Students must write an essay in which the body includes 700- words or more with four or more scholarly sources.
This link should help you find a presidential campaign ad to start your research. Remember: always research something YOU are interested in :)
The American Presidency Project is a good place to start for general election information including total, popular, and electoral votes for each party/candidate listed by state as well as totals.
The easiest way to find demographic or exit poll information is to Google your candidate AND their election AND demographics or exit poll information. From there, check your Google results against the sources listed on the Finding Acceptable Sources tab. You may only find demographic projected poll information. Please note: you are doing research and the path will not always be linear or quick. Give yourself plenty of time.
In general, voters were divided by social class but a shift was occurring. Typically, white collar, middle class or higher individuals voted Republican while blue collar, working class individuals voted Democrat. The following sources reported a shift starting in 1948 with a correlation of .48 (meaning that those that identified as white collar voted Republican, blue collar Democrat). In 1952, that number declined to .29 and dropped even further in 1956 to .16. More blue collar individuals who traditionally voted Democrat were now voting Republican.
Miller, Warren E. “The Socio-Economic Analysis of Political Behavior.” Midwest Journal of Political Science, vol. 2, no. 3, 1958, pp. 239–55. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2109180. Accessed 16 Nov. 2022.
With all the extensive research your professor and I have done, these tables represent the only hard data we were able to find at this moment.
1952 & 1956 "Soft" Data
Numerous articles highlight the shift from Democrats to Republicans, Stevenson to Eisenhower by individuals or individual groups. An article from the Saturday Evening Post addressed many of the reasons why voters chose Eisenhower including disenfranchisement with the Democratic party, the war in Korea and the draft, rising inflation attributed to Truman's previous presidency, and even concerns about Adlai Stevenson's divorce. (please note that you will need to use your ACC eID and password to view this article)
The New York TimesMachine coverage of the 1952 and 1956 detailed key demographics in specific cities and groups (access this source by creating a free account through ACC!). Below are links that I found particularly useful for describing Eisenhower's influence over specific groups.
1952
"G.O.P. Slate Leads to Texas Reversal"
"Dixie States Give Vote to Stevenson"
"4 Help Veteran, 111, To Vote"
From The Atlantic: "Payroll Prosperity: Will American Labor Go Conservative?"
1956
There are numerous books and journal articles on the 1960 presidential election located using the ACC Library. Here are a few:
Kennedy V. Nixon by 
The Making of the President 1960 by Your professor and I have conducted numerous sources to find the totals and percentages of voting demographics for this election. This data is the best we could find.
The following is the compiled demographic information for the 1964 presidential election:
| Demographic | Democrat (Johnson) | Republican (Goldwater) | Total |
| Total Votes23 | 61.3% (43,126,757) | 38.7% (27,177,873) | 70,304,630 |
| Men23 | 60% | 40% | |
| Women23 | 62% | 38% | |
| White23 | 59% | 41% | |
| African American 23 | 94% | 6% | |
| Jewish24 | 90% | 10% | |
| Protestant23 | 55% | 45% | |
| Roman Catholics23 | 76% | 24% | |
| Ages 21-2923 | 64% | 36% | |
| Ages 30-4923 | 63% | 37% | |
| Ages 50+23 | 59% | 41% | |
| Professional & Business23 | 24% | 46% | |
| Clerical & Sales23 | 27% | 43% | |
| Manual workers23 | 33% | 29% | |
| Farmers23 | 53% | 47% | |
| College23 | 52% | 48% | |
| High school23 | 62% | 38% | |
| Grade school23 | 66% | 34% |
23 Percentages from The 1964 Elections: A Summary Report with Supporting Tables. Republican National Committee. 1975. p. 44-45
24 Percentages from “U.S. Presidential Elections: Jewish Voting Record”. The Jewish Virtual Library, 1998-2023, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-voting-record-in-u-s-presidential-elections.
The following is what we have compiled from the 1968 presidential election:
| Demographic | Democrat (Humphrey) | Republican (Nixon) | Independent (Wallace) | Total | |
| Total Votes | 42.7% (30,691,699) | 43.4% (31,004,304) | 13.63% (9,787,691) | 72,967,119 | |
| Men26 | 41% | 43% | 16% | ||
| Women26 | 45% | 43% | 12% | ||
| White26 | 38% | 47% | 15% | ||
| African American 25 | 90% | 10% | |||
| Jewish24 | 81% | 17% | 2% | ||
| Protestant26 | 35% | 49% | 16% | ||
| Roman Catholics26 | 59% | 33% | 8% | ||
| Under 3026 | 47% | 38% | 15% | ||
| Ages 30-4926 | 44% | 41% | 15% | ||
| Ages 50+26 | 41% | 47% |
12% |
||
| Professional & Business26 | 24% | 56% | 10% | ||
| White Collar26 | 41% | 47% | 12% | ||
| Manual workers26 | 50% | 35% | 15% | ||
| Farmers26 | 29% | 51% | 20% | ||
| College26 | 37% | 54% | 9% | ||
| High school26 | 42% | 43% | 15% | ||
| Grade school26 | 52% | 33% | 15% |
24 Percentages from “U.S. Presidential Elections: Jewish Voting Record”. The Jewish Virtual Library, 1998-2023, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-voting-record-in-u-s-presidential-elections.
25 Percentages from “Survey Reports McGovern Got 87% of the Black Vote”. The New York Times, 1972, https://www.nytimes.com/1972/11/12/archives/survey-reports-mcgovern-got-87-of-the-black-vote.html.
26 Percentages from The 1968 Elections: A Summary Report with Supporting Tables. Republican National Committee. 1969. p.217
NOTE: this page is under review. Information may not be completely accurate. Proceed with caution.
The following is the compiled demographic information from the 1972 presidential election:
| Demographic | Democrat (McGovern) | Republican (Nixon) | Total |
| Total Votes, Numeric26 | 29,000,000 | 47,200,000 | 72,600,000 |
| Total Votes, %27 | 38% | 61% | |
| African American 25 | 87% | 13% | |
| White25 | 31% | 69% | |
| Jewish24 | 65% | 35% | |
| Protestant25 | 31% | 69% | |
| Roman Catholics25 | 40% | 60% | |
| Ages 18-3425 | 44% | 56% | |
| Ages 35-6425 | 32% | 68% | |
| Ages 65+25 | 31% | 39% | |
| Union27 | 50% | 48% | |
| Grade School Education25 | 40% | 60% | |
| High School Education25 | 32% | 68% | |
| College Education25 | 37% | 63% |
24 Percentages from “U.S. Presidential Elections: Jewish Voting Record”. The Jewish Virtual Library, 1998-2023, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-voting-record-in-u-s-presidential-elections.
25 Miller, Arthur H., and Warren E. Miller. “Issues, Candidates and Partisan Divisions in the 1972 American Presidential Election.” British Journal of
Political Science, vol. 5, no. 4, 1975, pp. 393–434. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/193436. Accessed 1 Feb. 2024.
26 Numeric total from Roberts, Robert N., et al. "Campaign of 1972." Presidential Campaigns, Slogans, Issues, and Platforms: the complete
encyclopedia. Vol. 3, Santa Barbara, CA, Greenwood, 2012, p. 1042, 3 vols.
27 Percentages from “Desertion Rate Doubles”. The New York Times, 1972, https://www.nytimes.com/1972/11/09/archives/new-jersey-pages-desertion-rate-doubles-defectors-gave-nixon.html.
Demographics for 1976-2020
Hard to Find Demographics
Still can't find what you're looking for? The Pew Research Center might have the answer! The site is notoriously hard to search but our pal Google makes is slightly easier. Simply type in your candidate's name and Pew Research Center. Example: Jill Stein and Pew Research Center.
You can also click on Research Topics - Full Topic List - under Politics & Policy - US Elections & Voters and then expand the list to see available election years.
Remember: Librarians, and your professor, are here to help you!!
What about finding information on a state or local politician?
Again, start with whatever you are interested in. Maybe you've seen an ad on TV or online that has sparked your interest, heard from someone about a great new candidate or an awful one! A simple Google search should get you to the candidate's website. Similarly, searching their name plus their state or political race on YouTube should help you find one or more of their political campaign ads.
If you can't find any demographic or polling information on your candidate, the United States Census Bureau has a QuickFacts table to find demographic data on any town, county, and state with a population of over 5,000 residents. Data is collected from 2020 and 2010 censuses. Demographic data includes, but is not limited to, age/sex, race/Hispanic origin, housing, education and health. Access data at the link and select what state/county/town you are interested in and a Fact. You can try to infer, from these demographics and the election results, how the voters in these areas voted.
Do you have a candidate and can't find anything on them? Librarians LOVE hard questions! Ask us to help you out.