The 1964 United States presidential election in Rhode Island took place on November 3, 1964, as part of the

1964 United States presidential election The 1964 United States presidential election was the 45th quadrennial United States presidential election, presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 3, 1964. Incumbent Democratic Party (United States), Democratic President of the Un ...

, which was held throughout all 50 states and D.C. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. Rhode Island voted overwhelmingly for 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, incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, over 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 ...

Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for presiden ...

of Arizona. Johnson ran with Senator Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota, while Goldwater’s running mate was

Congressman A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...

William E. Miller William Edward Miller (March 22, 1914 – June 24, 1983) was an American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from New York as a Republican. During the 1964 presidential election, he was the Republican nominee fo ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Johnson carried Rhode Island in a landslide, taking 80.87% of the vote to Goldwater’s 19.13%,David Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections
1964 Presidential General Election Data Graphs – Rhode Island
/ref> a Democratic victory margin of 61.74%. This made Rhode Island Lyndon Johnson’s strongest state in the nation: even in the midst of a massive nationwide Democratic landslide, Rhode Island weighed in as 39% more Democratic than the national average during the 1964 election.Counting the Votes
Rhode Island
The staunch conservative Goldwater was widely seen in the

Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...

as a right-wing extremist;Donaldson, Gary; ''Liberalism’s Last Hurrah: The Presidential Campaign of 1964''; p. 190 he had voted against the

Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...

, and the Johnson campaign portrayed him as a warmonger who as president would provoke a nuclear war. While John F. Kennedy had won 63.63% in Rhode Island in 1960 mostly by sweeping the ethnic Catholic vote, for 1964, this traditional Democratic coalition was joined by mass defections of moderate Yankee Republicans who had voted for Eisenhower and Nixon but could not support Goldwater. His landslide was so large, he won a record 315,463 votes, a record that still has not been beaten. The closest any candidate has come since then was in

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- ...

, when Joe Biden took 306,192 votes. Consequently, the incumbent Johnson was able to take more than 80% of the vote in liberal Rhode Island. Johnson swept all 5 counties in Rhode Island with over 70% of the vote. In Providence County, the most populated county, home to the state’s capital and largest city,

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

, Johnson took 83.5% of the vote. This was the strongest showing ever for a Democratic presidential candidate in Providence County and the strongest performance of any candidate of any party in any county in Rhode Island. Johnson’s 80.87% remains the highest vote share percentage any presidential candidate of either party has ever received in Rhode Island, and his 61.74% victory margin remains the widest margin by which any candidate of either party has ever won the state. In fact, this is the last time a presidential candidate has won such a large proportion of the statewide vote in any state.

Results

By county

References

{{United States elections

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

Rhode Island 1964 Rhode Island elections

Results

By county

See also

References