Election in Wyoming
The
1948 United States presidential election in Wyoming
took place on November 2, 1948, as part of the
1948 United States presidential election
. State voters chose three representatives, or electors, to the
Electoral College
, who voted for
president
and
vice president
.
Wyoming
was won by incumbent
Democratic President
Harry S. Truman
, running with
Senate Majority Leader
Alben W. Barkley
, with 51.62 percent of the popular vote, against the
Republican nominee
,
47th Governor of New York
Thomas E. Dewey
, running with
California Governor
and future
Chief Justice of the United States
Earl Warren
, with 47.27 percent of the popular vote, despite the fact that Dewey had previously won the state
four years earlier
.
[1]
Truman's upset victory in Wyoming was part of a major upset victory nationwide, as prior to the election, polls had forecasted a Dewey victory. Dewey ran a low risk campaign, largely avoiding criticizing Truman, which was due to many believing his hawkish campaign 4 years earlier had cost him the election to Truman's Democratic predecessor,
Franklin D. Roosevelt
. Truman suffered from low approval ratings and dealt with many southern Democratic voters defecting to the
Dixiecrat
candidate
Strom Thurmond
, costing him the traditionally Democratic strongholds of
South Carolina
,
Alabama
,
Mississippi
, and
Louisiana
, however Truman's unexpected strength in the
Midwest
and
West Coast
secured his reelection, as he flipped the states of
Ohio
,
Iowa
,
Wisconsin
,
Colorado
, and
Wyoming
, all of which had voted for Dewey in
1944
. Dewey revived Republican strength in the traditionally Republican
Northeast
, flipping
Delaware
,
Maryland
,
Pennsylvania
,
New Jersey
,
Connecticut
,
New Hampshire
, and his home state of
New York
. He also managed to flip
Michigan
and
Oregon
.
Truman was popular among rural voters, and with agriculture being one of the biggest parts of Wyoming's economy, Truman's support for
New Deal era
programs that attempted to provide relieft to farmers, which along with
The Civilian Conservation Corps program
greatly impacted Wyoming, allowing new
National Parks
to be built in the state, was popular among Wyoming voters, and he successfully painted Dewey as more conservative than he was, ignoring the fact that he was significantly more liberal and supportive of New Deal programs like
Social Security
than many of the conservative Congressional Republicans such as
Senator Robert Taft from Ohio
. Truman blamed the Republican-controlled Congress for his inability to pass legislation, which voters believed, and on election day, voters delivered Truman a landslide victory, and returned control of both chambers of Congress to the Democrats. This change was reflected in Wyoming, as the state's
Class II Senate seat would flip into Democratic hands
with
Lester Hunt's
landslide victory, who outperformed the top of the ticket by 9.9%. Truman flipped
Platte
and
Natrona counties
, outperforming Roosevelt's 1944 statewide result by 6.8%.
With a nationwide vote total of 49.6% and a vote total of 51.6% in Wyoming, as of
The 2020 Presidential Election
, this is the last time in which Wyoming voted more Democratic than the national average; the state is now heavily Republican, and even in this election the state technically voted 0.15% to the right of the nation. In fact, Wyoming would only support a Democratic presidential nominee one more time, during
Lyndon B. Johnson
's
1964 landslide
. This would also be the last time that Wyoming was decided by a single-digit margin until
1992
, and the state has voted by double-digit margins for the Republican nominee from
1996
onwards.
Dewey won the state in 1944 by a 2.46% margin, or 2,502 votes. However, in this election, Truman won the state, by 4.35%, or 4,407 votes. This was the last time a Democratic presidential candidate won the state until
Lyndon B. Johnson
in
1964
, as throughout the 50s, the state transformed into a Republican stronghold. Since 1964, no Democratic presidential candidate has carried the state, and as a matter of fact, since 1964, no Democrat has even been able to reach 40% of the vote.
[2]
Campaign
[
edit
]
On May 3, 1948, the
Wyoming Democratic Party
voted to bound its twelve delegates to the
Democratic National Convention
to support Truman for president and
Joseph C. O'Mahoney
for vice-president.
[3]
Archie Allison,
Alice Spielman
, and W.J. Smith were selected to serve as Republican presidential electors.
[4]
Results
[
edit
]
Results by county
[
edit
]
County
|
Harry S. Truman
[5]
Democratic
|
Thomas Edmund Dewey
[5]
Republican
|
Henry Agard Wallace
[6]
Progressive
|
Norman Mattoon Thomas
[7]
Socialist
|
Edward A. Teichert
[7]
Socialist Labor
|
Margin
|
Total votes cast
|
#
|
%
|
#
|
%
|
#
|
%
|
#
|
%
|
#
|
%
|
#
|
%
|
Albany
|
3,141
|
51.96%
|
2,858
|
47.28%
|
30
|
0.50%
|
12
|
0.20%
|
4
|
0.07%
|
283
|
4.68%
|
6,045
|
Big Horn
|
2,370
|
49.14%
|
2,429
|
50.36%
|
20
|
0.41%
|
2
|
0.04%
|
2
|
0.04%
|
-59
|
-1.22%
|
4,823
|
Campbell
|
856
|
41.33%
|
1,201
|
57.99%
|
13
|
0.63%
|
1
|
0.05%
|
0
|
0.00%
|
-345
|
-16.66%
|
2,071
|
Carbon
|
3,439
|
59.16%
|
2,319
|
39.89%
|
55
|
0.95%
|
0
|
0.00%
|
0
|
0.00%
|
1,120
|
19.27%
|
5,813
|
Converse
|
996
|
42.60%
|
1,327
|
56.76%
|
11
|
0.47%
|
2
|
0.09%
|
2
|
0.09%
|
-331
|
-14.16%
|
2,338
|
Crook
|
712
|
37.63%
|
1,166
|
61.63%
|
9
|
0.48%
|
3
|
0.16%
|
2
|
0.11%
|
-454
|
-24.00%
|
1,892
|
Fremont
|
3,019
|
47.17%
|
3,357
|
52.45%
|
24
|
0.38%
|
0
|
0.00%
|
0
|
0.00%
|
-338
|
-5.28%
|
6,400
|
Goshen
|
1,843
|
47.15%
|
2,029
|
51.91%
|
34
|
0.87%
|
3
|
0.08%
|
0
|
0.00%
|
-186
|
-4.76%
|
3,909
|
Hot Springs
|
928
|
52.61%
|
791
|
44.84%
|
42
|
2.38%
|
2
|
0.11%
|
1
|
0.06%
|
137
|
7.77%
|
1,764
|
Johnson
|
682
|
33.35%
|
1,351
|
66.06%
|
7
|
0.34%
|
5
|
0.24%
|
0
|
0.00%
|
-669
|
-32.71%
|
2,045
|
Laramie
|
8,226
|
56.64%
|
6,200
|
42.69%
|
64
|
0.44%
|
26
|
0.18%
|
8
|
0.06%
|
2,026
|
13.95%
|
14,524
|
Lincoln
|
1,925
|
51.50%
|
1,730
|
46.28%
|
83
|
2.22%
|
0
|
0.00%
|
0
|
0.00%
|
195
|
5.22%
|
3,738
|
Natrona
|
6,183
|
53.26%
|
5,341
|
46.01%
|
62
|
0.53%
|
20
|
0.17%
|
2
|
0.02%
|
842
|
7.25%
|
11,608
|
Niobrara
|
753
|
43.15%
|
975
|
55.87%
|
12
|
0.69%
|
3
|
0.17%
|
2
|
0.11%
|
-222
|
-12.72%
|
1,745
|
Park
|
2,461
|
47.83%
|
2,655
|
51.60%
|
20
|
0.39%
|
6
|
0.12%
|
3
|
0.06%
|
-194
|
-3.77%
|
5,145
|
Platte
|
1,465
|
51.35%
|
1,366
|
47.88%
|
7
|
0.25%
|
13
|
0.46%
|
2
|
0.07%
|
99
|
3.47%
|
2,853
|
Sheridan
|
3,852
|
50.68%
|
3,698
|
48.65%
|
38
|
0.50%
|
12
|
0.16%
|
1
|
0.01%
|
154
|
2.03%
|
7,601
|
Sublette
|
496
|
44.05%
|
622
|
55.24%
|
6
|
0.53%
|
1
|
0.09%
|
1
|
0.09%
|
-126
|
-11.19%
|
1,126
|
Sweetwater
|
5,146
|
63.65%
|
2,538
|
31.39%
|
363
|
4.49%
|
18
|
0.22%
|
20
|
0.25%
|
2,608
|
32.26%
|
8,085
|
Teton
|
556
|
43.13%
|
719
|
55.78%
|
9
|
0.70%
|
2
|
0.16%
|
3
|
0.23%
|
-163
|
-12.65%
|
1,289
|
Uinta
|
1,632
|
56.31%
|
1,239
|
42.75%
|
19
|
0.66%
|
7
|
0.24%
|
1
|
0.03%
|
393
|
13.56%
|
2,898
|
Washakie
|
851
|
44.21%
|
1,074
|
55.79%
|
0
|
0.00%
|
0
|
0.00%
|
0
|
0.00%
|
-223
|
-11.58%
|
1,925
|
Weston
|
822
|
45.97%
|
962
|
53.80%
|
3
|
0.17%
|
1
|
0.06%
|
0
|
0.00%
|
-140
|
-7.83%
|
1,788
|
Totals
|
52,354
|
51.62%
|
47,947
|
47.27%
|
931
|
0.92%
|
137
|
0.14%
|
56
|
0.06%
|
4,407
|
4.35%
|
101,425
|
County flips from 1944:
Democratic
Hold
Gain from Republican
Republican
Hold
|
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic
[
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]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]