# 1956 United States presidential election in South Carolina

"none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]]
Elections in South Carolina :
Federal government
U.S. President
1788-89
1792
1796
1800
1804
1808
1812
1816
1820
1824
1828
1832
1836
1840
1844
1848
1852
1856
1860
1868
1872
1876
1880
1884
1888
1892
1896
1900
1904
1908
1912
1916
1920
1924
1928
1932
1936
1940
1944
1948
1952
1956
1960
1964
1968
1972
1976
1980
1984
1988
1992
1996
2000
Rep
Dem
2004
Dem
2008
Dem
Rep
2012
Rep
2016
Dem
2020
Dem
2024
Dem
Rep
U.S. Senate
1897
sp 1898
1902
1903
1907
1908
1909
1913
1914
1918
sp 1918
1920
1924
1926
1930
1932
1936
1938
sp 1941
1942
1944
1948
1950
1954
1956
1960
1962
1966
sp 1966
1968
1972
1974
1978
1980
1984
1986
1990
1992
1996
1998
2002
2004
2008
2010
2014
sp 2014
2016
2020
2022
2026
2028
U.S. House of Representatives
1788
1790
1793
1794
1796
1798
1800
1803
1804
1806
1808
1810
1812
1814
1816
1818
1820
1823
1824
1826
1828
1830
1833
1834
1836
1838
1840
1843
1844
1846
1848
1850
1853
1854
1856
1858
1860
1868
1870
1872
1874
1876
1878
1880
1882
1884
1886
1888
1890
1892
1894
1896
1898
1900
7th 1901
1902
1904
1906
1908
1910
1912
1914
4th 1915
1916
1918
6th 1919
7th 1919
1920
1922
1924
1926
1928
1930
1932
1934
1936
1938
1940
1942
1944
1946
1948
1950
1952
4th 1953
1954
1956
1958
1960
1962
1964
1966
1968
1970
1st 1971
1972
1974
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2nd 2001
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
1st 2013
2014
2016
5th 2017
2018
2020
2022
2024
List of specials :
State offices
General elections
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024
Gubernatorial elections
1865
1868
1870
1872
1874
1876
1878
1880
1882
1884
1886
1888
1890
1892
1894
1896
1898
1900
1902
1904
1906
1908
1910
1912
1914
1916
1918
1920
1922
1924
1926
1930
1934
1938
1942
1946
1950
1954
1958
1962
1966
1970
1974
1978
1982
1986
1990
1994
1998
2002
2006
2010
2014
2018
2022
2026
State Senate elections
2004
2008
2012
2016
2020
2024
State House elections
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024 :
Ballot measures
2006
Amendment 1
2008
2010
2012
2014 :
Charleston
Mayoral elections
2007
2011
2015
2019
2023 :
Columbia
Mayoral elections
2005
2009
2010
2013
2017
2021 :
Rock Hill
Mayoral elections
2007
2011
2015
2019
2023 :
Greenville
Mayoral elections
2007
2011
2015
2019
2023 :
vte :
The 1956 United States presidential election in South Carolina took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. South Carolina voters chose eight representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
For six decades up to 1950 South Carolina had been a one-party state dominated by the Democratic Party. The Republican Party had been moribund due to the disfranchisement of blacks and the complete absence of other support bases as South Carolina completely lacked upland or German refugee whites opposed to secession. Between 1900 and 1948, no Republican presidential candidate ever obtained more than seven percent of the total presidential vote – a vote which in 1924 reached as low as 6.6 percent of the total voting-age population (or approximately 15 percent of the voting-age white population).
This absolute loyalty began to break down during World War II when Vice-presidents Henry A. Wallace and Harry Truman began to realize that a legacy of discrimination against blacks was a threat to the United States' image abroad and its ability to win the Cold War against the radically egalitarian rhetoric of Communism. In the 1948 presidential election, Truman was backed by only 24 percent of South Carolina's limited electorate – most of that from the relatively few upcountry poor whites able to meet rigorous voting requirements – and state Governor Strom Thurmond won 71 percent, carrying every county except Anderson and Spartanburg. Despite Truman announcing as early as May 1950 that he would not run again for president in 1952, it had already become clear that South Carolina's rulers remained severely disenchanted with the national Democratic Party. Both Thurmond and former Governor James F. Byrnes would endorse national Republican nominee Dwight D. Eisenhower – who ran under an independent label in South Carolina – and Democratic nominee Adlai Stevenson II only won narrowly due to two- and three-to-one majorities in the poor white counties that had given substantial opposition to Thurmond in 1948.
During the first Eisenhower term, South Carolina's whites who had supported him became extremely critical because Eisenhower was blamed for Brown v. Board of Education, whose requirement of desegregating the state's schools was intolerable. Consequently, state leaders like Thurmond argued that the GOP could not be a useful tool for opposing civil rights, and most of the state's Democrats endorsed Stevenson for his rematch with Eisenhower. Byrnes, however, obtained 35,000 petitions for an alternative slate of unpledged electors, whom he naturally endorsed when ballot access was obtained for that slate.
In mid-October, the consensus among pollsters was that the state's vote would be sharply split between the three slates, although polls just before election day suggested that Stevenson was likely to carry the state.

## Results

1956 United States presidential election in South Carolina :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Adlai Stevenson | 136,372 | 45.37% |
| | “Nominated by Petition” | Unpledged electors | 88,509 | 29.45% |
| | Republican | Dwight D. Eisenhower (inc.) | 75,700 | 25.18% |
| | Write-in | | 2 | 0.00% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 300,583 | 100% |

### Results by county

| County | Adlai Stevenson Democratic | Adlai Stevenson Democratic | Unpledged Electors Nominated by Petition | Unpledged Electors Nominated by Petition | Dwight D. Eisenhower Republican | Dwight D. Eisenhower Republican | Margin | Margin | Total votes cast |
| County | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | Total votes cast |
| Abbeville | 2,985 | 83.36% | 257 | 7.18% | 339 | 9.47% | 2,646 | 73.89% | 3,581 |
| Aiken | 4,280 | 34.81% | 1,821 | 14.81% | 6,195 | 50.38% | -1,915 | -15.57% | 12,296 |
| Allendale | 380 | 28.85% | 675 | 51.25% | 262 | 19.89% | -295 | -22.40% | 1,317 |
| Anderson | 11,344 | 76.80% | 1,241 | 8.40% | 2,186 | 14.80% | 9,158 | 62.00% | 14,771 |
| Bamberg | 430 | 22.95% | 1,118 | 59.66% | 326 | 17.40% | -688 | -36.71% | 1,874 |
| Barnwell | 1,914 | 63.61% | 575 | 19.11% | 520 | 17.28% | 1,339 | 44.50% | 3,009 |
| Beaufort | 710 | 25.57% | 1,016 | 36.59% | 1,051 | 37.85% | 35 | 1.26% | 2,777 |
| Berkeley | 902 | 24.14% | 1,779 | 47.62% | 1,055 | 28.24% | -724 | -19.38% | 3,736 |
| Calhoun | 341 | 28.90% | 693 | 58.73% | 146 | 12.37% | -352 | -29.83% | 1,180 |
| Charleston | 4,028 | 16.07% | 13,558 | 54.07% | 7,487 | 29.86% | -6,071 | -24.21% | 25,073 |
| Cherokee | 3,687 | 75.21% | 308 | 6.28% | 907 | 18.50% | 2,780 | 56.71% | 4,902 |
| Chester | 2,951 | 62.80% | 741 | 15.77% | 1,007 | 21.43% | 1,944 | 41.37% | 4,699 |
| Chesterfield | 3,559 | 71.35% | 634 | 12.71% | 795 | 15.94% | 2,764 | 55.41% | 4,988 |
| Clarendon | 661 | 24.74% | 1,787 | 66.88% | 224 | 8.38% | -1,126 | -42.14% | 2,672 |
| Colleton | 1,463 | 36.14% | 1,950 | 48.17% | 635 | 15.69% | -487 | -12.03% | 4,048 |
| Darlington | 2,908 | 40.91% | 2,603 | 36.62% | 1,597 | 22.47% | 305 | 4.29% | 7,108 |
| Dillon | 1,879 | 62.97% | 792 | 26.54% | 313 | 10.49% | 1,087 | 36.43% | 2,984 |
| Dorchester | 862 | 26.80% | 1,851 | 57.54% | 504 | 15.67% | -989 | -30.74% | 3,217 |
| Edgefield | 525 | 25.71% | 1,001 | 49.02% | 516 | 25.27% | -476 | -23.31% | 2,042 |
| Fairfield | 961 | 36.29% | 1,168 | 44.11% | 519 | 19.60% | -207 | -7.82% | 2,648 |
| Florence | 3,463 | 35.46% | 4,447 | 45.54% | 1,855 | 19.00% | -984 | -10.08% | 9,765 |
| Georgetown | 1,020 | 23.39% | 2,284 | 52.37% | 1,057 | 24.24% | -1,227 | -28.13% | 4,361 |
| Greenville | 11,819 | 43.46% | 4,622 | 17.00% | 10,752 | 39.54% | 1,067 | 3.92% | 27,193 |
| Greenwood | 4,386 | 64.95% | 1,247 | 18.47% | 1,120 | 16.59% | 3,139 | 46.48% | 6,753 |
| Hampton | 564 | 27.43% | 1,133 | 55.11% | 359 | 17.46% | -569 | -27.68% | 2,056 |
| Horry | 4,835 | 59.17% | 2,244 | 27.46% | 1,092 | 13.36% | 2,591 | 31.71% | 8,171 |
| Jasper | 210 | 16.52% | 658 | 51.77% | 403 | 31.71% | -255 | -20.06% | 1,271 |
| Kershaw | 1,875 | 34.79% | 1,996 | 37.04% | 1,518 | 28.17% | -121 | -2.25% | 5,389 |
| Lancaster | 4,398 | 66.26% | 629 | 9.48% | 1,610 | 24.26% | 2,788 | 42.00% | 6,637 |
| Laurens | 3,726 | 56.05% | 1,545 | 23.24% | 1,377 | 20.71% | 2,181 | 32.81% | 6,648 |
| Lee | 943 | 38.26% | 1,272 | 51.60% | 250 | 10.14% | -329 | -13.34% | 2,465 |
| Lexington | 2,094 | 36.50% | 2,455 | 42.79% | 1,188 | 20.71% | -361 | -6.29% | 5,737 |
| Marion | 1,390 | 43.99% | 1,353 | 42.82% | 417 | 13.20% | 37 | 1.17% | 3,160 |
| Marlboro | 1,769 | 63.22% | 522 | 18.66% | 507 | 18.12% | 1,247 | 44.56% | 2,798 |
| McCormick | 485 | 55.81% | 282 | 32.45% | 102 | 11.74% | 203 | 23.36% | 869 |
| Newberry | 2,671 | 52.07% | 1,398 | 27.25% | 1,061 | 20.68% | 1,273 | 24.82% | 5,130 |
| Oconee | 3,510 | 73.17% | 376 | 7.84% | 911 | 18.99% | 2,599 | 54.18% | 4,797 |
| Orangeburg | 2,511 | 36.28% | 2,943 | 42.52% | 1,467 | 21.20% | -432 | -6.24% | 6,921 |
| Pickens | 1,847 | 43.17% | 684 | 15.99% | 1,747 | 40.84% | 100 | 2.33% | 4,278 |
| Richland | 6,154 | 27.49% | 9,516 | 42.51% | 6,714 | 29.99% | -2,802 | -12.52% | 22,384 |
| Saluda | 1,080 | 47.24% | 865 | 37.84% | 341 | 14.92% | 215 | 9.40% | 2,286 |
| Spartanburg | 16,637 | 65.03% | 2,124 | 8.30% | 6,822 | 26.67% | 9,815 | 38.36% | 25,583 |
| Sumter | 937 | 15.53% | 3,741 | 62.00% | 1,356 | 22.47% | -2,385 | -39.53% | 6,034 |
| Union | 3,760 | 66.10% | 676 | 11.88% | 1,252 | 22.01% | 2,508 | 44.09% | 5,688 |
| Williamsburg | 683 | 18.20% | 2,739 | 73.00% | 330 | 8.80% | -2,056 | -54.80% | 3,752 |
| York | 6,835 | 59.25% | 1,192 | 10.33% | 3,508 | 30.41% | 3,327 | 28.84% | 11,535 |
| Totals | 136,372 | 45.37% | 88,509 | 29.45% | 75,700 | 25.18% | 47,863 | 15.92% | 300,583 |

#### Counties that flipped from Democratic to Unpledged

* Florence

#### Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

* Greenville
* Marion
* Newberry
* Pickens

#### Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

* Aiken

#### Counties that flipped from Republican to Unpledged

* Berkeley
* Allendale
* Bamberg
* Calhoun
* Charleston
* Clarendon
* Colleton
* Dorchester
* Edgefield
* Hampton
* Jasper
* Kershaw
* Georgetown
* Lee
* Lexington
* Orangeburg
* Richland
* Sumter
* Williasburg

## Analysis

Ultimately South Carolina was won by Adlai Stevenson II (D–Illinois), running with Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver by a more decisive margin than polls predicted. Stevenson gained 45.37 percent of the popular vote thanks to his continued dominance of the upcountry, whilst Eisenhower and the unpledged slate divided the lowcountry vote, with the unpledged slate finishing second with 29.45 percent and Eisenhower – this time running under the “Republican” banner – with 25.18 percent Wealthier whites left Eisenhower for the unpledged slate in large numbers, but unlike in 1952 when the small number of black voters strongly supported Stevenson, Eisenhower gained substantial, even majority, support from blacks able to vote in Charleston and Columbia.
The 1956 election in South Carolina marks the second of only three times in the 20th century that an incumbent president has finished third in any state. As of the 2024 presidential election, this is the last time that a Republican has been elected president without carrying South Carolina, and the last time that Greenville County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate. It is also the last time that Lexington County was not carried by the Republican candidate.