4 0 23,332 22,132 37.13% 35.22% Start date November 5, 1912 | 0 0 22,132 15,354 35.22% 24.43% | |
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The 1912 United States Presidential Election in Vermont took place on November 5, 1912 as part of the 1912 United States Presidential Election which was held throughout all contemporary 48 states. Voters chose 4 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.
Vermont was won by the Republican nominees, incumbent President William Howard Taft, and his running mate Vice President James S. Sherman. Taft and Sherman defeated the Progressive Party candidates, former President Theodore Roosevelt and his running mate California Governor Hiram Johnson, and the Democratic nominees, New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson and Indiana Governor Thomas R. Marshall.
Taft won the state with a plurality of 37.13%, to Roosevelt's 35.22%, with Wilson in third place at 24.43%. Taft's victory margin over Roosevelt was 1.91%.
Vermont historically was a bastion of liberal Northeastern Republicanism, and by 1912 the Green Mountain State had gone Republican in every presidential election since the founding of the Republican Party. From 1856 to 1908, Vermont had had the longest streak of voting Republican of any state, having never voted Democratic before, and this tradition continued in 1912.
Vermont was one of only two states (along with Utah) to vote for incumbent Republican President William Howard Taft, who was pushed into 3rd place nationally by the strong third party candidacy of Theodore Roosevelt, a former Republican president who ran in 1912 with his own Bull Moose Party. Taft and Roosevelt split the Republican vote nationally in 1912, with Roosevelt coming in 2nd place behind Wilson nationwide and carrying 6 states. However Vermont Republicans proved to be mostly loyal to President Taft as the official Republican nominee, allowing Taft to narrowly edge out Roosevelt to carry the state, leaving Wilson a distant third. Were Taft and Roosevelt voters united behind a single Republican candidate, they would have combined to over 72% of the vote in Vermont.
Vermont was the second most Republican state in nation in 1912, only beaten by Utah, Taft's sole other state win. However Taft's margin over Wilson was much greater in Vermont than in Utah or any other state.
Taft carried 7 counties in Vermont to Roosevelt's 6, while Wilson won only sparsely populated Grand Isle County in the far northwest of the state, with a plurality of less than 40% of the vote.