Distribution of votes in the 1952 US presidential election

The 1952Presidential election was contested by Dwight D. Eisenhower of the Republican Party, and Adlai E. Stevenson of the Democratic Party. Incumbent President Harry S. Truman did run in the Democratic primaries, but he was uncustomarily unpopular and dropped out early in the race, with the party's leadership then throwing their support behind Stevenson. Despite not running, the extremely popular Eisenhower had been the early favorite to win the presidency in 1948 (for both parties), however his victory in the Republican convention was narrow. Future-President Richard Nixon was also on the ballot as Eisenhower's running mate, an attempt by Eisenhower's campaign management to appeal to the more conservative wing of the Republican Party.

Campaign

The Eisenhower campaign is also noted as being one of the first campaigns to make a considerable effort to target female voters, by campaigning on issues that he thought would appeal to them, such as education and ending the war in Korea. Eisenhower's broader campaign was built upon his popular reputation from the Second World War, as well as the failures of the Truman administration and the widespread corruption among Democratic politicians. Stevenson, in return, knew that he could not win by attacking Eisenhower personally, and instead criticized other prominent Republicans (particularly John McCarthy) and repeatedly highlighted that the previous Republican president had led the country into the Great Depression. Notably, this campaign was also the first time where a candidate's medical and financial records were made public, something that has become expected in recent elections.

Results

Eisenhower won by a landslide, taking 83 percent of the electoral votes and ending the Democratic Party's 20 year tenure in the White House. Eisenhower carried 39 out of 48 states, taking 55 percent of the popular vote, and becoming the 34th President of the United States of America. Stevenson took over 44 percent of the popular vote, but less than 17 percent of the electoral vote, while no third party candidate took a significant share of either. President Eisenhower and Stevenson would go on to face each other again in the 1956 presidential election.