Republican Party (United States) presidential primaries, 1972

Infobox Election
election_name = Republican Party Presidential Primaries, 1972
country = United States
type = presidential
ongoing = no
previous_election = Republican Party (United States) presidential primaries, 1968
previous_year = 1968
next_election = Republican Party (United States) presidential primaries, 1976
next_year = 1976
election_date = 1972

nominee1 = Richard Nixon
party1 = Republican Party (United States)
home_state1 = California
states_carried1 = 50
popular_vote1 = 5,378,704
percentage1 = 86.92%

nominee2 = John M. Ashbrook
party2 = Republican Party (United States)
home_state2 = Ohio
states_carried2 = 0
popular_vote2 = 317,048
percentage2 = 5.12%

nominee3 = Pete McCloskey
party3 = Republican Party (United States)
home_state3 = California
states_carried3 = 0
popular_vote3 = 132,731
percentage3 = 2.15%

map_

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map_size = 400px
map_caption = Nixon won ever statewide contest with a huge margin
before_election = Richard Nixon
before_party =
after_election = Gerald Ford

after_party = Nixon was a popular incumbent president in 1972, as he seemed to have reached détente with China and USSR. He shrugged off the first glimmers of what, after the election, became the massive Watergate scandal.

Polls showed that Nixon had a strong lead. He was challenged by two minor candidates, liberal Pete McCloskey of California and conservative John Ashbrook of Ohio. McCloskey ran as an anti-war and anti-Nixon candidate, while Ashbrook opposed Nixon's détente policies towards the China and the Soviet Union. In the New Hampshire primary McCloskey's platform of peace garnered 11% of the vote to Nixon's 83%, with Ashbrook receiving 6%.

Nixon won 1323 of the 1324 delegates to the GOP convention, with McCloskey receiving the vote of one delegate from New Mexico.

Candidates

References