1972 United States presidential election in Alaska

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

Alaska was won by incumbent President Richard Nixon (R-California) with 58.1% of the popular vote against George McGovern (D-South Dakota) with 34.6%. Nixon ultimately won the national vote as well, defeating McGovern and Representative John G. Schmitz (R-California), who ran under the American Independent Party ticket.

Boroughs and Census Areas that flipped from Democratic to Republican

 * Juneau
 * Kenai Peninsula Borough
 * Nome Census Area
 * Petersburg Borough
 * Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area
 * Yakutat

Analysis
Although Alaska has only voted Democratic once, which was for Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, during the state's first four presidential elections Alaska was not substantially more Republican than the nation at-large: indeed owing to a fairly strong third-party campaign Nixon won 2.57 percent less of the vote in Alaska that over the entire country, although McGovern received 2.88 percent less than his national share.

While Alaska would prove to be John Schmitz's second strongest state after Idaho, he failed to equal the success of George Wallace’s campaign in the previous election. This is the only time that Alaska voted to the left of Hawaii.