1972 United States presidential election

1972 United States presidential election
538 members of the Electoral College; 270 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout	55.2% 5.7 pp
	Presidential election results map. Red denotes states won by Nixon/Agnew. Blue denotes states won by McGovern/Shriver. Gold denotes won by Hospers by a Virginia faithless elector. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.
President before election; Richard Nixon; Republican	Elected President ; Richard Nixon; Republican

The 1972 United States presidential election happened on November 7, 1972. President Richard Nixon was reelected to a second term. He defeated the Democratic candidate, Senator George McGovern of South Dakota. Nixon won the election by a landslide (winning 49 of 50 states) and got 520 electoral votes. McGovern got 17 electoral votes. John Hospers got one electoral vote by a Virginia faithless elector.

This was the highest of any Republican nominee as a vote, as well as a highest electoral vote in a United States election until Ronald Reagan was re-elected in 1984 by a huge landslide.

George Wallace, governor of Alabama was shot by a would-be assassin during the election.

George McGovern's running mate changed from Thomas Eagleton to Sargent Shriver because of revelations about Eagleton's previous psychiatric problems.^[2]

This election occurred during the Watergate scandal, which ultimately caused Nixon to resign in 1974.

Election results by county.
Richard Nixon

George McGovern

↑ "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
↑ Adam Clymer (March 5, 2007). "Thomas F. Eagleton, 77, a Running Mate for 18 Days, Dies". New York Times. Retrieved December 10, 2012.

[1] "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved October 21, 2012.

[2] Adam Clymer (March 5, 2007). "Thomas F. Eagleton, 77, a Running Mate for 18 Days, Dies". New York Times. Retrieved December 10, 2012.

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