Ohio was won by incumbent President Richard Nixon (R) for the third time by a margin of 21.56%. Nixon won every county in the state except Lucas and Athens counties, which McGovern won by only 0.95% and 1.22% respectively,[1] and gained a majority in all eighty-six winning counties except Cuyahoga, Mahoning and Summit counties. Nixon's biggest win was in Union County where he obtained 75.89 percent of the vote. Nonetheless, this result made Ohio almost 2% more Democratic than the nation at large. Athens County was one of six counties nationwide that McGovern flipped outside of his home state of South Dakota.
This was the last occasion until 2012 that Belmont, Jefferson and Monroe counties voted for a Republican presidential candidate, the last until 2016 that Trumbull County would vote for a Republican presidential candidate, the last until 2020 that Mahoning County would do so, and remains the last to date where Cuyahoga County has supported a Republican presidential candidate.[2] Nixon became the first ever Republican to win the White House without carrying Athens County.