United States presidential election in New York, 1948

United States presidential election in New York, 1948
New York (state)
November 2, 1948

 
Nominee Thomas E. Dewey Harry S. Truman Henry Wallace
Party Republican Democratic Progressive
Home state New York Missouri Iowa
Running mate Earl Warren Alben W. Barkley Glen 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
  Truman—50-60%
  Truman—<50%
  Dewey—<50%
  Dewey—50-60%
  Dewey—60-70%
  Dewey—70-80%

President before election

Harry S. Truman
Democratic

Elected President

Harry S. Truman
Democratic

President Harry S. Truman, shortly after being elected, smiles as he holds up a copy of the Chicago Tribune issue predicting his electoral defeat. November 3, 1948.

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. New York 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 0.99%. Progressive Party candidate Henry 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 8% of the electorate casting votes for Third Parties.[1] 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 3 Democratic boroughs of New York City (Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx), Wallace took percentages in the double digits. Truman's bleeding of left-wing support to Wallace in New York City contributed to his narrow loss of the state to Dewey, after New York had voted Democratic for Franklin Roosevelt in the preceding four elections.

Dewey won the election in New York by a narrow margin of less than 1 point, despite it being his home state. Historical commentators have discussed that a major problem with the Dewey campaign was Dewey's almost crippling aloofness to the issues of the day. Commentators suggest any Dewey speech could be boiled down to the following: "Agriculture is important. Our rivers are full of fish. You cannot have freedom without liberty. Our future lies ahead."[2] Many Republicans voters claimed feeling a difficulty identifying with the largely distant and enigmatic candidate. Truman, alternatively, ran a very aggressive campaign, which he focused on fighting communism, furthering the social programs established under the FDR administration, and expansion of civil rights.

The election of 1948 also greatly helped to solidify the new face of the Democratic Party as being more oriented toward human rights as backed by the Federal Government, than to State's rights, as was previously established during the Civil War. Truman's avocation of civil rights, particularly those of African Americans, alienated him from many southern Democrats and caused the first cracks to show in the Democratic dominance of the Deep South, which added ammunition to the growth of the Dixiecrat movement in the Deep South, though the movement enjoyed little success in New York. Rather, the leading third party candidate in New York during this tumultuous election year was former United States Vice President and new Progressive Party poster child Henry Wallace, who gained over 8% of the vote in the state.

The most populous state in the country at the time, this was the first presidential election since 1916 where New York did not back the winning candidate. Truman is also the last Democrat to win a presidential election without New York.

Results

United States presidential election in New York, 1948
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 2,780,204 45.01% 0
American Labor (Progressive) 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

Results by county

NOTE: Only votes for Dewey, Truman, and Wallace are currently displayed in Full.

County Dewey% Dewey# Truman% Truman# Wallace% Wallace# Thomas% Thomas# Teichert% Teichert# Dobbs% Dobbs#
Albany 42.74 59,965 53.76 75,419 3.49 4,903
Allegany 72.23 12,689 26.82 4,711 0.96 168
Bronx 27.80 173,044 54.17 337,129 17.15 106,762 0.75 4,649 0.06 387 0.06 384
Broome 60.93 43,110 36.26 25,654 2.82 1,992
Cattaraugus 60.24 18,246 37.27 11,289 2.48 752
Cayuga 56.55 19,017 42.58 14,317 0.87 293
Chautauqua 57.74 29,969 39.85 20,683 2.41 1,251
Chemung 61.87 22,754 36.30 13,352 1.83 673
Chenango 70.82 11,988 28.14 4,764 1.03 175
Clinton 49.22 9,694 47.50 9,357 3.28 646
Columbia 66.12 13,758 31.37 6,527 2.51 522
Cortland 68.48 10,433 30.28 4,614 1.24 189
Delaware 73.29 14,226 25.58 4,965 1.13 220
Dutchess 64.59 34,067 33.06 17,439 2.35 1,240
Erie 45.89 175,118 51.78 197,618 2.33 8,885
Essex 70.11 10,287 27.86 4,088 2.02 297
Franklin 55.36 8,993 41.85 6,799 2.79 454
Fulton 60.73 12,787 36.42 7,667 2.85 600
Genesee 62.97 12,650 34.96 7,024 2.07 415
Greene 66.70 10,566 31.28 4,955 2.03 321
Hamilton 71.81 2,000 26.71 744 1.47 41
Herkimer 51.96 14,688 44.49 12,577 3.54 1,002
Jefferson 46.00 19,661 30.83 13,176 0.96 412 18.10 7,734 1.25 535 2.85 1,222
Kings (Brooklyn) 30.76 330,494 53.98 579,922 15.26 163,896
Lewis 62.90 5,692 35.48 3,211 1.62 147
Livingston 62.83 11,310 35.60 6,409 1.57 282
Madison 68.62 13,413 30.37 5,937 1.01 198
Monroe 48.35 110,641 48.80 109,608 2.85 6,461
Montgomery 49.02 14,212 48.58 14,085 2.40 696
Nassau 70.10 184,284 26.81 70,492 3.09 8,121
New York (Manhattan) 32.75 241,752 51.52 380,310 14.43 106,509 1.18 8,685 0.07 488 0.07 493
Niagara 49.79 35,858 47.37 34,119 2.84 2,046
Oneida 48.02 46,775 49.64 48,332 2.33 2,269
Onondaga 54.21 84,370 42.60 66,295 3.19 4,971
Ontario 63.75 16,156 34.93 8,852 1.31 333
Orange 63.34 38,351 34.09 20,638 2.57 1,559
Orleans 69.28 9,566 29.03 4,009 1.69 233
Oswego 58.22 19,095 39.09 12,820 2.70 884
Otsego 66.81 15,437 31.05 7,174 2.14 495
Putnam 64.55 8,222 31.50 4,012 3.96 504
Queens 50.58 323,459 42.02 268,742 6.63 42,409 0.72 4,580 0.04 245 0.02 108
Rensselaer 56.93 40,375 40.14 28,468 2.93 2,080
Richmond
(Staten Island)
54.06 39,539 41.62 30,442 3.80 2,779 0.48 349 0.02 16 0.01 9
Rockland 58.51 20,661 37.00 13,066 4.48 1,583
St. Lawrence 60.75 21,160 37.90 13,200 1.35 471
Saratoga 61.78 20,706 34.18 11,457 4.04 1,354
Schenectady 53.13 35,495 42.24 28,225 4.63 3,093
Schoharie 61.42 6,751 36.68 4,032 1.89 208
Schuyler 69.38 4,452 29.11 1,868 1.51 97
Seneca 58.22 7,266 39.24 4,897 2.55 318
Steuben 62.63 22,938 35.21 12,895 2.15 789
Suffolk 70.27 75,519 27.08 29,104 2.64 2,842
Sullivan 53.55 11,253 36.42 7,654 10.03 2,107
Tioga 70.42 8,673 27.48 3,385 2.09 258
Tompkins 68.27 13,719 28.47 5,721 3.26 656
Ulster 64.62 28,941 32.24 14,441 3.14 1,407
Warren 69.11 12,884 29.43 5,486 1.47 274
Washington 68.55 13,975 29.51 6,017 1.94 396
Wayne 69.66 16,167 29.08 6,749 1.25 291
Westchester 61.73 177,077 33.36 95,681 4.91 14,084
Wyoming 67.92 9,871 31.02 4,508 1.07 155
Yates 73.78 5,997 25.10 2,040 1.12 91
Totals45.992,841,16345.012,780,2048.25509,5590.6640,8790.042,7290.04%2,675

See also

References

  1. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". Uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved 2013-07-14.
  2. Donaldson, Gary A. (1999). Truman Defeats Dewey. The University Press of Kentucky. p. 173. ISBN 0-8131-2075-6. Quoting The Courier-Journal
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