1948 United States presidential election in Utah
November 2, 1948
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County Results
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| Elections in Utah |
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The 1948 United States presidential election in Utah was held on November 2, 1948, as part of the 1948 United States presidential election. State voters chose four electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Utah was won by Democratic Party candidate Harry S. Truman, who carried the state with 53.98 percent of the popular vote and winning its four electoral votes.[1] As of the 2024 presidential election, this is the last election in which Davis County and Uintah County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.[2]
This was the last election in which Utah voted more Democratic than the nation. After 1948, the state would shift strongly toward the Republican Party, only backing the Democratic presidential nominee once more, during Lyndon B. Johnson's 1964 landslide, and in many election cycles afterward being the most Republican state in the nation. As of 2024 this is also the last time that Utah voted more Democratic than Illinois.
This was the first election in which Utah utilized the short ballot for presidential electors rather than voting for electors directly.
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Harry S. Truman (inc.) | 149,151 | 53.98% | |
| Republican | Thomas E. Dewey | 124,402 | 45.02% | |
| Progressive | Henry A. Wallace | 2,679 | 0.97% | |
| Socialist Workers | Farrell Dobbs | 73 | 0.03% | |
| Total votes | 276,305 | 100.00% | ||
Results by county
| County[3][1][4] | Harry S. Truman Democratic |
Thomas E. Dewey Republican |
Henry A. Wallace Progressive |
Farrell Dobbs Socialist Workers |
Margin | Total votes cast | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Beaver | 1,190 | 52.56% | 1,057 | 46.69% | 17 | 0.75% | 0 | 0.00% | 133 | 5.87% | 2,264 |
| Box Elder | 3,667 | 49.06% | 3,790 | 50.70% | 18 | 0.24% | 0 | 0.00% | -123 | -1.65% | 7,475 |
| Cache | 6,383 | 49.30% | 6,514 | 50.32% | 46 | 0.36% | 3 | 0.02% | -131 | -1.01% | 12,946 |
| Carbon | 6,397 | 68.34% | 2,704 | 28.89% | 254 | 2.71% | 5 | 0.05% | 3,693 | 39.46% | 9,360 |
| Daggett | 95 | 57.58% | 69 | 41.82% | 1 | 0.61% | 0 | 0.00% | 26 | 15.76% | 165 |
| Davis | 6,147 | 56.21% | 4,718 | 43.14% | 71 | 0.65% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,429 | 13.07% | 10,936 |
| Duchesne | 1,588 | 55.33% | 1,266 | 44.11% | 16 | 0.56% | 0 | 0.00% | 322 | 11.22% | 2,870 |
| Emery | 1,511 | 56.53% | 1,147 | 42.91% | 14 | 0.52% | 1 | 0.04% | 364 | 13.62% | 2,673 |
| Garfield | 642 | 40.97% | 924 | 58.97% | 1 | 0.06% | 0 | 0.00% | -282 | -18.00% | 1,567 |
| Grand | 400 | 48.37% | 418 | 50.54% | 9 | 1.09% | 0 | 0.00% | -18 | -2.18% | 827 |
| Iron | 1,596 | 40.81% | 2,289 | 58.53% | 24 | 0.61% | 2 | 0.05% | -693 | -17.72% | 3,911 |
| Juab | 1,501 | 51.55% | 1,396 | 47.94% | 13 | 0.45% | 2 | 0.07% | 105 | 3.61% | 2,912 |
| Kane | 220 | 22.24% | 769 | 77.76% | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | -549 | -55.51% | 989 |
| Millard | 1,817 | 45.10% | 2,184 | 54.21% | 26 | 0.65% | 2 | 0.05% | -367 | -9.11% | 4,029 |
| Morgan | 670 | 52.96% | 587 | 46.40% | 7 | 0.55% | 1 | 0.08% | 83 | 6.56% | 1,265 |
| Piute | 315 | 41.28% | 440 | 57.67% | 8 | 1.05% | 0 | 0.00% | -125 | -16.38% | 763 |
| Rich | 366 | 47.78% | 399 | 52.09% | 1 | 0.13% | 0 | 0.00% | -33 | -4.31% | 766 |
| Salt Lake | 62,957 | 53.85% | 52,479 | 44.89% | 1,453 | 1.24% | 28 | 0.02% | 10,478 | 8.96% | 116,917 |
| San Juan | 418 | 42.52% | 558 | 56.77% | 5 | 0.51% | 2 | 0.20% | -140 | -14.24% | 983 |
| Sanpete | 3,041 | 47.43% | 3,336 | 52.03% | 32 | 0.50% | 3[a] | 0.05% | -295 | -4.60% | 6,412 |
| Sevier | 1,943 | 40.91% | 2,791 | 58.76% | 15 | 0.32% | 1 | 0.02% | -848 | -17.85% | 4,750 |
| Summit | 1,556 | 48.53% | 1,617 | 50.44% | 33 | 1.03% | 0 | 0.00% | -61 | -1.90% | 3,206 |
| Tooele | 2,798 | 57.29% | 2,036 | 41.69% | 48 | 0.98% | 2 | 0.04% | 762 | 15.60% | 4,884 |
| Uintah | 1,622 | 51.44% | 1,513 | 47.99% | 17 | 0.54% | 1 | 0.03% | 109 | 3.46% | 3,153 |
| Utah | 16,191 | 54.18% | 13,395 | 44.82% | 296 | 0.99% | 4 | 0.01% | 2,796 | 9.36% | 29,886 |
| Wasatch | 1,219 | 51.03% | 1,165 | 48.77% | 5 | 0.21% | 0 | 0.00% | 54 | 2.26% | 2,389 |
| Washington | 1,580 | 43.68% | 2,029 | 56.10% | 6 | 0.17% | 2 | 0.06% | -449 | -12.41% | 3,617 |
| Wayne | 460 | 55.35% | 367 | 44.16% | 4 | 0.48% | 0 | 0.00% | 93 | 11.19% | 831 |
| Weber | 20,861 | 62.16% | 12,445 | 37.08% | 239 | 0.71% | 14 | 0.04% | 8,416 | 25.08% | 33,559 |
| Totals | 149,151 | 53.98% | 124,402 | 45.02% | 2,679 | 0.97% | 73 | 0.03% | 24,749 | 8.96% | 276,305 |
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
See also
Notes
- ^ The printed statewide abstract, which is cited by Scammon, Leip, et al. contains a typo for Dobbs in this county. The correct figure is 3 and can be found on both the original handwritten state abstract and the county return which contains the results by precinct. Both of those documents are located at the state archives in Salt Lake City.
References
- ^ a b "1948 Presidential General Election Results - Utah". Retrieved December 29, 2025.
- ^ Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
- ^ a b Utah State Archives, Abstract of the Returns of an Election held in the State of Utah, Tuesday, November 2, A.D. 1948 for President and Vice-President of the United States, for Representatives in the Eighty-First Congress, for State Officers, and District Officers in Districts comprising more than one County, and for the adoption of rejection of the proposed Amendment to the Constitution of the State of Utah.
- ^ Scammon, Richard M., ed. (1965). America at the Polls: A Handbook of American Presidential Election Statistics, 1920-1964. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. p. 460. Retrieved December 29, 2025.