The 1920 United States presidential election in Montana took place on November 2, 1920 as part of the

1920 United States presidential election The 1920 United States presidential election was the 34th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 2, 1920. In the first election held after the end of World War I and the first election after the ratification of the Ninete ...

. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. Like all of the Western United States, severe anger at President Woodrow Wilson's failure to maintain his promise to keep the United States out of World War I produced extreme hostility among the strongly isolationist population of remote Montana.Phillips, Kevin P.; ''The Emerging Republican Majority'', pp. 461–462 In addition, by the beginning of 1920 skyrocketing inflation and Wilson's focus upon his proposed League of Nations at the expense of domestic policy had helped make the incumbent president very unpopular – besides which Wilson also had major health problems that had left First Lady Edith effectively running the nation. Political unrest seen in the

Palmer Raids The Palmer Raids were a series of raids conducted in November 1919 and January 1920 by the United States Department of Justice under the administration of President Woodrow Wilson to capture and arrest suspected socialists, especially anarchists ...

and the "Red Scare" further added to the unpopularity of the Democratic Party, since this global political turmoil produced considerable fear of alien revolutionaries invading the country. Demand in the West for exclusion of Asian immigrants became even stronger than it had been before. Another factor hurting the Democratic Party was the migration of many people from the traditionally Republican Upper Midwest into the state. Because the West had been the chief presidential battleground ever since the "

System of 1896 The Fourth Party System is the term used in political science and history for the period in American political history from about 1896 to 1932 that was dominated by the Republican Party, except the 1912 split in which Democrats captured the Whit ...

" emerged following that election,Faykosh, Joseph D., Bowling Green State University; ''The Front Porch of the American People: James Cox and the Presidential Election of 1920'' (thesis), p. 68 Governor Cox traveled across the western states in August and September, but he did not visit Montana with its tiny population and poverty of electoral votes. No polls were taken in the state, but a Republican success was universally assumed. Montana overwhelmingly voted for the Republican nominee,

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Warren G. Harding, over the

Democratic Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

nominee, Ohio Governor

James M. Cox James Middleton Cox (March 31, 1870 July 15, 1957) was an American businessman and politician who served as the 46th and 48th governor of Ohio, and a two-term U.S. Representative from Ohio. As the Democratic nominee for President of the United St ...

. Harding won Montana by a landslide margin of 29.08%. Whereas Wilson had carried every county except Sweet Grass in

1916 Events Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 1 – The British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that had been stored and cooled. * ...

, Harding won every county except Mineral, which he lost narrowly by just fifteen votes. However, within the thirteen states north of Arizona and west of Missouri, Mineral was along with Clark County, Nevada one of only two counties to give a plurality to Cox. As of

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

, this is the last time that Deer Lodge County has given a majority of the vote to a Republican. Harding's 61.1% vote share and 29 percentage point margin remain the strongest performance by a Republican presidential nominee in Montana history.

Results

Results by county

References

{{United States elections Montana

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own ma ...

1920 Montana elections

Results

Results by county

See also

References