United States · Election results history · 1972 president · Minnesota

Election 1972 Results

Each election opens in its own mode: the forecast before the votes are counted, the live count while races are still too close to call, and the results once every race is decided.

1972 presidential election in Minnesota

Richard Nixon (Republican) beat George McGovern (Democrat) in Minnesota in 1972, 51.6% to 46.1%, a margin of 5.5 points and 95,923 votes.

Minnesota voted 17.6 points more Democratic than the country as a whole, where the margin was R+23.1.

Minnesota changed party: in 1968 it went Democratic, for Hubert Humphrey.

Republicans led in 67 of the 87 counties as they stood then and Democrats in 20. The largest, Hennepin, cast 443,358 votes and went to the Republican by 5.2 points. The closest was Stevens, where 40 votes separated the two parties.

United States

Results

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If only voted How this works

If the polls miss like

Or set the national mood Turnout

Early projection, based on early and incomplete polling: the likely matchups, each weighted by the betting markets' odds of both nominations, not a result. Each county is its 2024 presidential margin moved by its state's projected swing; set a national vote and every state, district and county moves by the same amount from our projection. Colours run in 100 steps from a safe Republican to a safe Democratic margin. Boundaries: US Census Bureau.

Result

Candidate	Party	Votes	Share
Richard Nixon won	Republican	898,269	51.6%
George McGovern	Democratic	802,346	46.1%
All other candidates		41,037	2.4%
Total		1,741,652

Every county

County	Democrat	Republican	Others	Total	Margin
Hennepin	205,943 46.5%	228,951 51.6%	8,464	443,358	R+5.2
Ramsey	108,392 51.6%	95,716 45.6%	5,843	209,951	D+6.0
St. Louis	61,103 58.7%	41,435 39.8%	1,642	104,180	D+18.9
Dakota	28,479 44.0%	34,967 54.0%	1,350	64,796	R+10.0
Anoka	28,031 47.2%	29,546 49.8%	1,783	59,360	R+2.6
Stearns	19,315 46.7%	18,951 45.8%	3,134	41,400	D+0.9
Washington	16,102 44.6%	19,142 53.0%	854	36,098	R+8.4
Olmsted	9,817 28.4%	23,806 69.0%	898	34,521	R+40.5
Blue Earth	10,638 45.0%	12,702 53.7%	322	23,662	R+8.7
Otter Tail	7,881 36.3%	13,519 62.2%	331	21,731	R+25.9
Mower	10,286 50.1%	9,929 48.4%	315	20,530	D+1.7
Clay	9,076 44.5%	11,089 54.4%	235	20,400	R+9.9
Wright	8,695 44.9%	9,996 51.6%	695	19,386	R+6.7
Winona	8,080 41.8%	10,910 56.4%	337	19,327	R+14.6
Goodhue	6,147 34.9%	11,107 63.0%	377	17,631	R+28.1
Rice	8,065 46.2%	9,195 52.6%	215	17,475	R+6.5
Freeborn	7,163 41.8%	9,747 56.9%	220	17,130	R+15.1
Itasca	8,683 52.4%	7,558 45.6%	342	16,583	D+6.8
Crow Wing	7,328 44.3%	8,774 53.0%	449	16,551	R+8.7
Polk	7,366 46.4%	8,139 51.2%	380	15,885	R+4.9
Kandiyohi	7,241 50.0%	6,624 45.7%	616	14,481	D+4.3
Scott	6,745 46.9%	7,310 50.8%	321	14,376	R+3.9
Carver	4,852 34.9%	8,546 61.5%	507	13,905	R+26.6
McLeod	4,538 35.6%	7,820 61.4%	375	12,733	R+25.8
Carlton	7,116 55.9%	5,445 42.8%	169	12,730	D+13.1
Brown	4,347 34.2%	7,791 61.2%	591	12,729	R+27.1
Douglas	5,501 43.6%	6,678 53.0%	427	12,606	R+9.3
Morrison	5,993 48.6%	5,714 46.3%	622	12,329	D+2.3
Steele	4,010 33.8%	7,678 64.7%	180	11,868	R+30.9
Martin	3,816 32.6%	7,569 64.6%	333	11,718	R+32.0
Lyon	5,614 48.3%	5,820 50.0%	196	11,630	R+1.8
Beltrami	5,194 45.6%	5,947 52.2%	252	11,393	R+6.6
Nicollet	4,680 42.3%	6,230 56.3%	159	11,069	R+14.0
Becker	4,695 43.1%	6,033 55.4%	156	10,884	R+12.3
Nobles	5,464 51.9%	4,951 47.0%	110	10,525	D+4.9
Fillmore	3,155 30.2%	7,107 67.9%	198	10,460	R+37.8
Le Sueur	4,725 46.0%	5,388 52.5%	149	10,262	R+6.5
Faribault	3,519 34.7%	6,503 64.1%	131	10,153	R+29.4
Todd	4,270 42.1%	5,387 53.1%	480	10,137	R+11.0
Renville	4,499 44.8%	5,329 53.1%	216	10,044	R+8.3
Benton	4,282 45.4%	4,652 49.4%	492	9,426	R+3.9
Redwood	3,177 34.3%	5,776 62.4%	299	9,252	R+28.1
Chisago	4,174 45.2%	4,718 51.1%	349	9,241	R+5.9
Meeker	3,601 40.3%	5,097 57.1%	235	8,933	R+16.7
Sherburne	4,070 47.0%	4,332 50.0%	256	8,658	R+3.0
Cass	3,347 39.4%	4,906 57.7%	250	8,503	R+18.3
Wabasha	3,017 35.9%	5,158 61.3%	238	8,413	R+25.4
Pine	3,794 47.3%	3,881 48.4%	342	8,017	R+1.1
Waseca	2,767 34.9%	5,064 63.9%	95	7,926	R+29.0
Houston	2,467 31.7%	5,186 66.6%	137	7,790	R+34.9
Mille Lacs	3,221 41.9%	4,291 55.8%	174	7,686	R+13.9
Isanti	3,660 47.9%	3,715 48.7%	259	7,634	R+0.7
Chippewa	3,630 48.1%	3,787 50.2%	130	7,547	R+2.1
Yellow Medicine	3,462 47.3%	3,683 50.3%	174	7,319	R+3.0
Cottonwood	2,802 38.4%	4,396 60.2%	105	7,303	R+21.8
Koochiching	3,396 47.0%	3,681 50.9%	153	7,230	R+3.9
Sibley	2,433 34.4%	4,543 64.2%	104	7,080	R+29.8
Jackson	3,304 47.3%	3,599 51.5%	86	6,989	R+4.2
Swift	3,823 57.8%	2,673 40.4%	121	6,617	D+17.4
Pennington	2,892 43.8%	3,548 53.8%	160	6,600	R+9.9
Pipestone	2,758 43.3%	3,543 55.6%	75	6,376	R+12.3
Lake	3,640 57.5%	2,575 40.7%	112	6,327	D+16.8
Watonwan	2,229 35.7%	3,960 63.3%	62	6,251	R+27.7
Marshall	2,790 45.1%	3,264 52.7%	136	6,190	R+7.7
Aitkin	2,687 44.5%	3,241 53.7%	104	6,032	R+9.2
Wadena	2,430 40.7%	3,408 57.0%	136	5,974	R+16.4
Dodge	1,921 32.4%	3,863 65.1%	152	5,936	R+32.7
Murray	2,893 48.8%	2,959 49.9%	75	5,927	R+1.1
Stevens	2,870 49.4%	2,830 48.7%	111	5,811	D+0.7
Lac Qui Parle	2,845 49.7%	2,773 48.4%	108	5,726	D+1.3
Pope	2,910 51.2%	2,610 45.9%	161	5,681	D+5.3
Rock	2,089 37.2%	3,470 61.8%	53	5,612	R+24.6
Hubbard	2,136 38.5%	3,294 59.3%	124	5,554	R+20.8
Roseau	2,396 44.8%	2,844 53.2%	104	5,344	R+8.4
Norman	2,444 48.7%	2,536 50.5%	41	5,021	R+1.8
Kanabec	1,969 42.5%	2,395 51.7%	268	4,632	R+9.2
Lincoln	2,148 52.5%	1,881 45.9%	66	4,095	D+6.5
Wilkin	1,739 42.5%	2,292 56.0%	62	4,093	R+13.5
Grant	2,085 51.4%	1,899 46.8%	70	4,054	D+4.6
Big Stone	2,185 54.4%	1,748 43.5%	84	4,017	D+10.9
Clearwater	1,751 47.5%	1,819 49.4%	113	3,683	R+1.8
Kittson	1,584 45.5%	1,832 52.7%	63	3,479	R+7.1
Traverse	1,744 57.1%	1,276 41.8%	35	3,055	D+15.3
Mahnomen	1,397 51.9%	1,246 46.3%	48	2,691	D+5.6
Red Lake	1,409 55.5%	1,052 41.4%	80	2,541	D+14.0
Cook	742 40.8%	1,047 57.6%	28	1,817	R+16.8
Lake Of The Woods	672 42.5%	877 55.4%	33	1,582	R+13.0

Counties as they stood in 1972; some have since been split, merged or renamed. Margin: the Democrat's share of all votes minus the Republican's. Sources and how the results were checked.

Minnesota in every presidential election we hold

Year	Winner	Margin
2024	Kamala Harris (D)	D+4.2
2020	Joe Biden (D)	D+7.1
2016	Hillary Clinton (D)	D+1.5
2012	Barack Obama (D)	D+7.7
2008	Barack Obama (D)	D+10.2
2004	John Kerry (D)	D+3.5
2000	Al Gore (D)	D+2.4
1996	Bill Clinton (D)	D+16.1
1992	Bill Clinton (D)	D+11.6
1988	Michael Dukakis (D)	D+7.0
1984	Walter Mondale (D)	D+0.2
1980	Jimmy Carter (D)	D+3.9
1976	Jimmy Carter (D)	D+12.9
1972	Richard Nixon (R)	R+5.5
1968	Hubert Humphrey (D)	D+12.5
1964	Lyndon B. Johnson (D)	D+27.8
1960	John F. Kennedy (D)	D+1.4
1956	Dwight D. Eisenhower (R)	R+7.6
1952	Dwight D. Eisenhower (R)	R+11.2
1948	Harry S. Truman (D)	D+17.3
1944	Franklin D. Roosevelt (D)	D+5.5
1940	Franklin D. Roosevelt (D)	D+3.8
1936	Franklin D. Roosevelt (D)	D+30.8
1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt (D)	D+23.6
1928	Herbert Hoover (R)	R+16.9
1924	Calvin Coolidge (R)	R+44.4
1920	Warren G. Harding (R)	R+51.2
1916	Charles Evans Hughes (R)	R+0.1
1912	Theodore Roosevelt (other)
1908	William Howard Taft (R)	R+26.2
1904	Theodore Roosevelt (R)	R+55.1
1900	William McKinley (R)	R+24.5
1896	William McKinley (R)	R+15.4
1892	Benjamin Harrison (R)	R+8.2
1888	Benjamin Harrison (R)	R+14.5
1884	James G. Blaine (R)	R+21.9
1880	James A. Garfield (R)	R+26.9
1876	Rutherford B. Hayes (R)	R+19.4
1872	Ulysses S. Grant (R)	R+22.7
1868	Ulysses S. Grant (R)	R+21.8

1972 presidential election in Minnesota

Result

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Minnesota in every presidential election we hold

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