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1928 United States presidential election in Michigan

← 1924 November 6, 1928 1932 →

All 15 Michigan votes to the Electoral College
 
Nominee Herbert Hoover Al Smith
Party Republican Democratic
Home state California New York
Running mate Charles Curtis Joseph T. Robinson
Electoral vote 15 0
Popular vote 965,396 396,762
Percentage 70.36% 28.92%

County Results
Hoover
  40-50%
  50-60%
  60-70%
  70-80%
  80-90%


President before election

Calvin Coolidge
Republican

Elected President

Herbert Hoover
Republican

The 1928 United States presidential election in Michigan took place on November 6, 1928, as part of the 1928 United States presidential election. Voters chose 15[1] representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Ever since the Panic of 1893 and the Populist movement, Michigan had been rigidly one-party polity dominated by the Republican Party.[2] In the 1894 elections, the Democratic Party lost all but one seat in the Michigan legislature,[3] and over the four ensuing decades the party would never make major gains there.[2]

The dominance of the culture of the Lower Peninsula by anti-slavery Yankees[4] would be augmented by the turn of formerly Democratic-leaning German Catholics away from that party as a result of the remodelled party's agrarian and free silver sympathies, which became rigidly opposed by both the upper class and workers who followed them,[5] while the Populist movement eliminated Democratic ties with the business and commerce of Michigan and other Northern states.[6] By the 1920s, the only significant financial backer of the state Democratic Party was billionaire William Comstock.[7]

Unlike the other states of the Upper Midwest, the Yankee influence on the culture of the Lower Peninsula was so strong that left-wing third parties did not provide significant opposition to the Republicans, nor was there more than a moderate degree of coordinated factionalism within the hegemonic Michigan Republican Party.[8]

In 1918 a major reaction against incumbent President Woodrow Wilson throughout the Midwest, due to supposed preferential treatment of Southern farmers.[9] Republicans would hold every seat in the State Senate for over a decade after the fall election,[10] as they had between 1895 and 1897 and between 1905 and 1911, and every seat in both houses of the state legislature between 1921 and 1923 and again from 1925 to 1927.

Despite the one-party dominance of the state's legislature, Woodbridge Nathan Ferris would be elected to the Senate in 1922 as the first Democrat to represent Michigan since 1858 after Newberry v. United States ruled that party primaries were not subject to the Federal Corrupt Practices Act,[a] so that enough Republicans who had opposed Truman Newberry in the fraudulent 1918 primary backed Ferris for him to win by two percentage points.[11] In 1924, unlike every other Upper Midwestern state, Progressive candidate Robert M. La Follette performed only moderately in heavily Yankee[12] and Polish Lower Michigan.[13] Even in the more Scandinavian and anti-clerical Upper Peninsula,[14] where La Follette support in Michigan was centred, the Wisconsin Senator failed to match his performance in the other Upper Midwest states. Consequently, the inevitable nomination with all other Democrats sitting the election out[15] of La Follette endorsee New York City Catholic Al Smith[16] did not make for a significant reaction in Michigan.

Results

1928 United States presidential election in Michigan
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Herbert Hoover 965,396 70.36%
Democratic Al Smith 396,762 28.92%
Socialist Norman Thomas 3,516 0.26%
Workers William Z. Foster 2,881 0.21%
Prohibition William F. Varney 2,728 0.20%
Socialist Labor Verne L. Reynolds 799 0.06%
Total votes 1,372,082 100%

Results by county

1928 United States presidential election in Michigan by county[17]
County Herbert Hoover
Republican
Alfred E. Smith
Democratic
Norman Thomas
Socialist
William Z. Foster
Workers
William F. Varney
Prohibition
Verne L. Reynolds
Socialist Labor
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # % # % # % # %
Alcona 1,149 78.81% 302 20.71% 2 0.14% 4 0.27% 1 0.07% 0 0.00% 847 58.09% 1,458
Alger 1,716 59.05% 1,053 36.24% 24 0.83% 105 3.61% 4 0.14% 4 0.14% 663 22.81% 2,906
Allegan 10,792 81.65% 2,358 17.84% 19 0.14% 4 0.03% 40 0.30% 4 0.03% 8,434 63.81% 13,217
Alpena 3,467 63.43% 1,984 36.30% 7 0.13% 1 0.02% 6 0.11% 1 0.02% 1,483 27.13% 5,466
Antrim 2,756 84.46% 484 14.83% 10 0.31% 2 0.06% 11 0.34% 0 0.00% 2,272 69.63% 3,263
Arenac 1,612 67.87% 749 31.54% 8 0.34% 2 0.08% 3 0.13% 1 0.04% 863 36.34% 2,375
Baraga 2,203 65.27% 1,046 30.99% 3 0.09% 119 3.53% 4 0.12% 0 0.00% 1,157 34.28% 3,375
Barry 6,044 79.94% 1,459 19.30% 14 0.19% 2 0.03% 42 0.56% 0 0.00% 4,585 60.64% 7,561
Bay 12,467 56.88% 9,395 42.87% 19 0.09% 5 0.02% 26 0.12% 5 0.02% 3,072 14.02% 21,917
Benzie 1,849 84.28% 321 14.63% 16 0.73% 3 0.14% 5 0.23% 0 0.00% 1,528 69.64% 2,194
Berrien 19,064 68.60% 8,555 30.78% 68 0.24% 20 0.07% 77 0.28% 7 0.03% 10,509 37.81% 27,791
Branch 6,818 74.51% 2,266 24.77% 19 0.21% 1 0.01% 44 0.48% 2 0.02% 4,552 49.75% 9,150
Calhoun 24,379 80.40% 5,769 19.03% 69 0.23% 14 0.05% 72 0.24% 18 0.06% 18,610 61.38% 30,321
Cass 5,720 70.24% 2,346 28.81% 34 0.42% 4 0.05% 33 0.41% 6 0.07% 3,374 41.43% 8,143
Charlevoix 3,489 79.97% 842 19.30% 25 0.57% 1 0.02% 5 0.11% 1 0.02% 2,647 60.67% 4,363
Cheboygan 2,743 60.34% 1,784 39.24% 5 0.11% 2 0.04% 11 0.24% 1 0.02% 959 21.10% 4,546
Chippewa 5,326 68.68% 2,355 30.37% 8 0.10% 54 0.70% 9 0.12% 3 0.04% 2,971 38.31% 7,755
Clare 1,920 82.62% 381 16.39% 9 0.39% 3 0.13% 7 0.30% 4 0.17% 1,539 66.22% 2,324
Clinton 6,161 75.04% 2,013 24.52% 8 0.10% 26 0.32% 2 0.02% 0 0.00% 4,148 50.52% 8,210
Crawford 776 76.30% 237 23.30% 2 0.20% 2 0.20% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 539 53.00% 1,017
Delta 5,420 49.59% 5,419 49.58% 44 0.40% 16 0.15% 22 0.20% 9 0.08% 1 0.01% 10,930
Dickinson 5,840 55.57% 4,626 44.02% 26 0.25% 6 0.06% 6 0.06% 5 0.05% 1,214 11.55% 10,509
Eaton 8,493 78.38% 2,285 21.09% 20 0.18% 1 0.01% 36 0.33% 1 0.01% 6,208 57.29% 10,836
Emmet 3,679 75.36% 1,166 23.88% 21 0.43% 1 0.02% 12 0.25% 3 0.06% 2,513 51.47% 4,882
Genesee 42,743 79.37% 10,910 20.26% 83 0.15% 22 0.04% 71 0.13% 24 0.04% 31,833 59.11% 53,853
Gladwin 1,795 83.76% 341 15.91% 3 0.14% 4 0.19% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 1,454 67.85% 2,143
Gogebic 6,061 64.74% 3,134 33.48% 24 0.26% 118 1.26% 18 0.19% 7 0.07% 2,927 31.26% 9,362
Grand Traverse 4,429 74.56% 1,489 25.07% 5 0.08% 1 0.02% 16 0.27% 0 0.00% 2,940 49.49% 5,940
Gratiot 8,823 82.14% 1,854 17.26% 18 0.17% 46 0.43% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 6,969 64.88% 10,741
Hillsdale 8,282 80.99% 1,893 18.51% 5 0.05% 2 0.02% 43 0.42% 1 0.01% 6,389 62.48% 10,226
Houghton 11,240 62.30% 6,573 36.43% 20 0.11% 171 0.95% 25 0.14% 13 0.07% 4,667 25.87% 18,042
Huron 7,046 64.79% 3,797 34.91% 4 0.04% 1 0.01% 26 0.24% 1 0.01% 3,249 29.88% 10,875
Ingham 29,383 78.90% 7,654 20.55% 85 0.23% 16 0.04% 93 0.25% 12 0.03% 21,729 58.34% 37,243
Ionia 9,471 74.91% 3,089 24.43% 22 0.17% 2 0.02% 57 0.45% 2 0.02% 6,382 50.48% 12,643
Iosco 1,873 76.79% 552 22.63% 4 0.16% 3 0.12% 7 0.29% 0 0.00% 1,321 54.16% 2,439
Iron 4,103 63.96% 2,262 35.26% 4 0.06% 32 0.50% 8 0.12% 6 0.09% 1,841 28.70% 6,415
Isabella 4,926 73.13% 1,762 26.16% 13 0.19% 1 0.01% 34 0.50% 0 0.00% 3,164 46.97% 6,736
Jackson 25,080 76.71% 7,462 22.82% 38 0.12% 10 0.03% 95 0.29% 8 0.02% 17,618 53.89% 32,693
Kalamazoo 23,626 79.20% 5,946 19.93% 158 0.53% 6 0.02% 81 0.27% 13 0.04% 17,680 59.27% 29,830
Kalkaska 988 84.59% 160 13.70% 13 1.11% 5 0.43% 2 0.17% 0 0.00% 828 70.89% 1,168
Kent 56,573 75.12% 18,229 24.21% 154 0.20% 119 0.16% 211 0.28% 24 0.03% 38,344 50.91% 75,310
Keweenaw 1,305 76.58% 360 21.13% 28 1.64% 11 0.65% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 945 55.46% 1,704
Lake 1,147 73.06% 409 26.05% 9 0.57% 1 0.06% 4 0.25% 0 0.00% 738 47.01% 1,570
Lapeer 6,514 82.80% 1,312 16.68% 9 0.11% 2 0.03% 29 0.37% 1 0.01% 5,202 66.12% 7,867
Leelanau 1,521 62.41% 903 37.05% 3 0.12% 10 0.41% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 618 25.36% 2,437
Lenawee 14,794 76.94% 4,321 22.47% 16 0.08% 2 0.01% 88 0.46% 6 0.03% 10,473 54.47% 19,227
Livingston 5,642 72.88% 2,075 26.81% 4 0.05% 20 0.26% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 3,567 46.08% 7,741
Luce 1,466 80.24% 350 19.16% 1 0.05% 6 0.33% 4 0.22% 0 0.00% 1,116 61.08% 1,827
Mackinac 1,879 57.94% 1,355 41.78% 2 0.06% 1 0.03% 5 0.15% 1 0.03% 524 16.16% 3,243
Macomb 12,845 63.28% 7,363 36.27% 28 0.14% 18 0.09% 39 0.19% 6 0.03% 5,482 27.01% 20,299
Manistee 4,129 60.73% 2,624 38.59% 8 0.12% 23 0.34% 13 0.19% 2 0.03% 1,505 22.14% 6,799
Marquette 10,879 68.81% 4,716 29.83% 36 0.23% 143 0.90% 27 0.17% 10 0.06% 6,163 38.98% 15,811
Mason 4,318 72.74% 1,567 26.40% 23 0.39% 7 0.12% 10 0.17% 11 0.19% 2,751 46.34% 5,936
Mecosta 4,422 80.94% 1,004 18.38% 15 0.27% 3 0.05% 17 0.31% 2 0.04% 3,418 62.57% 5,463
Menominee 4,255 50.02% 4,198 49.35% 32 0.38% 8 0.09% 11 0.13% 3 0.04% 57 0.67% 8,507
Midland 4,555 82.25% 964 17.41% 4 0.07% 12 0.22% 3 0.05% 0 0.00% 3,591 64.84% 5,538
Missaukee 1,756 87.19% 247 12.26% 3 0.15% 8 0.40% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 1,509 74.93% 2,014
Monroe 10,202 58.27% 7,242 41.37% 15 0.09% 9 0.05% 37 0.21% 2 0.01% 2,960 16.91% 17,507
Montcalm 7,691 82.54% 1,572 16.87% 14 0.15% 40 0.43% 1 0.01% 0 0.00% 6,119 65.67% 9,318
Montmorency 787 73.97% 270 25.38% 5 0.47% 2 0.19% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 517 48.59% 1,064
Muskegon 16,997 76.28% 5,158 23.15% 55 0.25% 29 0.13% 37 0.17% 5 0.02% 11,839 53.13% 22,281
Newaygo 4,552 83.29% 888 16.25% 2 0.04% 2 0.04% 19 0.35% 2 0.04% 3,664 67.04% 5,465
Oakland 45,343 81.53% 10,011 18.00% 140 0.25% 58 0.10% 43 0.08% 23 0.04% 35,332 63.53% 55,618
Oceana 3,555 79.55% 871 19.49% 18 0.40% 1 0.02% 21 0.47% 3 0.07% 2,684 60.06% 4,469
Ogemaw 1,630 73.39% 579 26.07% 4 0.18% 2 0.09% 6 0.27% 0 0.00% 1,051 47.32% 2,221
Ontonagon 2,394 59.66% 1,353 33.72% 10 0.25% 240 5.98% 6 0.15% 10 0.25% 1,041 25.94% 4,013
Osceola 3,923 86.66% 582 12.86% 3 0.07% 17 0.38% 2 0.04% 0 0.00% 3,341 73.80% 4,527
Oscoda 476 86.39% 73 13.25% 2 0.36% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 403 73.14% 551
Otsego 1,049 68.52% 476 31.09% 3 0.20% 3 0.20% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 573 37.43% 1,531
Ottawa 15,417 85.48% 2,524 14.00% 28 0.16% 6 0.03% 56 0.31% 4 0.02% 12,893 71.49% 18,035
Presque Isle 1,992 65.50% 1,029 33.84% 6 0.20% 3 0.10% 8 0.26% 3 0.10% 963 31.67% 3,041
Roscommon 780 76.25% 236 23.07% 4 0.39% 3 0.29% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 544 53.18% 1,023
Saginaw 22,467 65.61% 11,555 33.75% 61 0.18% 21 0.06% 120 0.35% 18 0.05% 10,912 31.87% 34,242
Sanilac 7,888 81.59% 1,736 17.96% 10 0.10% 14 0.14% 16 0.17% 4 0.04% 6,152 63.63% 9,668
Schoolcraft 1,826 66.81% 877 32.09% 20 0.73% 1 0.04% 8 0.29% 1 0.04% 949 34.72% 2,733
Shiawassee 9,851 79.40% 2,496 20.12% 13 0.10% 3 0.02% 41 0.33% 3 0.02% 7,355 59.28% 12,407
St. Clair 18,177 71.57% 7,151 28.15% 15 0.06% 5 0.02% 41 0.16% 10 0.04% 11,026 43.41% 25,399
St. Joseph 8,781 76.05% 2,698 23.37% 26 0.23% 3 0.03% 34 0.29% 4 0.03% 6,083 52.68% 11,546
Tuscola 8,188 84.39% 1,464 15.09% 10 0.10% 41 0.42% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 6,724 69.30% 9,703
Van Buren 9,325 77.39% 2,643 21.93% 34 0.28% 3 0.02% 40 0.33% 5 0.04% 6,682 55.45% 12,050
Washtenaw 19,676 78.41% 5,308 21.15% 51 0.20% 9 0.04% 47 0.19% 2 0.01% 14,368 57.26% 25,093
Wayne 265,852 62.30% 157,047 36.80% 1,629 0.38% 1,369 0.32% 369 0.09% 452 0.11% 108,805 25.50% 426,718
Wexford 4,825 84.53% 853 14.94% 12 0.21% 18 0.32% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 3,972 69.59% 5,708
Totals 965,396 70.36% 396,762 28.92% 3,516 0.26% 2,881 0.21% 2,728 0.20% 799 0.06% 568,634 41.44% 1,372,082

Analysis

Neither Smith nor Republican nominees Herbert Hoover of California and running mate Charles Curtis campaigned in Michigan. A small poll at the end of September showed Hoover leading in Michigan by 286 votes to 160,[18] whilst a larger poll in October showed Hoover leading by three to one.[19] As it turned out, the October poll was accurate: Hoover received slightly over seventy percent of the popular vote compared to Smith and running mate Joseph T. Robinson's 28.92 percent.[20][21]

With 70.36 percent of the popular vote, Michigan would prove to be Hoover's second strongest victory in the nation after Kansas.[22] Hoover nonetheless fell five percent short of Calvin Coolidge's record performance from 1924 due to losses of up to twenty percent in the pro-La Follette western Upper Peninsula, and in heavily Catholic Wayne and Huron Counties. Nevertheless, scholars have demonstrated that there was no realignment of the one-party system in Michigan until the following 1932 election.[23] The Democratic Party did however win a seat in the state Senate for the first time since 1916.[10]

As of the 2024 presidential election, this remains the last time a Republican presidential candidate carried Wayne County, home of Michigan's most populous city, Detroit,[24][25] and also the last time any presidential candidate won every single county in the state (which only previously occurred in 1904, 1908, and 1924).

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The ruling in Newberry v. United States was a plurality decision only, and would be overturned in 1941 by United States v. Classic.

References

  1. ^ "1928 Election for the Thirty-Sixth Term (1929-1933)". Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  2. ^ a b Burnham, Walter Dean (December 23, 1981). "The System of 1896: An Analysis". The Evolution of American Electoral Systems. Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 178–179. ISBN 0313213798.
  3. ^ "Swamped! The Democrats Drowned Out by a Tremendous Republican Tidal Wave". The L'Anse Sentinel. L'Anse. November 10, 1894. p. 1.
  4. ^ English, Gustavus P.; Proceedings of the Ninth Republican National Convention (1888), p. 234
  5. ^ Sundquist, James (December 2010). Politics and Policy: The Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson Years. Brookings Institution Press. p. 526. ISBN 978-0815719090.
  6. ^ Rogowski, Ronald (2020). Commerce and Coalitions: How Trade Affects Domestic Political Alignments. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691219431.
  7. ^ "Davis Forces See Upset in Michigan: Democrats Claim Nominee Will Lead La Follette Despite Result Indicated in Poll". The San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, California. October 18, 1924. p. 2.
  8. ^ Hansen, John Mark; Shigeo, Hirano; Snyder Jr., James M. (February 27, 2017). "Parties within Parties: Parties, Factions, and Coordinated Politics, 1900-1980". In Gerber, Alan S.; Schickler, Eric (eds.). Governing in a Polarized Age: Elections, Parties, and Political Representation in America. Cambridge University Press. pp. 165–168. ISBN 978-1-107-09509-0.
  9. ^ Morello, John A. (April 30, 2001). Albert D. Lasker, Advertising, and the Election of Warren G. Harding. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 64. ISBN 0275970302.
  10. ^ a b Kang, Michael S. (May 29, 2019). "Hyperpartisan Gerrymandering". Boston College Law Review. 69: 1395.
  11. ^ Dunbar, Willis Frederick; May, George S. (1970). Michigan, a History of the Wolverine State. Eerdman. pp. 549–551. ISBN 0802870430.
  12. ^ Phillips, Kevin P. (1970). The Emerging Republican Majority. Princeton University Press. p. 405. ISBN 978-0-691-16324-6.
  13. ^ See Lichtman, Allan J. (1979). Prejudice and the Old Politics: the Presidential Election of 1928. University of North Carolina Press. pp. 98–99. ISBN 0807813583.
  14. ^ Stark, Rodney and Christiano, Kevin J.; 'Support for the American Left, 1920-1924: The Opiate Thesis Reconsidered'; Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 31, No. 1 (March, 1992), pp. 62-75
  15. ^ Warren, Kenneth F.; Encyclopedia of U.S. campaigns, elections, and electoral behavior: A-M, Volume 1, p. 620 ISBN 1412954894
  16. ^ Glad, Paul W. (2013). The History of Wisconsin – Volume V: War, a New Era, and Depression, 1914-1940. Wisconsin Historical Society. p. 321. ISBN 978-0870206320.
  17. ^ "MI US President, November 06, 1928". Our Campaigns.
  18. ^ "Straw Vote Gives Hoover Big Lead in National Race: Assured of Election as President According to Literary Digest Computation". The La Crosse Tribune. La Crosse, Wisconsin. September 20, 1928. p. 7.
  19. ^ "Smith Moving Up In Literary-Digest Poll: Straw Vote of 2,000,000 Includes 40 States". The Commercial Appeal. Memphis, Tennessee. October 12, 1928. p. 9.
  20. ^ "1928 Presidential General Election Results — Michigan". Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  21. ^ "The American Presidency Project — Election of 1928". Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  22. ^ "1928 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  23. ^ Burnham; The System of 1896, p. 183
  24. ^ Menendez, Albert J. (2005). The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004. McFarland. pp. 225–227. ISBN 0786422173.
  25. ^ Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016