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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 September 2013
The extent of religious influence on the closely contested presidential election of 1960 has been much debated. Many have claimed that the Wisconsin primary revealed a religious split which then became one of the main issues of the campaign. This paper reports the results of an analysis of religious influence on voting in that state for several elections since the campaign of 1928, when Alfred E. Smith was the first major-party presidential candidate of the Roman Catholic faith. The thesis which will be defended is that religious influences on voting in Wisconsin, although much reduced from 1928, were still considerable enough to have been critical in an election as close as that of 1960. Several independent types of evidence from voting returns will be presented to bolster this argument.
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8 In Wisconsin “towns” are highly rural areas which correspond to the townships of most other states.
9 Newspaper reports during the campaign lead one to believe that Vice-Presidential candidate Kefauver attracted the Wisconsin farmers more than Presidential candidate Stevenson did.
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