Election in North Carolina
1908 United States presidential election in North Carolina
Nominee
William Jennings Bryan
William Howard Taft
Party
Democratic
Republican
Home state
Nebraska
Ohio
Running mate
John W. Kern
James S. Sherman
Electoral vote
12
0
Popular vote
136,928
114,887
Percentage
54.22%
45.49%
County Results
Bryan
50-60%
60-70%
70-80%
80-90%
90-100%
Taft
50-60%
60-70%
70-80%
President before election
Theodore Roosevelt
Republican
Elected President
William Howard Taft
Republican
The 1908 United States presidential election in North Carolina took place on November 3, 1908. All contemporary 46 states were part of the 1908 United States presidential election . North Carolina voters chose 12 electors to the Electoral College , which selected the president and vice president .
North Carolina was won by the Democratic nominees, former Representative William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska and his running mate John W. Kern of Indiana . Although, like all former Confederate states, North Carolina would during its “Redemption” develop a politics based upon Jim Crow laws , disfranchisement of its African-American population and dominance of the Democratic Party, the Republican Party possessed sufficient historic Unionist white support from the mountains and northwestern Piedmont to gain a stable one-third of the statewide vote total in general elections even after blacks lost the right to vote.[1] After the failure of Theodore Roosevelt to reconcile with the South, new nominee Taft would in October become the first Republican candidate to tour the South.[2] Aided by opposition by developing manufacturers to Bryan’s populism,[2] and by his willingness to accept black disfranchisement[3] Taft gained substantially upon Theodore Roosevelt’s performance in 1904, especially in previously Democratic western and Piedmont counties. He was the first Republican to ever carry Cabarrus County and Catawba County – which would become solidly Republican after World War I and among thirteen Tar Heel counties to back Barry Goldwater over Lyndon Johnson – and also Jackson County .[4]
Results [ ]
1908 United States presidential election in North Carolina[5]
Party
Candidate
Votes
Percentage
Electoral votes
Democratic
William Jennings Bryan
136,928
54.22%
12
Republican
William Howard Taft
114,887
45.49%
0
Social Democratic
Eugene Debs
372
0.15%
0
Prohibition
Eugene Chafin
354
0.14%
0
Write-ins
Scattered
13
0.01%
0
Totals
252,554
100.00%
12
Voter turnout
—
Results by county [ ]
County
William Jennings Bryan [6] Democratic
William Howard Taft [6] Republican
Eugene Victor Debs [6] Social Democratic
Eugene Wilder Chafin [6] Prohibition
Margin
%
#
%
#
%
#
%
#
%
#
Currituck
91.16%
701
8.84%
68
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
82.31%
633
Northampton
90.27%
1,726
9.73%
186
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
80.54%
1,540
Scotland
89.36%
714
10.64%
85
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
78.72%
629
Halifax
85.07%
2,165
14.93%
380
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
70.14%
1,785
Anson
83.19%
1,490
16.81%
301
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
66.39%
1,189
Edgecombe
80.01%
1,753
19.99%
438
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
60.02%
1,315
New Hanover [a]
78.39%
1,857
21.57%
511
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
56.82%
1,346
Warren
78.27%
1,066
21.73%
296
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
56.53%
770
Franklin
77.96%
1,984
22.04%
561
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
55.91%
1,423
Bertie
77.75%
1,258
22.25%
360
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
55.50%
898
Martin
76.07%
1,338
23.93%
421
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
52.13%
917
Craven
75.70%
1,399
24.30%
449
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
51.41%
950
Hyde
74.80%
662
25.20%
223
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
49.60%
439
Chowan
74.46%
621
25.54%
213
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
48.92%
408
Pitt
73.04%
2,419
26.87%
890
0.00%
0
0.09%
3
46.17%
1,529
Pender
71.37%
930
28.63%
373
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
42.75%
557
Union
70.87%
2,029
29.13%
834
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
41.74%
1,195
Camden
70.82%
398
29.18%
164
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
41.64%
234
Hertford
70.39%
839
29.61%
353
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
40.77%
486
Mecklenburg
70.09%
3,926
29.37%
1,645
0.07%
4
0.46%
26
40.72%
2,281
Pasquotank [b]
69.54%
929
30.31%
405
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
39.22%
524
Richmond
69.01%
1,029
30.99%
462
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
38.03%
567
Caswell
68.62%
820
31.21%
373
0.00%
0
0.17%
2
37.41%
447
Granville
67.99%
1,561
31.97%
734
0.00%
0
0.04%
1
36.02%
827
Robeson
67.48%
2,698
32.52%
1,300
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
34.97%
1,398
Gates
65.96%
653
34.04%
337
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
31.92%
316
Jones
65.00%
585
35.00%
315
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
30.00%
270
Vance
63.62%
1,121
36.38%
641
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
27.24%
480
Bladen
63.17%
1,132
36.83%
660
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
26.34%
472
Wilson
63.07%
1,732
36.93%
1,014
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
26.15%
718
Greene
61.95%
876
38.05%
538
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
23.90%
338
Cleveland
60.98%
2,282
38.99%
1,459
0.03%
1
0.00%
0
21.99%
823
Haywood
59.91%
1,952
40.02%
1,304
0.06%
2
0.00%
0
19.89%
648
Lee
59.68%
832
40.32%
562
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
19.37%
270
Wayne
59.30%
2,207
40.41%
1,504
0.00%
0
0.30%
11
18.89%
703
Lenoir
58.98%
1,393
40.90%
966
0.13%
3
0.00%
0
18.08%
427
Harnett
58.79%
1,501
41.01%
1,047
0.04%
1
0.16%
4
17.78%
454
Beaufort
57.79%
1,828
41.23%
1,304
0.92%
29
0.06%
2
16.57%
524
Iredell
57.67%
2,465
42.19%
1,803
0.02%
1
0.12%
5
15.49%
662
Columbus
57.19%
1,845
42.81%
1,381
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
14.38%
464
Guilford
56.56%
3,822
42.36%
2,863
0.46%
31
0.62%
42
14.19%
959
Cumberland
55.77%
1,832
44.23%
1,453
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
11.54%
379
Nash
55.71%
1,678
44.29%
1,334
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
11.42%
344
Wake
55.55%
3,713
44.30%
2,961
0.00%
0
0.15%
10
11.25%
752
Pamlico
54.37%
628
43.38%
501
2.25%
26
0.00%
0
11.00%
127
Duplin
55.18%
1,508
44.82%
1,225
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
10.35%
283
Onslow
55.06%
870
44.94%
710
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
10.13%
160
Gaston
54.40%
2,398
44.69%
1,970
0.18%
8
0.73%
32
9.71%
428
Rowan
53.61%
2,392
45.02%
2,009
0.78%
35
0.58%
26
8.58%
383
Perquimans
53.08%
568
46.92%
502
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
6.17%
66
Dare
52.93%
416
47.07%
370
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
5.85%
46
Rutherford
52.79%
1,978
47.13%
1,766
0.00%
0
0.08%
3
5.66%
212
Alleghany
52.40%
633
47.60%
575
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
4.80%
58
Carteret
52.08%
1,152
47.92%
1,060
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
4.16%
92
Clay
51.58%
343
48.27%
321
0.15%
1
0.00%
0
3.31%
22
Yancey
50.73%
978
49.27%
950
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
1.45%
28
Moore
50.29%
1,109
48.84%
1,077
0.54%
12
0.32%
7
1.45%
32
Durham
50.41%
1,859
49.35%
1,820
0.08%
3
0.16%
6
1.06%
39
Chatham
50.36%
1,521
49.57%
1,497
0.00%
0
0.07%
2
0.79%
24
Lincoln
50.10%
1,222
49.90%
1,217
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
0.21%
5
Buncombe
49.10%
3,506
50.03%
3,572
0.76%
54
0.11%
8
-0.92%
-66
Ashe
49.47%
1,639
50.53%
1,674
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
-1.06%
-35
Alamance
48.79%
2,113
50.43%
2,184
0.07%
3
0.72%
31
-1.64%
-71
Burke
49.10%
1,310
50.90%
1,358
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
-1.80%
-48
McDowell
48.62%
950
51.18%
1,000
0.00%
0
0.20%
4
-2.56%
-50
Orange
48.61%
1,017
51.29%
1,073
0.10%
2
0.00%
0
-2.68%
-56
Jackson
48.44%
1,022
51.47%
1,086
0.09%
2
0.00%
0
-3.03%
-64
Rockingham
48.19%
1,887
51.28%
2,008
0.36%
14
0.18%
7
-3.09%
-121
Transylvania
48.26%
570
51.74%
611
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
-3.47%
-41
Catawba [c]
47.56%
1,864
51.29%
2,010
0.00%
0
0.89%
35
-3.73%
-146
Montgomery
48.07%
1,008
51.84%
1,087
0.00%
0
0.10%
2
-3.77%
-79
Randolph
48.02%
2,472
51.98%
2,676
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
-3.96%
-204
Johnston
47.84%
2,593
52.16%
2,827
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
-4.32%
-234
Davidson
47.35%
2,126
52.12%
2,340
0.09%
4
0.45%
20
-4.77%
-214
Graham
47.34%
418
52.66%
465
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
-5.32%
-47
Washington
47.10%
495
52.90%
556
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
-5.80%
-61
Macon
47.01%
927
52.99%
1,045
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
-5.98%
-118
Stanly
46.95%
1,491
53.05%
1,685
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
-6.11%
-194
Cabarrus
46.93%
1,610
53.07%
1,821
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
-6.15%
-211
Forsyth
44.94%
2,472
52.28%
2,876
2.38%
131
0.40%
22
-7.34%
-404
Polk
45.14%
511
54.86%
621
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
-9.72%
-110
Caldwell
44.72%
1,413
55.22%
1,745
0.00%
0
0.06%
2
-10.51%
-332
Tyrrell
44.13%
312
55.87%
395
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
-11.74%
-83
Person
43.63%
750
56.37%
969
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
-12.74%
-219
Alexander
42.47%
793
57.53%
1,074
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
-15.05%
-281
Watauga
42.29%
962
57.71%
1,313
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
-15.43%
-351
Brunswick
41.92%
607
58.08%
841
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
-16.16%
-234
Davie
39.61%
780
60.18%
1,185
0.00%
0
0.20%
4
-20.57%
-405
Swain
39.27%
602
60.73%
931
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
-21.46%
-329
Stokes
38.21%
1,061
61.61%
1,711
0.18%
5
0.00%
0
-23.41%
-650
Cherokee
37.38%
782
62.62%
1,310
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
-25.24%
-528
Surry
37.27%
1,709
62.60%
2,870
0.00%
0
0.13%
6
-25.32%
-1,161
Henderson
36.40%
917
63.60%
1,602
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
-27.19%
-685
Sampson
35.09%
1,335
64.78%
2,465
0.00%
0
0.13%
5
-29.70%
-1,130
Wilkes
31.50%
1,559
68.34%
3,382
0.00%
0
0.16%
8
-36.84%
-1,823
Madison
29.84%
862
70.16%
2,027
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
-40.33%
-1,165
Yadkin
26.43%
597
72.78%
1,644
0.00%
0
0.80%
18
-46.35%
-1,047
Mitchell
23.32%
550
76.68%
1,808
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
-53.35%
-1,258
References [ ]
^ Phillips, Kevin P. ; The Emerging Republican Majority , pp. 210, 242 ISBN 978-0-691-16324-6
^ a b Tindall, George B.; ‘Southern Strategy: A Historical Perspective’; North Carolina Historical Review ; vol. 48, no. 2 (April 1971), pp. 126-141
^ de Santis, Vincent P.; ‘Republican Efforts to “Crack” the Democratic South’; The Review of Politics , vol. 14, no. 2 (April 1952), pp. 244-264
^ Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 265-271 ISBN 0786422173
^ Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas; Presidential General Election Results – North Carolina
^ a b c d Géoelections; Popular Vote at the Presidential Election for 1908 (.xlsx file for €30 including full minor party figures)
Notes [ ]
^ In this county there was one vote for a write-in candidate.
^ In this county there were two votes for write-in candidates
^ In this county there were ten votes for various write-in candidates.
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