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The only major third party candidate in the 1972 election was conservative Republican Representative John G. Schmitz, who ran on the American Independent Party ticket (the party on whose ballot George Wallace ran in 1968). He was on the ballot in 32 states and received 1,099,482 votes.
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United States presidential election of 1972, American presidential election held on November 7, 1972, in which Republican Pres. Richard Nixon was elected to a second term, defeating Democrat George McGovern in one of the largest landslides in U.S. history.
In January 1971 McGovern announced his candidacy for the 1972 presidential election. Initially, most political observers assumed that the party’s nominee would be Sen. Edmund Muskie of Maine. But McGovern’s team hoped to mount a serious challenge in New Hampshire, which on March 7, 1972, would hold the first primary. A victory there, they hoped, would provide the momentum necessary to capture the nomination.
Early on, Muskie lined up leading Democratic politicians to endorse him, including Gov. John Gilligan of Ohio; Leonard Woodcock, president of the United Auto Workers; Iowa Sen. Harold Hughes; and Pennsylvania Gov. Milton Shapp. Muskie ran an exhausting campaign that stretched his energies and resources thin. Through January and February 1972, he shuttled between New Hampshire, Florida, Wisconsin and all the other necessary stops. On February 26, in New Hampshire, the pressure began to tell. Mounting the bed of a truck parked outside the offices of the conservative Manchester Union Leader, the state’s largest newspaper, Muskie launched an attack on the paper’s publisher, William Loeb. As he spoke of Loeb’s unflattering remarks about Mrs. Muskie, the senator’s voice cracked, and the crowd saw tears form in his eyes. The spectacle badly dented the image Muskie had tried all year to present—that of a calm, trustworthy, serene candidate. When New Hampshire voted on March 7, Muskie won the hollowest of victories, 46 percent of the vote, far below the predicted 65 percent. McGovern, reaping the benefit of his early start and vigorous organization, was close behind with 37 percent.
In Florida the Democratic battle turned over the issue of busing. In January 1972 a U.S. District Court judge merged school districts in Richmond, Va., and ordered that students be bused to achieve racial balance. Gov. George Wallace of Alabama, an opponent of federally ordered integration, entered the Florida primary and focused squarely on the issue. Florida Gov. Reubin Askew campaigned statewide against having an antibusing referendum placed on the presidential primary ballot by the Florida legislature. Lacking the votes in the legislature to keep the antibusing question off the ballot, Askew managed to have another question added: “Do you favor providing an equal opportunity for quality education for all children regardless of race, creed, color or place of residence, and oppose a return to a dual system of public schools?”
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Askew’s campaign focused the rage of many of his constituents on him, and the Democratic presidential candidates, of which there were 11, found themselves discussing busing much more often than they might otherwise have wished. Mayor John Lindsay of New York City, Rep. Shirley Chisholm of New York, former senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota, and Senator McGovern, all liberal candidates, spoke in favour of busing when asked. Sen. Vance Hartke of Indiana, Rep. Wilbur D. Mills of Arkansas, and Mayor Sam Yorty of Los Angeles, although on the ballot, were not campaigning actively. Senator Muskie and Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota bobbed and weaved on the issue. Only Wallace and Sen. Henry M. Jackson of Washington spoke out squarely against busing.
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May 31, 2018 · Since 1920, in fact, only four third-party candidates—Robert La Follette in 1924, Strom Thurmond in 1948, George Wallace in 1968 and John Hospers in 1972—have been able to win...
Red denotes states won by Nixon, blue denotes states won by McGovern. Numbers indicate the electoral votes won by each candidate. The 1972 United States elections were held on November 7, and elected the members of the 93rd United States Congress.
Jul 20, 2023 · He ultimately received 1.2 million votes in the November 7th, 1972 election, which saw Nixon take 49 states over Democratic challenger George McGovern. It was a fraction of Wallace’s 1968 support, but still a significant number – the seventh-best performance ever for a third party candidate at the time.
Title / Office: United States Senate (1962-1980), United States. Political Affiliation: Democratic Party. George McGovern (born July 19, 1922, Avon, South Dakota, U.S.—died October 21, 2012, Sioux Falls, South Dakota) was an American politician who was an unsuccessful reformist Democratic candidate for the U.S. presidency in 1972.
Perot drew more votes than any other third-party candidate since Theodore Roosevelt's campaign in 1912. Presidential Election, 1988 George H. W. Bush (Republican) defeated Michael Dukakis (Democrat), winning 53 percent of the popular vote.
