
Yalobusha 2,385 90.20% 259 9.80% 2,126 80.40% 2,644
Yazoo 4,801 95.92% 204 4.08% 4,597 91.84% 5,005
Totals 356,528 87.14% 52,618 12.86% 303,910 74.28% 409,146

Counties that flipped from Unpledged to Republican

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Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

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References

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  1. ^ Bullock, Charles S. and Gaddie, Ronald Keith; The Triumph of Voting Rights in the South, pp. 31-33 ISBN 0806185309
  2. ^ Crespino, Joseph; In Search of Another Country: Mississippi and the Conservative Counterrevolution, p. 206 ISBN 0691122091
  3. ^ Mitchell, Dennis J.; A New History of Mississippi; p. 453 ISBN 1617039764
  4. ^ Thomas, G. Scott; The Pursuit of the White House: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics and History, p. 403 ISBN 0313257957
  5. ^ a b Harris, Louis; 'Mississippi Vote Points Up Power Of Local Emotions: Johnson Job Ratings'; The New York Times, November 23, 1964, p. A2
  6. ^ Asch, Chris Myers; The Senator and the Sharecropper: The Freedom Struggles of James O. Eastland and Fannie Lou Hamer, p. 190 ISBN 0807878057
  7. ^ McGuire, Danielle L. and Dittmer, John; Freedom Rights: New Perspectives on the Civil Rights Movement, p. 125 ISBN 081313448X
  8. ^ a b 'Mississippi Ousts House Democrat: Goldwater Carries the State by Crushing Plurality'; The New York Times, November 4, 1964, p. 11
  9. ^ a b McKee, Don; 'Governors See Barry Slipping In South as Conference Opens: Johnson Gains in Louisiana', The Washington Post, October 13, 1964, p. A@
  10. ^ Manly, Chesly; 'Goldwater Landslide Seen in Mississippi: Many in Office Believe He'll Poll Seventy Percent'; Chicago Tribune, August 12, 1964, pp. 1, 6
  11. ^ 'Expert Sees Barry Winning Just Ala., Miss.', The Boston Globe, November 1, 1964, p. 51
  12. ^ Burnham, Walter Dean; 'American Voting Behavior and the 1964 Election', Midwest Journal of Political Science, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Feb., 1968), p. 34
  13. ^ Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
  14. ^ Black & Black 1992, p. 155.
  15. ^ "1964 Presidential General Election Results – Mississippi". Retrieved June 9, 2016.

Notes

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  1. ^ In Alabama, Goldwater was opposed by a slate of unpledged Democratic electors who would not have voted for President Johnson had they carried the state.

Works cited

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