1972 Republican Party presidential primaries

From March 7 to June 6, 1972, voters of the Republican Party chose its nominee for president in the 1972 United States presidential election. Incumbent President Richard Nixon was again selected as the nominee through a series of primary elections and caucuses culminating in the 1972 Republican National Convention held from August 21 to August 23, 1972, in Miami, Florida.

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March 7 to June 6, 1972

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Candidate	Richard Nixon	Uncommitted	John M. Ashbrook
Home state	California	N/A	Ohio
Contests won	18	0	0
Popular vote	5,378,704	317,048	311,543
Percentage	86.9%	5.1%	5.0%

First place finishes by preference primary results

Previous Republican nominee

Richard Nixon

Republican nominee

Richard Nixon

Candidates

Nominee

Candidate			Most recent office	Home state	Campaign Withdrawal date	Popular vote	Contests won	Running mate
Richard Nixon			President of the United States (1969–1974)	California	(Campaign) Secured nomination: August 23, 1972	5,378,704 (86.9%)	18	Spiro Agnew

Withdrew during primaries

Candidate			Most recent office	Home state	Campaign Withdrawal date	Popular vote	Contests won
John M. Ashbrook			U.S. Representative from Ohio (1961–1982)	Ohio		311,543 (5.0%)	0
Pete McCloskey			U.S. Representative from California (1967–1983)	California		132,731 (2.1%)	0

Endorsements

List of Richard Nixon 1972 presidential campaign endorsements

Cabinet Members

David Packard, United States Deputy Secretary of Defense (1969–1971)
William P. Rogers, United States Secretary of State (1969–1973)

Senators

Bob Dole (R-KS)
Jacob Javits (R-NY)
Charles H. Percy (R-IL)

Former Representatives

William M. Tuck, (D-VA)

Governors

William T. Cahill (R-NJ)
Thomas Meskill (R-CT)
Richard B. Ogilvie (R-IL)
Ronald Reagan (R-CA)
Nelson Rockefeller (R-NY)

Former Governors

C. Farris Bryant, (D-FL)
John Connally, (D-TX)
Mills Godwin, (D-VA)
Marvin Griffin, (D-GA)
Allan Shivers, (D-TX)
John Bell Williams, (D-MS)

Celebrities

Jack Benny, comedian
Joan Blondell, actress
James Brown, singer
Jim Brown, football player
Ray Bolger, actor
Nick Buoniconti, football player
George Burns, comedian
Glen Campbell, musician
Wilt Chamberlain, basketball player
Christopher Connelly, actor
Sammy Davis Jr., singer and actor
Zsa Zsa Gabor, actress
Johnny Grant, radio personality
Merv Griffin, television personality
George Hamilton, actor
Charlton Heston, actor
Bob Hope, comedian
Art Linkletter, radio personality
Dick Martin, comedian
Mary Tyler Moore, actress
Merlin Olsen, football player
Debbie Reynolds, actress
Dan Rowan, actor
Gale Sayers, football player
Frank Sinatra, singer
Red Skelton, entertainer
James Stewart, actor
Howard Twilley, football player
John Wayne, actor

Polling

National polling

Poll source	Publication	John Ashbrook	Pete McCloskey	Richard Nixon
Gallup	Feb. 1972	5%	6%	83%

Overview of the race

Nixon was a popular incumbent president in 1972, as he seemed to have reached détente with China and the USSR. He shrugged off the first glimmers of that, after the election, because of 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-Vietnam war candidate dedicated to a much more clearly liberal position compared to Nixon's ambiguity approach within the party, while Ashbrook was dedicated to a much more clearly conservative position than Nixon and opposed Nixon's détente policies towards China and the Soviet Union. In the New Hampshire primary McCloskey's platform of peace garnered 19.7% of the vote to Nixon's 67.9%, with Ashbrook receiving 10.9% and comedian Pat Paulsen receiving 1.1%. Having previously stated that he would withdraw from the race had he not achieved 20% of the vote, McCloskey did so.

Nixon won 1,347 of the 1,348 delegates to the GOP convention, with McCloskey receiving the vote of one delegate from New Mexico.

Timeline of the race

March 7

1972 Republican Party primary in New Hampshire
Candidate	Votes	%
Richard M. Nixon (incumbent)	79,239	67.6
Paul N. McCloskey	23,190	19.8
John M. Ashbrook	11,362	9.7
Others	3,417	2.9
Total votes	117,208	100.0

March 14

1972 Republican Party primary in Florida
Candidate	Votes	%
Richard M. Nixon (incumbent)	360,278	87
John M. Ashbrook	36,617	8.8
Paul N. McCloskey	17,312	4.2
Total votes	414,207	100

March 21

1972 Republican Party primary in Illinois
Candidate	Votes	%
Richard M. Nixon (incumbent)	32,550	97
John M. Ashbrook	170	0.5
Paul N. McCloskey	47	0.1
Others	802	2.4
Total votes	33,569	100

April 4

1972 Republican Party primary in Wisconsin
Candidate	Votes	%
Richard M. Nixon (incumbent)	277,601	96.9
Paul N. McCloskey	3,651	1.3
John M. Ashbrook	2,604	0.9
"None of the names shown"	2,315	0.8
Others	273	0.1
Total votes	286,444	100

April 25

1972 Republican Party primary in Massachusetts
Candidate	Votes	%
Richard M. Nixon (incumbent)	99,150	81.2
Paul N. McCloskey	16,435	13.5
John M. Ashbrook	4,864	4
Others	1,690	1.4
Total votes	122,139	100

1972 Republican Party primary in Pennsylvania
Candidate	Votes	%
Richard M. Nixon (incumbent)	153,886	83.3
George C. Wallace	20,472	11.1
Others	10,443	5.7
Total votes	184,801	100

May 2

1972 Republican Party primary in Indiana
Candidate		Votes	%
Richard M. Nixon (incumbent)		417,069	100
Total votes		417,069	100

1972 Republican Party primary in Ohio
Candidate		Votes	%
Richard M. Nixon (incumbent)		692,828	100
Total votes		692,828	100

May 4

1972 Republican Party primary in Tennessee
Candidate	Votes	%
Richard M. Nixon (incumbent)	109,696	95.8
John M. Ashbrook	2,419	2.1
Paul N. McCloskey	2,370	2.1
Others	4	0
Total votes	114,489	100

May 6

1972 Republican Party primary in North Carolina
Candidate	Votes	%
Richard M. Nixon (incumbent)	159,167	94.8
Paul N. McCloskey	8,732	5.2
Total votes	167,899	100

May 9

1972 Republican Party primary in Nebraska
Candidate	Votes	%
Richard M. Nixon (incumbent)	179,464	92.4
Paul N. McCloskey	9,011	4.6
John M. Ashbrook	4,996	2.6
Others	801	0.4
Total votes	194,272	100

1972 Republican Party primary in West Virginia
Candidate		Votes	%
Unpledged delegates at large		95,813	100
Total votes		95,813	100

May 16

1972 Republican Party primary in Maryland
Candidate	Votes	%
Richard M. Nixon (incumbent)	99,308	86.2
Paul N. McCloskey	9,223	8
John M. Ashbrook	6,718	5.8
Total votes	115,249	100

1972 Republican Party primary in Michigan
Candidate	Votes	%
Richard M. Nixon (incumbent)	321,652	95.5
Paul N. McCloskey	9,691	2.9
Unpledged delegates	5,370	1.6
Others	30	0
Total votes	336,743	100

May 23

1972 Republican Party primary in Oregon
Candidate	Votes	%
Richard M. Nixon (incumbent)	231,151	82
Paul N. McCloskey	29,365	10.4
John M. Ashbrook	16,696	5.9
Others	4,798	1.7
Total votes	282,010	100

1972 Republican Party primary in Rhode Island
Candidate	Votes	%
Richard M. Nixon (incumbent)	4,953	88.3
Paul N. McCloskey	337	6
John M. Ashbrook	175	3.1
Unpledged delegates at large	146	2.6
Total votes	5,611	100

June 6

1972 Republican Party primary in California
Candidate	Votes	%
Richard M. Nixon (incumbent)	2,058,825	90.1
John M. Ashbrook	224,922	9.8
Others	175	0
Total votes	2,283,922	100

1972 Republican Party primary in New Jersey
Candidate		Votes	%
Unpledged delegates at large		215,719	100
Total votes		215,719	100

1972 Republican Party primary in New Mexico
Candidate	Votes	%
Richard M. Nixon (incumbent)	49,067	88.5
Paul N. McCloskey	3,367	5.5
"None of the names shown"	3,035	5.5
Total votes	104,536	100

1972 Republican Party primary in South Dakota
Candidate		Votes	%
Richard M. Nixon (incumbent)		52,820	100
Total votes		52,820	100

Results by popular vote

1972 Republican Party presidential primaries
Candidate	Votes	%
Richard M. Nixon (incumbent)	5,378,704	86.9
Unpledged delegates	317,048	5.1
John M. Ashbrook	311,543	5.0
Paul N. McCloskey	132,731	2.1
George C. Wallace	20,472	0.3
"None of the names shown"	5,350	0.1
Others	22,433	0.4
Total votes	6,188,281	100