1952 New Hampshire Republican presidential primary
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 Margin by county
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| Elections in New Hampshire |
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The 1952 New Hampshire Republican presidential primary was held on March 11, 1952, in New Hampshire as one of the Republican Party's statewide nomination contests ahead of the 1952 United States presidential election. General Dwight D. Eisenhower defeated Senator Robert Taft of Ohio by 12 percentage points on his way to eventual nomination by the Republican Party for President and victory in the 1952 election against Democrat Adlai Stevenson.[1][2]
Electoral system
After the 1948 presidential primary, the New Hampshire state legislature, concerned by low voter turnout, passed a law that introduced a "presidential preference primary" to the election.[3] For the first time, ballots would include the candidates' names—voters could indicate their preference for candidates for president and vice president directly, as well as indirectly by voting for the delegates their party would sent to the convention, where the candidates for president and vice president would be nominated.
Because the "direct" votes had no bearing on the election of delegates, this new feature of the election was described as a "beauty contest" between the major candidates.[4] Delegates were still elected separately, but under the new rules they could indicate their allegiance as "pledged" or "favorable" to a candidate, only the former of which was legally binding and required the candidate's written consent.[3] All Republican delegates in 1952 ran as "favorable" or undeclared; none were "pledged" to a candidate.[1]
Results
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Delegates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dwight D. Eisenhower | 46,661 | 50.2% | 14 |
| Robert A. Taft | 35,838 | 38.6% | 0 |
| Harold Stassen | 6,574 | 7.1% | 0 |
| Douglas MacArthur | 3,227 | 3.5% | 0 |
| Other | 565 | 0.6% | 0 |
| Total | 92,865 | 100% | 14 |
References
- ^ a b c New Hampshire. Dept. of State (1953). Manual for the General Court. University of New Hampshire Library. Concord, N.H. : Dept. of State. pp. 302–425.
- ^ Times, John H. Fenton Special to The New York (February 27, 1972). "First New Hampshire Primary Put Eisenhower on Way in '52". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
- ^ a b Secretary of State of the State of New Hampshire (January 1, 1949). "Laws of the state of New Hampshire, passed January session, 1949. Legislature convened January 5, adjourned July 27". Laws of the State of New Hampshire: 49–50, 199–201.
- ^ Dishman, Robert B. (1953). "How It All Began: The Eisenhower Pre-Convention Campaign in New Hampshire, 1952". The New England Quarterly. 26 (1): 3–26. doi:10.2307/362333. ISSN 0028-4866.