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1948 United States presidential election in New York

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Main article: 1948 United States presidential election
1948 United States presidential election in New York
← 1944 November 2, 1948 1952 →
Turnout65.0%[1] Decrease 5.9 pp
 
Nominee Thomas E. Dewey Harry S. Truman Henry A. Wallace
Party Republican Democratic American Labor
Alliance Liberal
Home state New York Missouri Iowa
Running mate Earl Warren Alben W. Barkley Glen H. Taylor
Electoral vote 47 0 0
Popular vote 2,841,163 2,780,204 509,559
Percentage 45.99% 45.01% 8.25%
County Results
President before election

Harry S. Truman
Democratic

Elected President

Harry S. Truman
Democratic

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The 1948 United States presidential election in New York took place on November 2, 1948. All contemporary 48 states were part of the 1948 United States presidential election. Voters chose 47 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.

New York was won by local Republican Governor Thomas E. Dewey, who was running against incumbent Democratic President Harry S. Truman. Dewey ran with California Governor Earl Warren for vice president, and Truman ran with Kentucky Senator Alben W. Barkley. Dewey took 45.99% of the vote to Truman's 45.01%, a margin of 0.98%. Progressive Party candidate Henry A. Wallace, a former Democratic Vice President who ran to the left of Truman and was nominated by the local American Labor Party, finished a strong third, with 8.25%.

New York weighed in for this election as 1% more third-party than the national average, and less Democratic and Republican than the national average, despite New York being Governor Dewey's home state. The presidential election of 1948 was a very multi-partisan election for New York, with more than nine percent of the people who voted doing so for third parties.[2] In typical form for the time, the highly populated urban centers of New York City, Buffalo, and Albany, voted primarily Democratic, while most of the smaller counties in New York turned out for Dewey as the Republican candidate.

Henry Wallace's relatively strong third party support as a Progressive candidate was concentrated in the New York City area; in the three Democratic boroughs of New York City (Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx), Wallace took percentages in the double digits. Wallace's vote splitting among left-leaning voters in New York City contributed to Dewey narrowly defeating Truman in the state, after New York had voted Democratic for Franklin D. Roosevelt—himself a former governor and favorite son—in the preceding four elections. Although Truman lost the state, he did pick up Oneida County, which Roosevelt had lost in all his four elections and which had last been won for the Democrats by Woodrow Wilson in the three-way 1912 election, and before that by Grover Cleveland in 1884.

Dewey won the election in New York by a narrow margin of less than one percentage point, despite it being his home state, and more importantly despite not facing a local opponent like he had four years earlier when he was defeated by the then-incumbent President (and former New York Governor) Franklin D. Roosevelt.

For the first presidential election since 1916, New York did not back the winning candidate. This was also the first election wherein the losing major-party candidate carried their home state since Charles Evans Hughes carried New York in 1916, and the only instance between that election and 1960. Alongside Strom Thurmond’s win in South Carolina, the first time since Robert M. La Follette carried Wisconsin in 1924 that any losing candidate did so.

Truman is the last Democrat to win a presidential election without winning New York, and Dewey's victory made him the third and final Republican presidential candidate to win New York without winning the election, the first being John C. Frémont in 1856 and the second Hughes in 1916. Dewey's victory was the first of three consecutive Republican victories in the state, as New York would not vote Democratic again until John F. Kennedy won the state in 1960.

Results

[edit]
1948 United States presidential election in New York
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican Thomas E. Dewey 2,841,163 45.99% 47
Democratic Harry S. Truman 2,557,642 41.40% 0
Liberal Harry S. Truman 222,562 3.60% 0
Total Harry S. Truman (incumbent) 2,780,204 45.01% 0
American Labor (Progressive)[a] Henry A. Wallace 509,559 8.25% 0
Socialist Norman Thomas 40,879 0.66% 0
Socialist Labor Edward Teichert 2,729 0.04% 0
Socialist Workers Farrell Dobbs 2,675 0.04% 0
Write-ins 128 <0.01% 0
Totals 6,177,337 100.0% 47

New York City results

[edit]
1948 Presidential Election in New York City Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total
Democratic-
Liberal 		Harry S. Truman 380,310 337,129 579,922 268,742 30,442 1,596,545 50.57%
51.52% 54.17% 53.51% 42.02% 41.62%
Republican Thomas E. Dewey 241,752 173,044 330,494 323,459 39,539 1,108,288 35.10%
32.75% 27.80% 30.49% 50.58% 54.06%
American Labor Henry A. Wallace 106,509 106,762 163,896 42,409 2,779 422,355 13.38%
14.43% 17.15% 15.12% 6.63% 3.80%
Socialist Norman Thomas 8,685 4,649 7,734 4,580 349 25,997 0.82%
1.18% 0.75% 0.71% 0.72% 0.48%
Socialist Workers Farrell Dobbs 493 387 1,122 108 9 2,119 0.06%
0.07% 0.06% 0.10% 0.02% 0.01%
Socialist Labor Edward A. Teichert 488 384 535 245 16 1,668 0.05%
0.07% 0.06% 0.05% 0.04% 0.02%
TOTAL 738,237 622,355 1,083,801 639,543 73,134 3,157,070 100.00%

Results by county

[edit]
County Thomas Edmund Dewey[3]
Republican 		Harry S. Truman[3]
Democratic/Liberal 		Henry Agard Wallace[4]
American Labor[a] 		Various candidates
Other parties 		Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # % # %
Albany 59,965 42.61% 75,419 53.59% 4,903 3.48% 443 0.31% -15,454 -10.98% 140,730
Allegany 12,689 71.94% 4,711 26.71% 168 0.95% 71 0.40% 7,978 45.23% 17,639
Bronx 173,044 27.80% 337,129 54.17% 106,762 17.15% 5,420 0.87% -164,085 -26.37% 622,355
Broome 43,110 60.73% 25,654 36.14% 1,992 2.81% 230 0.32% 17,456 24.59% 70,986
Cattaraugus 18,246 60.03% 11,289 37.14% 752 2.47% 106 0.35% 6,957 22.89% 30,393
Cayuga 19,017 56.35% 14,317 42.42% 293 0.87% 120 0.36% 4,700 13.93% 33,747
Chautauqua 29,969 57.47% 20,683 39.67% 1,251 2.40% 241 0.46% 9,286 17.81% 52,144
Chemung 22,754 61.63% 13,352 36.17% 673 1.82% 140 0.38% 9,402 25.47% 36,919
Chenango 11,988 70.59% 4,764 28.05% 175 1.03% 55 0.32% 7,224 42.54% 16,982
Clinton 9,694 49.07% 9,357 47.37% 646 3.27% 58 0.29% 337 1.71% 19,755
Columbia 13,758 65.89% 6,527 31.26% 522 2.50% 73 0.35% 7,231 34.63% 20,880
Cortland 10,433 68.27% 4,614 30.19% 189 1.24% 47 0.31% 5,819 38.07% 15,283
Delaware 14,226 73.05% 4,965 25.50% 220 1.13% 63 0.32% 9,261 47.56% 19,474
Dutchess 34,067 64.23% 17,439 32.88% 1,240 2.34% 293 0.55% 16,628 31.35% 53,039
Erie 175,118 45.68% 197,618 51.55% 8,885 2.32% 1,751 0.46% -22,500 -5.87% 383,372
Essex 10,287 69.90% 4,088 27.78% 297 2.02% 45 0.31% 6,199 42.12% 14,717
Franklin 8,993 55.17% 6,799 41.71% 454 2.78% 56 0.34% 2,194 13.46% 16,302
Fulton 12,787 60.50% 7,667 36.28% 600 2.84% 80 0.38% 5,120 24.23% 21,134
Genesee 12,650 62.80% 7,024 34.87% 415 2.06% 53 0.26% 5,626 27.93% 20,142
Greene 10,566 66.52% 4,955 31.20% 321 2.02% 41 0.26% 5,611 35.33% 15,883
Hamilton 2,000 71.68% 744 26.67% 41 1.47% 5 0.18% 1,256 45.02% 2,790
Herkimer 14,688 51.83% 12,577 44.38% 1,002 3.54% 71 0.25% 2,111 7.45% 28,338
Jefferson 19,661 58.95% 13,176 39.51% 412 1.24% 102 0.31% 6,485 19.44% 33,351
Kings 330,494 30.49% 579,922 53.51% 163,896 15.12% 9,489 0.88% -249,428 -23.01% 1,083,801
Lewis 5,692 62.70% 3,211 35.37% 147 1.62% 28 0.31% 2,481 27.33% 9,078
Livingston 11,310 62.62% 6,409 35.48% 282 1.56% 61 0.34% 4,901 27.13% 18,062
Madison 13,413 68.23% 5,937 30.20% 198 1.01% 110 0.56% 7,476 38.03% 19,658
Monroe 109,608 48.12% 110,641 48.57% 6,461 2.84% 1,080 0.47% -1,033 -0.45% 227,790
Montgomery 14,212 48.90% 14,085 48.46% 696 2.39% 71 0.24% 127 0.44% 29,064
Nassau 184,284 69.48% 70,492 26.58% 8,121 3.06% 2,341 0.88% 113,792 42.90% 265,238
New York 241,752 32.75% 380,310 51.52% 106,509 14.43% 9,666 1.31% -138,558 -18.77% 738,237
Niagara 35,858 49.65% 34,119 47.24% 2,046 2.83% 196 0.27% 1,739 2.41% 72,219
Oneida 46,755 47.90% 48,332 49.51% 2,269 2.32% 257 0.26% -1,577 -1.62% 97,613
Onondaga 84,370 53.86% 66,295 42.32% 4,971 3.17% 1,012 0.65% 18,075 11.54% 156,648
Ontario 16,156 63.51% 8,852 34.80% 333 1.31% 98 0.39% 7,304 28.71% 25,439
Orange 38,351 63.08% 20,638 33.95% 1,559 2.56% 248 0.41% 17,713 29.14% 60,796
Orleans 9,566 69.15% 4,009 28.98% 233 1.68% 26 0.19% 5,557 40.17% 13,834
Oswego 19,095 58.03% 12,820 38.96% 884 2.69% 105 0.32% 6,275 19.07% 32,904
Otsego 15,437 66.55% 7,174 30.93% 495 2.13% 91 0.39% 8,263 35.62% 23,197
Putnam 8,222 63.85% 4,012 31.16% 504 3.91% 139 1.08% 4,210 32.69% 12,877
Queens 323,459 50.58% 268,742 42.02% 42,409 6.63% 4,933 0.77% 54,717 8.56% 639,543
Rensselaer 40,375 56.71% 28,468 39.98% 2,080 2.92% 274 0.38% 11,907 16.72% 71,197
Richmond 39,539 54.06% 30,442 41.62% 2,779 3.80% 374 0.51% 9,097 12.44% 73,134
Rockland 20,661 57.90% 13,066 36.62% 1,583 4.44% 371 1.04% 7,595 21.29% 35,681
St. Lawrence 21,160 60.59% 13,200 37.80% 471 1.35% 94 0.27% 7,960 22.79% 34,925
Saratoga 20,706 61.50% 11,457 34.03% 1,354 4.02% 149 0.44% 9,249 27.47% 33,666
Schenectady 35,495 52.67% 28,225 41.88% 3,093 4.59% 578 0.86% 7,270 10.79% 67,391
Schoharie 6,751 61.27% 4,032 36.59% 208 1.89% 28 0.25% 2,719 24.68% 11,019
Schuyler 4,452 69.23% 1,868 29.05% 97 1.51% 14 0.22% 2,584 40.18% 6,431
Seneca 7,266 58.05% 4,897 39.13% 318 2.54% 35 0.28% 2,369 18.93% 12,516
Steuben 22,938 62.44% 12,895 35.10% 789 2.15% 114 0.31% 10,043 27.34% 36,736
Suffolk 75,519 69.75% 29,104 26.88% 2,842 2.63% 800 0.74% 46,415 42.87% 108,265
Sullivan 11,253 53.20% 7,654 36.19% 2,107 9.96% 138 0.65% 3,599 17.01% 21,152
Tioga 8,673 70.16% 3,385 27.38% 258 2.09% 46 0.37% 5,288 42.78% 12,362
Tompkins 13,719 67.11% 5,721 27.98% 656 3.21% 348 1.70% 7,998 39.12% 20,444
Ulster 28,941 64.30% 14,441 32.08% 1,407 3.13% 223 0.50% 14,500 32.21% 45,012
Warren 12,884 68.89% 5,486 29.33% 274 1.47% 59 0.32% 7,398 39.56% 18,703
Washington 13,975 68.29% 6,017 29.40% 396 1.94% 76 0.37% 7,958 38.89% 20,464
Wayne 16,167 69.48% 6,749 29.00% 291 1.25% 63 0.27% 9,418 40.47% 23,270
Westchester 177,077 61.11% 95,681 33.02% 14,084 4.86% 2,923 1.01% 81,396 28.09% 289,765
Wyoming 9,871 67.78% 4,508 30.95% 155 1.06% 30 0.21% 5,363 36.82% 14,564
Yates 5,997 73.50% 2,040 25.00% 91 1.12% 31 0.38% 3,957 48.50% 8,159
Totals 2,841,163 45.99% 2,780,204 45.01% 509,559 8.25% 46,283 0.75% 60,959 0.99% 6,177,209

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

[edit]

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

[edit]

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Although he ran under the “Progressive” label in other states, in New York Wallace was endorsed by the American Labor Party and ran under that party’s banner.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Bicentennial Edition: Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, part 2, p. 1072.
  2. ^ "1948 Presidential General Election Results – New York". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved July 25, 2013.
  3. ^ a b Géoelections; 1948 Presidential Election Popular Vote (.xlsx file for €15)
  4. ^ Géoelections; Popular Vote for Henry Wallace (.xlsx file for €15)
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