Who won the 1972 presidential election in the United States?

Richard Nixon won the 1972 presidential election for the Republican Party. Nixon won with 97 percent of the states, while Democrat George McGovern only received the electoral votes of Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.

This election occurred in the midst of the Vietnam War, and the Democrats gained a larger majority in Congress by adding two Senate votes to their number. McGovern held radical, extreme views about the war that turned voters toward Nixon's more moderate and realistic approach. Due to the infamous Watergate Scandal, Nixon did not serve his full term. Instead, in 1974, he resigned from his position prior to being impeached.