Weird 1948 vote totals

[johnpressman]

I was looking at the results of the 1948 Presidential Election and a few irregularities caught my attention:

1.  Why did Dewey lose  ALL of the traditionally Republican Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast States except Oregon, even  with California Covernor Warren on the ticket?

2. Why did Third Party Candidate J. Strom Thurmond's vote fluctuate so widely?  87% in MS, 79% in AL, and 20% in neighboring GA?  How about 72% in his home state of SC and 8% in NC???

[jimrtex]

I was looking at the results of the 1948 Presidential Election and a few irregularities caught my attention:

1.  Why did Dewey lose  ALL of the traditionally Republican Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast States except Oregon, even  with California Covernor Warren on the ticket?

2. Why did Third Party Candidate J. Strom Thurmond's vote fluctuate so widely?  87% in MS, 79% in AL, and 20% in neighboring GA?  How about 72% in his home state of SC and 8% in NC???

The Mountain states have a long time populist streak that Truman would appeal to, especially against someone from New York.  Many areas have a relatively significant mining industry, especially immediately after WWII.  In Wyoming, the UPRR is a significant source of employment.

For Thurmond, I would guess that it was the election laws, which may have made it easy or not to get his name on the ballot; or whether one had to vote for electors or a slate of electors directly; whether there was straight ticket voting; etc.  In Alabama, Thurmond was the Democrat candidate.  Assuming they had the same system as they used in 1960 - electors were chosen in the Democratic primary.  There might not even been Truman supporters on that ballot - or visible as such.  In Mississippi, Thurmond was the Democrat candidate.  Truman was the "National Democratic" candidate, a 3rd party candidate.

[RBH]

Thurmond's party label was..

Democratic in Alabama, Mississippi

States Rights Democrat in Arkansas and Texas

State's Rights in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee

Not quite as many labels as Wallace in 1968.

[gorkay]

You also have to keep in mind that those Rocky Mountain and West Coast states were not "traditionally Republican" yet in 1948. Although they usually went Republican, quite a few of them voted for William Jennings Bryan one or more times, for Woodrow Wilson one or more times, and for FDR at least twice, and in some cases three and four times.
The 1948 election has been called "FDR's last victory," since it is theorized that many voters who originally planned to vote for Dewey could not bring themselves at the last minute to reject the nominee of the party that had brought prosperity back to the country.