The 1908 United States presidential election in Utah was held on November 3, 1908, throughout all forty-six contemporary states as part of the 1908 United States presidential election. State voters chose three representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. This was the last election when Utah had the minimum three electoral votes as it would gain a second congressional district after the 1910 Census.
Although Democrat/Populist Bryan had carried Utah in its debut presidential election by a five-to-one margin, the Republican Party – ditching ancestral hostility to the state's dominant Mormon religionPeterson, Charles S.; Utah: A History; pp. 163-164 – was soon able to take control of the state, despite a threat from the anti-Mormon "American Party" in urban areas with sizeable non-Mormon ("Gentile") populations.Wahlquist, C. Austin; 'The 1912 Presidential Election in Utah' (A Thesis Presented to the Department of History, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah) In its third election of 1904, Utah had given a virtual two-to-one majority for Theodore Roosevelt against New York Democrat Alton B. Parker, who carried only Dixie's Washington County.
Believing that the election could only be won in the West and Midwest,Deskins, Donald Richard; Walton, Hanes and Puckett, Sherman C.; Presidential Elections, 1789-2008: County, State, and National Mapping of Election Data, p. 286 Bryan – who had had no trouble winning a third Democratic nomination – chose Indiana's John Worth Kern as his running mate. However, although many in the media supported the election of Bryan and praised his policies, the rapid recovery from the "Panic of 1907" meant that Bryan struggled severely in the Progressive-minded Western States once campaigning began.Hornig, Edgar A.; 'Campaign Issues in the Presidential Election of 1908'; Indiana Magazine of History, vol. 54, no. 3 (September 1958), pp. 237-264
The antagonism towards Bryan of business meant that Taft had little trouble repeating Theodore Roosevelt's triumph of 1904, although Bryan was able to cut Alton Parker's losing margin from 29 to 17 percentage points. Taft would win Utah by a margin of 17.04%. A powerful socialist movement in mining districtsSalvatore, Nick; Eugene V. Debs: Citizen and Socialist, p. 220 failed to equal Debs' support from the 1904 election as his policies were not considered feasible or were co-opted by the two major parties. Taft was further helped by the unseating of delegates for Bryan as a result of conflict between pro- and anti-Mormon factions.'Both Parties Claim Northwest States: Republicans Seem to Have Best Chance in Wyoming and Colorado'; The New York Times, August 26, 1908, p. 4
Four years later, Utah would become one of the only two states that Taft would carry in his attempt for reelection, the other being Vermont.
Results + General Election ResultsUtah State Archives, Abstract of the Returns of an Election held in the State of Utah, Tuesday, November 3rd, A.D. 1908 for Presidential Electors, for Representative in the Sixty-First Congress of the United States, for State Officers, and for District Officers in Districts comprising more than one county, and for the Adoption of Rejection of Proposed Amendments to the Constitution of this State.Party Pledged to Elector Votes Republican Party William Howard Taft Lafayette Holbrook61,028 Republican Party William Howard Taft Thomas Sevy61,015 Republican Party William Howard Taft Henry Cohn60,968 Democratic Party William Jennings Bryan Frank B. Stephens42,601 Democratic Party William Jennings Bryan Aquilla Nebeker42,554 Democratic Party William Jennings Bryan James Andrus42,400 Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs R. Leggett4,895 Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs M. M. Johnson4,875 Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs J. C. Edgar4,822 Independence Party Thomas L. Hisgen Abner N. Thompson87 Independence Party Thomas L. Hisgen Frank J. Tierney81 Independence Party Thomas L. Hisgen D. D. Crawford80 Write-in Scattering2Votes cast 108,613
Results by county County William Howard TaftRepublican William Jennings BryanDemocratic Eugene V. DebsSocialist Thomas L. HisgenIndependenceMarginTotal votes cast # % # % # % # % # %Beaver 94556.02%71442.32%271.60%10.06%23113.69%1,687Box Elder 2,39662.15%1,41736.76%401.04%20.05%97925.40%3,855Cache 3,78752.81%3,31746.26%640.89%30.04%4706.55%7,171Carbon 1,02359.82%58133.98%1066.20%00.00%44225.85%1,710Davis 1,73655.89%1,33142.85%341.09%50.16%40513.04%3,106Emery 1,09754.74%74937.38%1587.88%00.00%34817.37%2,004Garfield 72268.50%29027.51%423.98%00.00%43240.99%1,054Grand 23248.74%21545.17%245.04%51.05%173.57%476Iron 71255.80%48838.24%765.86%00.00%22417.55%1,276Juab 1,61548.40%1,42142.58%3008.99%10.03%1945.81%3,337Kane 41579.81%10219.62%30.58%00.00%31360.19%520Millard 1,01155.73%76542.17%382.09%00.00%24613.56%1,814Morgan 49458.19%30636.04%495.77%00.00%18822.14%849Piute 33356.54%15726.66%9816.64%10.17%17629.88%589Rich 42559.44%28539.86%50.70%00.00%14019.58%715Salt Lake 20,80558.02%12,95436.12%2,0595.74%410.11%7,85121.89%35,859San Juan 13053.06%10944.49%31.22%31.22%218.57%245Sanpete 3,33457.76%2,30739.97%1282.22%10.02%1,02717.79%5,772Sevier 1,78054.94%1,27239.26%1875.77%10.03%50815.68%3,240Summit 1,61450.87%1,40244.19%1484.66%90.28%2126.68%3,173Tooele 1,10656.03%80840.93%592.99%10.05%29815.10%1,974Uintah 77848.44%68342.53%1459.03%00.00%955.92%1,606Utah 6,37354.82%4,98442.87%2672.30%20.02%1,38911.95%11,626Wasatch 1,26553.83%98541.91%984.17%20.09%28011.91%2,350Washington 74047.56%81052.06%50.32%10.06%-70-4.50%1,556Wayne 27949.91%18432.92%9617.17%00.00%9516.99%559Weber 5,88156.06%3,96537.80%6366.06%80.08%1,91618.27%10,490Total61,02856.19%42,60139.22%4,8954.51%870.08%18,42716.97%108,613
See also United States presidential elections in Utah
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