From March 7 to June 6, 1972, voters of the Republican Party chose its nominee for president in the 1972 United States presidential election. Incumbent President Richard Nixon was again selected as the nominee through a series of primary elections and caucuses culminating in the 1972 Republican National Convention held from August 21 to August 23, 1972, in Miami, Florida.
Overview of the race
Nixon was a popular incumbent president in 1972, as he seemed to have reached détente with China and the USSR. He easily brushed aside primary challengers and won reelection, though the Watergate scandal eventually unraveled his presidency, leading to his resignation in 1974.
Polls showed that Nixon had a strong lead. He was challenged by two minor candidates, liberal congressman Pete McCloskey of California and conservative congressman John Ashbrook of Ohio. McCloskey ran as an anti-Vietnam war candidate dedicated to a much more clearly liberal position compared to Nixon's ambiguity approach within the party, while Ashbrook was dedicated to a much more clearly conservative position than Nixon and opposed Nixon's détente policies towards China and the Soviet Union. In the New Hampshire primary, McCloskey's platform of peace garnered 19.7% of the vote to Nixon's 67.9%, with Ashbrook receiving 10.9% and comedian Pat Paulsen receiving 1.1%. Having previously stated that he would withdraw from the race had he not achieved 20% of the vote, McCloskey did so.
Nixon won 1,347 of the 1,348 delegates to the GOP convention, with McCloskey receiving the vote of one delegate from New Mexico.