The 1972 United States presidential election in South Dakota took place on November 7, 1972, as part of the 1972 United States presidential election. Voters chose four representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

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1972 United States presidential election in South Dakota

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Nominee Richard Nixon George McGovern Party Republican Democratic Home state California South Dakota Running mate Spiro Agnew Sargent Shriver Electoral vote 4 0 Popular vote 166,476 139,945 Percentage 54.15% 45.52%

County Results Nixon   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80% McGovern   40-50%   50-60%   70-80%

President before election Richard Nixon Republican Elected President Richard Nixon Republican

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South Dakota was the home state of George McGovern, the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 United States presidential election.

Although McGovern, a member of the liberal wing of his party in a relatively conservative state, was at the time of the election a popular two-term Senator, having won re-election in 1968 with 56.8% of the vote, he lost the presidential vote here to incumbent Republican President Richard Nixon. McGovern's loss was heavily influenced by voter opposition to his perceived far-left ideology. Despite his loss in South Dakota, it was the only state that voted more Democratic in 1972 than it had in 1968. South Dakota was McGovern's fourth strongest state after Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Minnesota.^[1]

McGovern's loss of South Dakota made him the second candidate in four years to lose his state of birth (in 1968 Hubert Humphrey also lost South Dakota, where he was born) and residence (also in 1968 Richard Nixon lost New York, where he then lived). McGovern remained the last candidate to lose his state of residence until 2000, when Al Gore lost his home state of Tennessee. Mitt Romney would also lose his then-home state of Massachusetts in 2012 to Barack Obama, and Donald Trump would lose his then-home state of New York in 2016, to Hillary Clinton (who also lived in New York).

Bon Homme, Deuel, Davison, Clay, Edmunds, Hanson, McCook, Moody, Sanborn, and Union counties all flipped to McGovern, twice the amount he flipped elsewhere nationwide. South Dakota voted in this election as nearly 15 points more Democratic than the nation at-large, a significant historical anomaly considering that the state normally leans very heavily Republican. In fact, this election marked one of only four times since statehood that South Dakota voted to the left of the nation, and the state is tied for the longest Republican streak in presidential elections.

• United States presidential elections in South Dakota