page_title: Electoral history of George McGovern
section_title: 1972 presidential election
hierarchical_section_title: Electoral history of George McGovern / 1972 presidential election
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of the results of the 1972 Democratic Primaries
context_page_description: George McGovern, a Democratic Party politician from South Dakota, was first elected to the United States House of Representatives to represent South Dakota's 1st congressional district in 1956. He was re-elected in 1958, before making an unsuccessful run for the United States Senate in 1960 against Republican incumbent Karl Earl Mundt. After serving in the John F. Kennedy administration as director of the Food for Peace program, McGovern ran again for the Senate and narrowly prevailed over appointed Senator Joseph H. Bottum. In 1968, McGovern unsuccessfully sought the Democratic Party's presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention and was re-elected to the Senate over former Governor of South Dakota Archie M. Gubbrud. In 1972, McGovern was successful in his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, but lost the election in a landslide to incumbent President Richard Nixon. McGovern was re-elected to the Senate in 1974 over Vietnam War veteran Leo K. Thorsness, but lost re-election in 1980 to then-U.S. Representative James Abdnor. McGovern made a final unsuccessful run for president in 1984 United States presidential election.
context_section_description: 1972 democratic Presidential primaries
  Hubert Humphrey - 4,121,372 (25.77%)
  George McGovern - 4,053,451 (25.34%)
  George Wallace - 3,755,424 (23.48%)
  Edmund Muskie - 1,840,217 (11.51%)
  Eugene McCarthy - 553,990 (3.46%)
  Henry M. Jackson - 505,198 (3.16%)
  Shirley Chisholm - 430,703 (2.69%)
  Terry Sanford - 331,415 (2.07%)
  John Lindsay - 196,406 (1.23%)
  Samuel Yorty - 79,446 (0.50%)
  Wilbur Mills - 37,401 (0.23%)
  Walter E. Fauntroy - 21,217 (0.13%)
  Unpledged - 19,533 (0.12%)
  Ted Kennedy - 16,693 (0.10%)
  Vance Hartke - 11,798 (0.07%)
  Patsy Mink - 8,286 (0.05%)
  None - 6,269 (0.04%)
  1972 Democratic National Convention (presidential tally):
  George McGovern - 1,729 (57.37%)
  Henry M. Jackson - 525 (17.42%)
  George Wallace - 382 (12.67%)
  Shirley Chisholm - 152 (5.04%)
  Terry Sanford - 78 (2.59%)
  Hubert Humphrey - 67 (2.22%)
  Wilbur Mills - 34 (1.13%)
  Edmund Muskie - 25 (0.83%)
  Ted Kennedy - 13 (0.43%)
  Wayne L. Hays - 5 (0.17%)
  Eugene McCarthy - 2 (0.07%)
  Ramsey Clark - 1 (0.03%)
  Walter Mondale - 1 (0.03%)
  1972 Liberal Party Convention (presidential tally):
  George McGovern - 218 (95.61%)
  Benjamin Spock - 8 (3.51%)
  Abstaining - 2 (0.88%)
  1972 United States presidential election:
  Richard Nixon/Spiro Agnew (R) (inc.) - 47,168,710 (60.7%) and 520 electoral votes (49 states carried)
  George McGovern/Sargent Shriver (D) - 29,173,222 (37.5%) and 17 electoral votes (1 state and D.C. carried)
  John Hospers/Theodora Nathan (LBT) - 3,674 (0.0%) and 1 electoral vote (Virginia Republican faithless elector)
  John G. Schmitz/Thomas J. Anderson (AI) - 1,100,868 (1.4%)
  Linda Jenness/Andrew Pulley (Socialist Workers) - 83,380 (0.1%)
  Benjamin Spock/Julius Hobson (People's) - 78,759 (0.1%)
  Others - 135,414 (0.2%)
  South Dakota United States Senate election, 1974:
  George McGovern (D) (inc.) - 147,929 (53.04%)
  Leo K. Thorsness (R) - 130,955 (46.96%)
caption: 1972 Democratic primaries by state results
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