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1964 United States presidential election in New Jersey

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1964 United States presidential election in New Jersey

← 1960 November 3, 1964 1968 →
 
Nominee Lyndon B. Johnson Barry Goldwater
Party Democratic Republican
Home state Texas Arizona
Running mate Hubert Humphrey William E. Miller
Electoral vote 17 0
Popular vote 1,867,671 963,843
Percentage 65.61% 33.86%

County Results
Johnson
  50-60%
  60-70%
  70-80%


President before election

Lyndon Johnson
Democratic

Elected President

Lyndon Johnson
Democratic

The 1964 United States presidential election in New Jersey took place on November 3, 1964. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1964 United States presidential election. Voters chose 17 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.

New Jersey was won overwhelmingly by the Democratic nominees, incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas and his running mate Senator Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota. Johnson and Humphrey defeated the Republican nominees, Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona and his running mate Congressman William E. Miller of New York. This is the only time the Democratic nominee won each of New Jersey’s 21 counties, and the second of two times that a Republican failed to win any county after 1912. This is the last time each county in New Jersey voted for the same presidential candidate until Republican President Richard Nixon’s landslide 1972 re-election.

Johnson carried New Jersey in a landslide with 65.61% of the vote to Goldwater’s 33.86%, a margin of 31.75%.[1] Johnson also swept all twenty-one of New Jersey’s counties, the only time a Democratic presidential nominee has ever done so.[2]

Johnson broke 60% of the vote in 15 counties, and 70% in 4: Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex, and Cumberland, besides falling just short of the mark in Essex County, where Johnson received 69.9%. Hudson would be the most Democratic county, giving Johnson 73.5% of the vote. Goldwater’s strongest county was rural Sussex County, where he received 45.2% of the vote to Johnson’s 54.8%.

New Jersey in this era was usually a swing state with a slight Republican lean. But this normal pattern was broken in 1964, as Goldwater’s staunch conservatism led many moderate Northeastern Republicans to view Goldwater as an extremist and defect to the Democrats that year. As Johnson won a massive landslide nationally, normally GOP-leaning New Jersey’s result would even be almost 10% more Democratic than the national average. This was also the last time New Jersey would go to a Democratic candidate for president until 1992, after which the state has always gone Democratic.

Primary elections

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Republican primary

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1964 New Jersey Republican presidential primary

← 1960 April 21, 1964 (1964-04-21) 1968 →
 
Candidate Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (write-in) Barry Goldwater (write-in) Richard Nixon (write-in)
Home state Massachusetts Arizona California
Popular vote 7,896 5,309 4,179
Percentage 41.70% 28.04% 22.07%

County Results
  Lodge
  Goldwater
  No Votes

The Republican primary took place on April 21, 1964. Former Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. would win the primary as a write-in candidate, over Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon

1964 New Jersey Republican presidential primary[3]
Candidate Votes %
Henry Cabot Lodge (write-in) 7,896 41.70
Barry Goldwater (write-in) 5,309 28.04
Richard Nixon (write-in) 4,179 22.07
William Scranton (write-in) 633 3.34
Nelson Rockefeller (write-in) 612 3.23
George Wallace (write-in) 220 1.16
Lyndon B. Johnson (write-in) 84 0.44
Total 18,933 100.0

Democratic primary

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1964 New Jersey Democratic presidential primary

← 1960 April 21, 1964 (1964-04-21) 1968 →
 
Candidate Lyndon B. Johnson (write-in) George Wallace (write-in) Robert F. Kennedy (write-in)
Home state Texas Alabama New York
Popular vote 4,863 491 431
Percentage 82.30% 8.31% 7.29%

County Results
  Johnson
  Wallace
  Tie- Johnson/Kennedy
  No Votes

The Democratic primary took place on April 21, 1964. Incumbent president Lyndon B. Johnson won the primary on a write-in campaign, as no candidate's names were on the ballot.

1964 New Jersey Democratic presidential primary[4]
Candidate Votes %
Lyndon B. Johnson (incumbent, write-in) 4,863 82.30
George Wallace (write-in) 491 8.31
Robert Kennedy (write-in) 431 7.29
Henry Cabot Lodge (write-in) 69 1.17
Barry Goldwater (write-in) 30 0.51
Richard Nixon (write-in) 19 0.32
Nelson Rockefeller (write-in) 3 0.05
William Scranton (write-in) 3 0.05
Total 5,909 100.0

Results

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1964 United States presidential election in New Jersey
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Democratic Lyndon B. Johnson (incumbent) 1,867,671 65.61% 17
Republican Barry Goldwater 963,843 33.86% 0
Socialist Workers Clifton DeBerry 8,181 0.29% 0
Socialist Labor Eric Hass 7,075 0.25% 0
Totals 2,846,770 100.0% 17
Voter Turnout (Voting age/Registered) 69%/88%

Results by county

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County Lyndon B. Johnson
Democratic
Barry Goldwater
Republican
Clifton DeBerry[5]
Socialist Workers
Eric Hass[5]
Socialist Labor
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # % # %
Atlantic 50,945 65.30% 25,626 32.85% 1,217 1.56% 231 0.30% 25,319 32.45% 78,019
Bergen 234,849 59.69% 157,899 40.13% 475 0.12% 242 0.06% 76,950 19.56% 393,465
Burlington 57,638 64.80% 31,215 35.09% 60 0.07% 32 0.04% 26,423 29.71% 88,945
Camden 124,620 67.09% 60,844 32.75% 47 0.03% 250 0.13% 63,776 34.34% 185,761
Cape May 14,943 56.65% 11,390 43.18% 13 0.05% 34 0.13% 3,553 13.47% 26,380
Cumberland 33,593 72.69% 12,611 27.29% 6 0.01% 5 0.01% 20,982 45.40% 46,215
Essex 277,042 69.88% 116,172 29.30% 385 0.10% 2,878 0.73% 160,870 40.58% 396,477
Gloucester 40,305 62.93% 23,702 37.00% 10 0.02% 35 0.05% 16,603 25.93% 64,052
Hudson 200,051 73.55% 69,515 25.56% 211 0.08% 2,232 0.82% 130,536 47.99% 272,009
Hunterdon 15,091 59.69% 10,173 40.24% 14 0.06% 5 0.02% 4,918 19.45% 25,283
Mercer 86,985 71.17% 35,081 28.70% 49 0.04% 99 0.08% 51,904 42.47% 122,214
Middlesex 151,196 70.12% 63,370 29.39% 840 0.39% 212 0.10% 87,826 40.73% 215,618
Monmouth 95,320 60.69% 61,367 39.07% 261 0.18% 107 0.07% 33,953 21.62% 157,055
Morris 73,684 57.16% 55,024 42.68% 125 0.10% 80 0.06% 18,660 14.48% 128,913
Ocean 36,892 57.90% 25,985 40.78% 764 1.20% 73 0.11% 10,907 17.12% 63,714
Passaic 113,919 63.39% 63,114 35.12% 2,362 1.31% 304 0.17% 50,805 28.27% 179,699
Salem 17,846 67.23% 8,682 32.71% 9 0.03% 8 0.03% 9,164 34.52% 26,545
Somerset 43,659 60.41% 28,416 39.32% 150 0.21% 45 0.06% 15,243 21.09% 72,270
Sussex 14,349 54.77% 11,836 45.18% 3 0.01% 9 0.03% 2,513 9.59% 26,197
Union 164,989 66.17% 82,999 33.29% 1,178 0.47% 181 0.07% 81,990 32.88% 249,347
Warren 19,755 69.09% 8,822 30.85% 2 0.01% 13 0.05% 10,933 38.24% 28,592
Totals 1,867,671 65.61% 963,843 33.86% 8,181 0.29% 7,075 0.25% 903,828 31.75% 2,846,770

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

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Analysis

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As of the 2020 election, this is the last election in which Sussex County, Hunterdon County, and Warren County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate. Union County would not vote Democratic again until 1992. Bergen, Passaic, Ocean, Monmouth, and Cape May Counties would not vote Democratic again until 1996. Somerset County did not vote Democratic again until 2008, and Morris County would not vote Democratic again until 2020.[6] As of 2020, this remains the strongest ever performance by a Democratic presidential nominee in New Jersey, the second strongest ever performance by a nominee of either party after Warren G. Harding in 1920.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "1964 Presidential General Election Results – New Jersey". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved November 25, 2013.
  2. ^ Thomas, G. Scott; The Pursuit of the White House: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics and History, pp. 439-440 ISBN 0313257957
  3. ^ "Results of the Primary Election Held April 21, 1964" (PDF). Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  4. ^ "Results of the Primary Election Held April 21, 1964" (PDF). Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  5. ^ a b Our Campaigns; NJ US President 1964
  6. ^ Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016