Voter Participation in America 1876-1920
With minor exception, American voters demonstrated growing apathy with the major political parties during presidential elections by staying at home on election day.
American voter participation in presidential elections between the end of Reconstruction in 1876 and the end of World War One in 1820 dropped significantly from 82% to 49% with two elections reflecting slight gains in 1896 and 1916. These statistics reflect what specific issues were important to Americans as well as voter apathy in the face of weak executive leadership during most of the post Civil War period. Additional factors include the personalities of the men chosen by their parties to lead the nation.
High Voter Participation in the Election of 1876
1876 represented a watershed year in late 19th-century politics. Although two reform governors were vying for the presidency, the issues included rampant government corruption and graft both on the federal level under Ulysses Grant and in local state and city governments. Additionally, northern voters had grown weary of Reconstruction, seeking to move on to new challenges associated with rising industrialization and urbanization.
The Election of 1876 was a dirty campaign. Propaganda and outright lies dominated the newspapers, mostly on behalf of Republican Rutherford B. Hayes. Although Samuel Tilden won the popular vote, he was denied the electoral vote through an extraordinary compromise between the parties. High voter participation reflected the pressures to put the Civil War and Reconstruction behind the national psyche.
The Decline in Voter Participation
Most historians of this period agree that the presidents between Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt were lackluster with Grover Cleveland being a “cut above.” Additionally, Congressional power and leadership grew at the expense of a weak executive branch. Further, there were few burning issues that separated the parties. Both major parties were intricately tied to the eastern banking establishment and the “trusts.”
Between 1894 and 1896, voter participation rose briefly to 79%. These elections produced significant gains for the Republican Party. Middle class voters responded to labor unrest characterized by violence such as the 1892 strike at the Homestead steel plant in Pennsylvania. In May 1894, just months before the mid-term election, the Pullman strike in Chicago suggested the influence of socialists. The strike, led by Eugene Debs, cost several lives and resulted in property destruction of nearly a half million dollars. Americans in 1894 and 1896 went to the polls to affirm law and order and identified the Republican Party as the best assurance of that goal.
Minor Increases in the Early 20th Century
The election of Teddy Roosevelt in 1904 saw an increase in voter participation to 65%. Roosevelt was highly popular and defeated Alton Parker by over two and a half million votes. His “Square Deal” resonated with the public and his leadership style broke with the previous centuries examples.
In 1916, Woodrow Wilson won reelection as 62% of voters went to the polls. Although the results were close and Republican Charles Evans Hughes initially thought he had won, Wilson’s slogan “he kept us out of war” as well as the progressive reforms coming out of his legislative nationalism enabled him to win. The Great War in Europe was a key issue for Americans and Hughes appeared to advocate a tougher stand on Germany.
By 1920, voter participation had fallen to the lowest level – 49%. Although neither candidate was popular or charismatic in any way, Warren Harding’s so-called “return to normalcy” trumped James Cox’s endorsement of the League of Nations. Americans were tired of war and tired of entangling alliances. There was no compelling issue to bring out the voters in great masses. Harding won a landslide victory.
Sources:
Statistics taken from America Past and Present by Robert Divine, T. H. Breen, and others, (Pearson/Longman, 2007) p. 676.
Paul F. Boller, Jr., Presidential Campaigns From George Washington to George W. Bush (Oxford University Press, 2004).
William A. DeGregorio, The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents From George Washington to George W. Bush (New York: Gramercy Books, 2001).
Lewis L. Gould, The Most Exclusive Club: A History of the Modern United States Senate (Basic Books, 2005).
Page Smith, America Enters the World: A People’s History of the Progressive Era and World War I Vol. 7 (McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1985).
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