Introduction
This is a revision of the United States presidential election of 1956, the year of Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s landslide reelection.
The previous presidential election, the one in 1952, was also a landslide for President Eisenhower. Eisenhower received 55.2% of the popular vote that year to Democrat Adlai Stevenson’s 44.3%, and I intend to keep these totals somewhat similar to that of the current timeline/version of history. In other words, the 1952 election will be virtually unchanged.
In the 1956 election of the current timeline, a rematch between Eisenhower and Stevenson, it was a slightly bigger landslide of over 15 percentage points compared to the nearly 11-point margin of 1952. But in this revised version of history, the 1956 election has a much larger margin of victory in favor of Eisenhower. Eisenhower has 62.7% of the popular vote compared to Stevenson’s 36.9%, and this results in a margin of nearly 26 percentage points!
I figured I’d do this since the 1950s was a very patriotic era in U.S. history, as it came in the aftermath of World War II. Also, Eisenhower was one of the most popular American presidents of the mid-20th century.
The revised election below is organized state-by-state in alphabetical order, for a total of 48 states; this takes place before Alaska and Hawaii are annexed and the District of Columbia is included in presidential elections.
United States presidential election, 1956 (results estimated)
Alabama
Adlai Stevenson (D): 272,262 (54.8%)
Dwight D. Eisenhower (R): 214,542 (43.2%)
Other: 10,167 (2%)
Total: 496,971
Arizona
Eisenhower: 193,061 (66.5%)
Stevenson: 96,909 (33.4%)
Other: 303 (0.1%)
Total: 290,273
Arkansas
Eisenhower: 210,493 (51.8%)
Stevenson: 192,675 (47.4%)
Other: 3,504 (0.9%)
Total: 406,672
California
Eisenhower: 3,493,640 (63.9%)
Stevenson: 1,955,163 (35.8%)
Other: 18,552 (0.3%)
Total: 5,467,355
Colorado
Eisenhower: 447,642 (67.5%)
Stevenson: 210,934 (31.8%)
Other: 4,598 (0.7%)
Total: 663,174
Connecticut
Eisenhower: 712,564 (63.8%)
Stevenson: 404,452 (36.2%)
Other: 205 (0.0%)
Total: 1,117,221
Delaware
Eisenhower: 106,621 (59.9%)
Stevenson: 70,957 (39.8%)
Other: 510 (0.3%)
Total: 178,088
Florida
Eisenhower: 708,546 (63%)
Stevenson: 415,774 (37%)
Total: 1,124,320
Georgia
Stevenson: 402,965 (60.7%)
Eisenhower: 254,881 (38.4%)
Other: 5,734 (0.9%)
Total: 663,580
Idaho
Eisenhower: 197,798 (72.4%)
Stevenson: 75,149 (27.5%)
Other: 142 (0.1%)
Total: 273,089
Illinois
Eisenhower: 2,777,611 (63%)
Stevenson: 1,621,498 (36.8%)
Other: 8,398 (0.2%)
Total: 4,407,507
Indiana
Eisenhower: 1,306,269 (66.2%)
Stevenson: 660,550 (33.5%)
Other: 7,888 (0.4%)
Total: 1,974,707
Iowa
Eisenhower: 812,656 (65.8%)
Stevenson: 418,489 (33.9%)
Other: 3,519 (0.3%)
Total: 1,234,664
Kansas
Eisenhower: 623,247 (71.9%)
Stevenson: 240,048 (27.7%)
Other: 3,048 (0.4%)
Total: 866,343
Kentucky
Eisenhower: 611,792 (58.1%)
Stevenson: 436,953 (41.5%)
Other: 5,160 (0.5%)
Total: 1,053,905
Louisiana
Eisenhower: 340,754 (55.2%)
Stevenson: 254,630 (41.2%)
Other: 22,260 (3.6%)
Total: 617,644
Maine
Eisenhower: 249,606 (70.9%)
Stevenson: 102,200 (29.1%)
Total: 351,806
Maryland
Eisenhower: 592,479 (63.5%)
Stevenson: 339,972 (36.5%)
Total: 932,451
Massachusetts
Eisenhower: 1,463,651 (62.3%)
Stevenson: 877,836 (37.4%)
Other: 7,119 (0.3%)
Total: 2,348,606
Michigan
Eisenhower: 1,960,165 (63.6%)
Stevenson: 1,113,480 (36.1%)
Other: 6,923 (0.2%)
Total: 3,080,568
Minnesota
Eisenhower: 769,622 (57.4%)
Stevenson: 567,305 (42.3%)
Other: 3,178 (0.2%)
Total: 1,340,105
Mississippi
Stevenson: 119,018 (47.9%)
Eisenhower: 118,489 (47.7%)
Other: 10,742 (4.3%)
Total: 248,249
Missouri
Eisenhower: 1,079,255 (58.9%)
Stevenson: 753,407 (41.1%)
Total: 1,832,662
Montana
Eisenhower: 180,124 (66.4%)
Stevenson: 91,147 (33.6%)
Total: 271,271
Nebraska
Eisenhower: 428,714 (74.3%)
Stevenson: 148,523 (25.7%)
Total: 577,237
Nevada
Eisenhower: 65,342 (67.5%)
Stevenson: 31,447 (32.5%)
Total: 96,789
New Hampshire
Eisenhower: 181,971 (68.1%)
Stevenson: 85,012 (31.8%)
Other: 111 (0.0%)
Total: 267,094
New Jersey
Eisenhower: 1,634,991 (65.8%)
Stevenson: 822,388 (33.1%)
Other: 27,033 (1.1%)
Total: 2,484,412
New Mexico
Eisenhower: 158,309 (62.3%)
Stevenson: 94,677 (37.3%)
Other: 1,040 (0.4%)
Total: 254,026
New York
Eisenhower: 4,447,440 (62.7%)
Stevenson: 2,644,669 (37.3%)
Other: 2,227 (0.0%)
Total: 7,094,336
North Carolina
Eisenhower: 633,437 (54.3%)
Stevenson: 532,255 (45.7%)
Total: 1,165,692
North Dakota
Eisenhower: 182,920 (72%)
Stevenson: 70,688 (27.8%)
Other: 483 (0.2%)
Total: 254,091
Ohio
Eisenhower: 2,401,724 (64.9%)
Stevenson: 1,300,641 (35.1%)
Total: 3,702,365
Oklahoma
Eisenhower: 538,359 (62.6%)
Stevenson: 321,091 (37.4%)
Total: 859,450
Oregon
Eisenhower: 454,293 (61.8%)
Stevenson: 281,404 (38.2%)
Total: 735,697
Pennsylvania
Eisenhower: 2,928,110 (64%)
Stevenson: 1,639,011 (35.8%)
Other: 9,482 (0.2%)
Total: 4,576,603
Rhode Island
Eisenhower: 228,827 (59%)
Stevenson: 158,882 (41%)
Other: 2 (0.0%)
Total: 387,711
South Carolina
Eisenhower: 172,893 (57.5%)
Stevenson: 105,662 (35.1%)
Other: 22,128 (7.4%)
Total: 300,683
South Dakota
Eisenhower: 206,946 (70.4%)
Stevenson: 87,011 (29.6%)
Total: 293,957
Tennessee
Eisenhower: 545,006 (58%)
Stevenson: 384,193 (40.9%)
Other: 10,305 (1.1%)
Total: 939,504
Texas
Eisenhower: 1,198,028 (61.3%)
Stevenson: 742,649 (38%)
Other: 14,968 (0.8%)
Total: 1,955,645
Utah
Eisenhower: 224,078 (67.1%)
Stevenson: 110,017 (32.9%)
Total: 334,095
Vermont
Eisenhower: 110,614 (72.3%)
Stevenson: 42,425 (27.7%)
Other: 39 (0.0%)
Total: 153,078
Virginia
Eisenhower: 449,841 (64.4%)
Stevenson: 226,357 (32.4%)
Other: 21,880 (3.1%)
Total: 698,078
Washington
Eisenhower: 718,332 (62.4%)
Stevenson: 425,200 (36.9%)
Other: 7,457 (0.6%)
Total: 1,150,989
West Virginia
Eisenhower: 468,063 (56.3%)
Stevenson: 362,868 (43.7%)
Total: 830,931
Wisconsin
Eisenhower: 1,024,675 (66.1%)
Stevenson: 517,037 (33.3%)
Other: 8,946 (0.6%)
Total: 1,550,658
Wyoming
Eisenhower: 88,027 (70.9%)
Stevenson: 36,200 (29.1%)
Total: 124,227
United States (total)
Eisenhower: 38,916,448 (62.7%)
Stevenson: 22,864,080 (36.9%)
Other: 248,051 (0.4%)
Total: 62,028,579