1964 United States presidential election

Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 1964, less than a year after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, who won the previous presidential election. The Democratic ticket of incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson and Senator Hubert Humphrey defeated the Republican ticket of Senator Barry Goldwater and Congressman William E. Miller in a landslide victory. Johnson won 61.1% of the popular vote which, to date, remains the highest popular vote percentage of any American presidential candidate in history.

Johnson took office on November 22, 1963, following Kennedy's assassination, and generally continued his policies, except with greater emphasis on civil rights. He easily defeated a primary challenge from segregationist Alabama Governor George Wallace to win the nomination. At the 1964 Democratic National Convention, Johnson selected liberal Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey as his running mate. In the narrow Republican primary contest, conservative Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater defeated liberal New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller and Pennsylvania Governor William Scranton.

Johnson championed a series of anti-poverty programs, collectively known as the Great Society, and his passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Goldwater espoused a low-tax, small-government philosophy with an aggressive foreign policy. Although he personally opposed segregation and previously supported the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and 1960, Goldwater opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, saying it was unconstitutional. Democrats successfully portrayed Goldwater as a dangerous extremist, most infamously in the "Daisy" television advertisement. The Republican Party was divided between its moderate and conservative factions, with Rockefeller and other moderate party leaders refusing to campaign for Goldwater. During the campaign, the CIA was ordered to collect information on the Goldwater campaign and the Republican National Committee.

Johnson became the fourth and most recent vice president to succeed the presidency following the death of his predecessor and win a full term in his own right. After leading in all the polls during the campaign, Johnson carried 44 states and the District of Columbia, which voted for the first time in this election. Goldwater won his home state and swept the five states of the Deep South, due to the Democratic Party's strong support of civil rights and desegregation. With the exception of Louisiana voting for Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956, the Deep South states had never previously voted for a Republican presidential candidate since the end of Reconstruction in 1877.

This was the last election in which the Democratic Party won a majority of the white vote, with 59% of white voters casting their ballot for Johnson over Goldwater. This was the last election in which the Democratic nominee carried Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, or Oklahoma, and the only election ever in which the Democrats carried Alaska. This marked the first presidential election in history in which the Democrats carried Vermont, and conversely, the first in which the Republicans carried Georgia. As of 2024, this marks the last time that a Democratic presidential candidate has won more than 400 electoral votes, as well as 40 or more states.

Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

thumb|President John F. Kennedy in the Dallas motorcade moments before his assassination

On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson became president immediately following the assassination under the presidential succession line.

Kennedy's death shocked and saddened many Americans, while opposing candidates were put in the awkward position of running against Johnson following JFK's assassination.

During the national period of mourning, Republican leaders called for a political moratorium, so they would not appear to be disrespectful to Kennedy or Johnson. As such, little political activities were done by the candidates of either major party until January 1964, when the primary season officially began. At the time, most political pundits saw Kennedy's assassination as leaving the nation politically unsettled.

The Mississippi Delegation

At the national convention, the integrated Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) claimed the seats for delegates for Mississippi, not on the grounds of Party rules, but because the official Mississippi delegation had been elected by a white primary system. The national party's liberal leaders supported an even division of the seats between the two Mississippi delegations; Johnson was concerned that, while the regular Democrats of Mississippi would probably vote for Goldwater anyway, rejecting them would lose him the South. Eventually, Hubert Humphrey, Walter Reuther, and the black civil rights leaders, including Roy Wilkins, Martin Luther King Jr., and Bayard Rustin, worked out a compromise: The MFDP took two seats; the regular Mississippi delegation was required to pledge to support the party ticket; and no future Democratic convention would accept a delegation chosen by a discriminatory poll. Joseph L. Rauh Jr., the MFDP's lawyer, initially refused this deal, but they eventually took their seats. Many white delegates from Mississippi and Alabama refused to sign any pledge, and left the convention; and many young civil rights workers were offended by any compromise. Johnson biographers Rowland Evans and Robert Novak claim that the MFDP fell under the influence of "black radicals" and rejected their seats. Johnson would later lose Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and South Carolina in the general election.

Vice-Presidential selection

Johnson also faced trouble from Robert F. Kennedy, President Kennedy's younger brother and the U.S. Attorney General. Kennedy and Johnson's relationship was troubled from the time Robert Kennedy was a Senate staffer. Then-Majority Leader Johnson surmised that Kennedy's hostility was the direct result of the fact that Johnson frequently recounted a story that embarrassed the family patriarch, Joseph P. Kennedy, formerly the ambassador to the United Kingdom. According to his recounting, Johnson and President Franklin D. Roosevelt misled the ambassador, upon a return visit to the United States, to believe Roosevelt wished to meet in Washington for friendly purposes; in fact, Roosevelt planned to — and did — fire the ambassador, due to the latter's well-publicized views. The hostility between Johnson and Robert Kennedy was rendered mutual in the 1960 primaries and the 1960 Democratic National Convention, when Kennedy tried to prevent Johnson from becoming his brother's running mate.

In early 1964, despite his personal animosity for the president, Kennedy tried to force Johnson to accept him as his running mate. Johnson eliminated this threat by announcing that none of his cabinet members would be considered for second place on the Democratic ticket. Johnson also became concerned that Kennedy might use his scheduled speech at the 1964 Democratic Convention to create a groundswell of emotion among the delegates to make him Johnson's running mate; he prevented this by deliberately scheduling Kennedy's speech on the last day of the convention, after his running mate had already been chosen. Shortly after the 1964 Democratic Convention, Kennedy decided to leave Johnson's cabinet and run for the U.S. Senate in New York; he won the general election in November. Johnson chose United States Senator Hubert Humphrey from Minnesota, a liberal and civil rights activist, as his running mate.

Republican Party

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%; text-align:center;"

! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#E81B23; width:200px;"| Barry Goldwater|

! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#E81B23; width:200px;"| William E. Miller|

|- style="color:#000; font-size:100%; background:#ffd0d7;"

| style="width:3em; width:200px;"|for President

| style="width:3em; width:200px;"|for Vice President

| center|220x220px

|U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987)

|U.S. Representative from New York (1951–1965)

| colspan=2 |Campaign

| colspan=2 |220x220px

Candidates

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="font-size:90%;"

| colspan="11" style="text-align:center; width:700px; font-size:120%; color:white; background:;" |In order of delegates and votes won

|- style="text-align:center"

! scope="col" style="width:10em; font-size:120%;" |Barry Goldwater

! scope="col" style="width:10em; font-size:120%;" |William Scranton

! scope="col" style="width:10em; font-size:120%;" |Margaret Chase Smith

! scope="col" style="width:10em; font-size:120%;" |Nelson Rockefeller

! scope="col" style="width:10em; font-size:120%;" |Hiram Fong

! scope="col" style="width:10em; font-size:120%;" |Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.

! scope="col" style="width:10em; font-size:120%;" |George W. Romney

! scope="col" style="width:10em; font-size:120%;" |Walter Judd

|- style="text-align:center"

|center|135x135px

|center|124x124px

|center|119x119px

|center|120x120px

|center|124x124px

|center|121x121px

|center|113x113px

|- style="text-align:center"

|U.S Senator from

Arizona

(1953–65, 1969–87)

|Governor

of Pennsylvania

(1963–67)

|U.S. Senator from Maine

(1949–73)

|Governor

of New York

(1959–73)

|U.S Senator

from Hawaii

(1959–77)

|Ambassador to the United Nations

(1953–60)

|Governor

of Michigan

(1963–69)

|Former Representative from Minnesota

(1943–63)

|center|95x95px

|center|96x96px

|- style="text-align:center"

|2,267,079 votes

1,220

|245,401 votes

50

|227.007 votes

22

|1,304,204 votes

6

|5

|386,661 votes

3

|1,955 votes

1

|1

!Harold Stassen

!Jim Rhodes

!John W. Byrnes

! colspan="5" rowspan="4" |

|center|122x122px

|center|127x127px

|center|122x122px

|Former Governor

of Minnesota

(1939–43)

|Governor

of Ohio

(1963–71, 1975–83)

|Representative from Wisconsin

(1945–73)

|114,083 votes

|615,754 votes

| 299,612 votes

Primaries

[[File:1964RepublicanPresidentialPrimaries.svg|thumb|upright=1.4|Republican primaries results by state

Technically, in South Dakota and Florida, Goldwater finished in second to "Unpledged Delegates", but he finished before all other candidates.]]

The Republican Party (GOP) was badly divided in 1964 between its conservative and moderate-liberal factions. Former vice president Richard Nixon, who had been beaten by Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election, decided not to run. Nixon, a moderate with ties to both wings of the GOP, had been able to unite the factions in 1960; in his absence, the way was clear for the two factions to engage in a hard-fought campaign for the nomination. Barry Goldwater, a Senator from Arizona, was the champion of the conservatives. The conservatives had historically been based in the American Midwest, but beginning in the 1950s, they had been gaining in power in the South and West, and the core of Goldwater's support came from suburban conservative Republicans. The conservatives favored a low-tax, small federal government which supported individual rights and business interests, and opposed social welfare programs. They also supported an internationalist and interventionist foreign policy. The conservatives resented the dominance of the GOP's moderate wing, which was based in the Northeastern United States. Since 1940, the Eastern moderates had defeated conservative presidential candidates at the GOP's national conventions. The conservatives believed the Eastern Republicans were little different from liberal Democrats in their philosophy and approach to government. Goldwater's chief opponent for the Republican nomination was Nelson Rockefeller, the Governor of New York and the long-time leader of the GOP's liberal faction.

In 1961, a group of twenty-two conservatives, headed by Ohio Representative John M. Ashbrook, lawyer and National Review publisher William A. Rusher, and scholar F. Clifton White, met privately in Chicago to discuss the formation of a grass-roots organization to secure the nomination of a conservative as the 1964 Republican candidate. The main headquarters for the organization were established at Suite 3505 of the Chanin Building in New York City, leading members to refer to themselves as the "Suite 3505 Committee". Following the 1962 mid-term elections, they formally backed Goldwater, who notified them that he did not want to run for the presidency. In April 1963, they formed the Draft Goldwater Committee, chaired by Texas Republican Party Chairman Peter O'Donnell. The committee solidified growing conservative strength in the West and South, and began working to gain control of state parties in the Midwest from liberal Republicans. Throughout the rest of the year, speculation about a potential Goldwater candidacy grew, and grass-roots activism and efforts among conservative Republicans expanded.

Initially, Rockefeller was considered the front-runner, ahead of Goldwater. However, in 1963, two years after Rockefeller's divorce from his first wife, he was remarried to Margaretta "Happy" Murphy, who was nearly 18 years his junior and had just divorced her husband and surrendered her four children to his custody. The fact that Murphy had suddenly divorced her husband before marrying Rockefeller led to rumors that Rockefeller had been having an extra-marital affair with Margaretta. This angered many social conservatives and female voters within the GOP, many of whom called Rockefeller a "wife stealer".

Despite his defeat in New Hampshire, Goldwater pressed on, winning the Illinois, Texas, and Indiana primaries, with little opposition, and Nebraska's primary, after a stiff challenge from a draft-Nixon movement. Goldwater also won a number of state caucuses, and gathered even more delegates. Meanwhile, Nelson Rockefeller won the West Virginia and Oregon primaries against Goldwater, and William Scranton won in his home state of Pennsylvania. Both Rockefeller and Scranton also won several state caucuses, mostly in the Northeast.

The final showdown between Goldwater and Rockefeller was in the California primary. In spite of the previous accusations regarding his marriage, Rockefeller led Goldwater in most opinion polls in California, and he appeared headed for victory when his new wife gave birth to a son, Nelson Rockefeller Jr., three days before the primary. The party's moderates and conservatives openly expressed their contempt for each other. Rockefeller was loudly booed when he came to the podium for his speech; in his speech, he roundly criticized the party's conservatives, which led many conservatives in the galleries to yell and scream at him. A group of moderates tried to rally behind Scranton to stop Goldwater, but Goldwater's forces easily brushed his challenge aside, and Goldwater was nominated on the first ballot. The presidential tally was as follows:

Barry Goldwater 883
William Scranton 214
Nelson Rockefeller 114
George W. Romney 41
Margaret Chase Smith 27
Walter Judd 22
Hiram Fong 5
Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. 2

The vice-presidential nomination went to little-known Republican Party Chairman William E. Miller, a Representative from western New York. Goldwater stated that he chose Miller simply because "he drives [President] Johnson nuts". This would be the only Republican ticket from 1952 to 1972 that did not include Nixon.

In accepting his nomination, Goldwater uttered his most famous phrase (suggested by speechwriter Harry Jaffa): "I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." Goldwater's seeming admission of being an extremist alarmed many Moderates who would later vote for Johnson in the general election.

Following the convention many moderates, including Rockefeller, refused to endorse Goldwater.

General election

Polling

{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="text-align:center;font-size:90%;line-height:17px"

|- valign= bottom

! Poll source

! Date(s) administered

! class="unsortable" style="width:100px;"| Lyndon Johnson (D)

! class="unsortable" style="width:100px;"| Barry Goldwater (R)

! class="unsortable" | Other

! class="unsortable" | Undecided

! class="unsortable" | Margin

! | Election Results

|November 3, 1964

|align="center" |61.05%

|align="center" | 38.47%

|align="center" | 0.48%

| -

| align="center" | 22.58

| rowspan=1 | Harris

| rowspan=1 |November 2, 1964

| align="center" | 62%

| 33%

| -

| 5%

| align="center" | 29

| rowspan=1 | Gallup

| rowspan=1 |October 25-30, 1964

| align="center" | 64%

| 29%

| -

| 7%

| align="center" | 35

| rowspan=1 | Harris

| rowspan=1 |October 22, 1964

| align="center" | 60%

| 34%

| -

| 6%

| align="center" | 26

| rowspan=1 | Gallup

| rowspan=1 |October 8-13, 1964

| align="center" | 64%

| 29%

| -

| 7%

| align="center" | 35

| rowspan=1 | Harris

| rowspan=1 |October 11, 1964

| align="center" | 58%

| 34%

| -

| 8%

| align="center" | 24

| rowspan=1 | Gallup

| rowspan=1 |September 18-23, 1964

| align="center" | 62%

| 32%

| -

| 6%

| align="center" | 30

| rowspan=1 | Harris

| rowspan=1 |September 20, 1964

| align="center" | 60%

| 32%

| -

| 8%

| align="center" | 28

| rowspan=1 | Harris

| rowspan=1 |September 2, 1964

| align="center" | 59%

| 32%

| -

| 9%

| align="center" | 27

| rowspan=1 | Gallup

| rowspan=1 |Aug. 27-Sep. 2, 1964

| align="center" | 65%

| 29%

| -

| 6%

| align="center" | 36

| colspan="10" align="center" | August 24–27: Democratic National Convention

| rowspan=1 | Roper

| rowspan=1 |August 23, 1964

| align="center" | 67%

| 28%

| -

| 5%

| align="center" | 39

| rowspan=1 | Harris

| rowspan=1 |August 14, 1964

| align="center" | 59%

| 32%

| -

| 9%

| align="center" | 27

| rowspan=1 | Gallup

| rowspan=1 |August 6-11, 1964

| align="center" | 65%

| 29%

| -

| 6%

| align="center" | 36

| rowspan=1 | Gallup

| rowspan=1 |July 23-28, 1964

| align="center" | 59%

| 31%

| -

| 10%

| align="center" | 28

| rowspan=1 | Harris

| rowspan=1 |July 23, 1964

| align="center" | 61%

| 31%

| -

| 8%

| align="center" | 30

| colspan="10" align="center" | July 13–16: Republican National Convention

| rowspan=1 | Gallup

| rowspan=1 |July 5-10, 1964

| align="center" | 62%

| 26%

| -

| 12%

| align="center" | 36

| rowspan=1 | Gallup

| rowspan=1 |June 25-30, 1964

| align="center" | 76%

| 20%

| -

| 4%

| align="center" | 56

| rowspan=1 | Gallup

| rowspan=1 |June 11-16, 1964

| align="center" | 77%

| 18%

| -

| 5%

| align="center" | 59

| rowspan=1 | Harris

| rowspan=1 |April 6, 1964

| align="center" | 66%

| 26%

| -

| 8%

| align="center" | 48

| rowspan=1 | Harris

| rowspan=1 |January 2-7, 1964

| align="center" | 75%

| 18%

| -

| 7%

| align="center" | 57

| rowspan=1 | Gallup

| rowspan=1 |December 12-17, 1963

| align="center" | 75%

| 20%

| -

| 5%

| align="center" | 55

| rowspan=1 | Harris

| rowspan=1 |November 29, 1963

| align="center" | 55%

| 33%

| -

| 12%

| align="center" | 22

| rowspan=1 | Gallup

| rowspan=1 |November 22-27, 1963

| align="center" | 78%

| 19%

| -

| 3%

| align="center" | 59

Campaign

thumb|right|First page of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]]

Although Goldwater had been successful in rallying conservatives, he was unable to broaden his base of support for the general election. Shortly before the Republican Convention, he had alienated moderate and liberal Republicans by his vote against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which he opposed due to his opinion that it was unconstitutional, and which Johnson had supported following Kennedy's death and signed into law. Although a staunch supporter of racial equality, having voted in favor of the 1957 and 1960 civil rights bills, and the 24th Amendment to the Constitution, Goldwater felt that desegregation was primarily a states' rights issue, rather than a national policy. He thus believed the 1964 act to be unconstitutional. Goldwater's vote against the legislation helped lead African-Americans to overwhelmingly support Johnson.

Goldwater was also hurt by the reluctance of many prominent moderate Republicans to support him. Governors Nelson Rockefeller of New York and George W. Romney of Michigan refused to endorse Goldwater due to his stance on civil rights and his proposal to make Social Security voluntary, and did not campaign for him. On the other hand, former Vice President Richard Nixon and Governor William Scranton of Pennsylvania loyally supported the GOP ticket and campaigned for Goldwater, although Nixon did not entirely agree with Goldwater's political stances and said that it would "be a tragedy" if Goldwater's platform were not "challenged and repudiated" by the Republicans. Scranton also felt that Goldwater's proposal of voluntarizing Social Security was the "worst kind of fiscal responsibility". The New York Herald-Tribune, a voice for eastern Republicans (and a target for Goldwater activists during the primaries), supported Johnson in the general election. Some moderates even formed a "Republicans for Johnson" organization, although most prominent GOP politicians avoided being associated with it. Republican discontent with Goldwater was the focus of the Johnson campaign's famous advertisement "Confessions of a Republican".

Fact magazine published an article polling psychiatrists around the country as to Goldwater's sanity. Some 1,189 psychiatrists appeared to agree that Goldwater was "emotionally unstable" and unfit for office, though none of the members had actually interviewed him. The article received heavy publicity and resulted in a change to the ethics guidelines of the American Psychiatric Association, now known as the Goldwater rule. In a libel suit, a federal court awarded Goldwater $1 in compensatory damages, and $75,000 in punitive damages.

Eisenhower's strong backing could have been an asset to the Goldwater campaign, but instead, its absence was clearly noticed. When questioned about the presidential capabilities of the former president's younger brother, university administrator Milton S. Eisenhower, in July 1964, Goldwater replied: "One Eisenhower in a generation is enough." However, Eisenhower did not openly repudiate Goldwater, and made one television commercial for Goldwater's campaign. A prominent Hollywood celebrity who vigorously supported Goldwater was Ronald Reagan. Reagan gave a well-received televised speech supporting Goldwater; it was so popular that Goldwater's advisors had it played on local television stations around the nation. Many historians consider this speech — "A Time for Choosing" — to mark the beginning of Reagan's transformation from an actor to a political leader. In 1966, Reagan would be elected Governor of California.

Goldwater did not have ties to the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), but he was publicly endorsed by members of the organization. Lyndon B. Johnson exploited this association during the elections, but Goldwater barred the KKK from supporting him and denounced them.

Goldwater's gaffes

Goldwater was famous for speaking "off-the-cuff" at times, and many of his former statements were given wide publicity by the Democrats. In the early 1960s, Goldwater had called the Eisenhower administration "a dime store New Deal".

In December 1961, he told a news conference that "sometimes, I think this country would be better off if we could just saw off the Eastern Seaboard and let it float out to sea", a remark which indicated his dislike of the liberal economic and social policies that were often associated with that part of the nation. That comment came back to hurt him, in the form of a Johnson television commercial, as did remarks about making Social Security voluntary (something that even his running mate Miller felt would lead to the destruction of the system) and selling the Tennessee Valley Authority. In his most famous verbal gaffe, Goldwater once joked that the U.S. military should "lob one [a nuclear bomb] into the men's room of the Kremlin" in the Soviet Union.

Gulf of Tonkin Incident and Resolution

Meanwhile, President Johnson was concerned he could lose the election by appearing soft on Communism. On July 10, the was ordered into the Gulf of Tonkin, authorized to "maintain contact with the U.S. military command in Saigon ... and arrange 'such communications ... as may be desired'". On July 30, South Vietnamese commandos tried to attack the North Vietnamese radar station on the island of Hon Me, with the USS Maddox sufficiently close that the North Vietnamese believed it was there to provide cover for that commando raid. North Vietnam filed an official complaint with the International Control Commission, accusing the United States of being behind the raid. Johnson called Soviet Premier Khrushchev, saying the US did not want war and asking the Soviets to convince North Vietnam to not attack American warships. The next day, August 3, South Vietnamese raided Cape Vinhson and Cua Ron.

Ads and slogans

thumb|thumbtime=3|Full "Daisy" advertisement

Johnson positioned himself as a moderate, and succeeded in portraying Goldwater as an extremist. CIA Director William Colby asserted that Tracy Barnes instructed the CIA to spy on the Goldwater campaign and the Republican National Committee, to provide information to Johnson's campaign; E. Howard Hunt, later implicated as a ringleader in the Watergate scandal, disputed this, instead claiming the operation had been ordered by the White House. In his memoir Goldwater reported that during his 1964 campaign "our telephones had been bugged" and "our security had been penetrated. The opposition appeared to possess some of the details of our plans and strategies the minute a decision was made".

Goldwater had a habit of making blunt statements about war, nuclear weapons, and economics that could be turned against him. Most famously, the Johnson campaign broadcast a television commercial on September 7 dubbed the "Daisy Girl" ad, which featured a little girl picking petals from a daisy in a field, counting the petals, which then segues into a launch countdown and a nuclear explosion. The ads were in response to Goldwater's advocacy of "tactical" nuclear weapons use in Vietnam. "Confessions of a Republican", another Johnson ad, features a monologue from a man who tells viewers that he had previously voted for Eisenhower and Nixon, but now worries about the "men with strange ideas", "weird groups", and "the head of the Ku Klux Klan" who were supporting Goldwater; he concludes that "either they're not Republicans, or I'm not". Voters increasingly viewed Goldwater as a right-wing fringe candidate. His slogan, "In your heart, you know he's right", was successfully parodied by the Johnson campaign into, "In your guts, you know he's nuts", or, "In your heart, you know he might" (as in "he might push the nuclear button"), or even, "In your heart, he's too far right".

The Johnson campaign's greatest concern may have been voter complacency leading to low turnout in key states. To counter this, all of Johnson's broadcast ads concluded with the line: "Vote for President Johnson on November 3. The stakes are too high for you to stay home." The Democratic campaign used two other slogans: "All the way with LBJ"; and, "LBJ for the USA".

The election campaign was disrupted for a week by the death of former president Herbert Hoover on October 20, 1964, because it was considered disrespectful to be campaigning during a time of mourning. Hoover died of natural causes. He had been U.S. president from 1929 to 1933. Both major candidates attended his funeral.

Johnson led in all opinion polls by huge margins throughout the entire campaign.

Results

[[File:PresidentialCounty1964Colorbrewer.gif|thumb|right|upright=1.4|Election results by county.

]]

The election was held on November 3, 1964. Johnson beat Goldwater in the general election, winning over 61% of the popular vote. In the end, Goldwater won only his native state of Arizona and five Deep South states — Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina — which had been increasingly alienated by Democratic civil rights policies, and where Jim Crow laws tended to be still active to varying degrees, before the following year's Voting Rights Act outlawed them entirely.

The five Southern states that voted for Goldwater swung over dramatically to support him. For instance, in Mississippi, where Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt had won 97% of the popular vote in 1936, Goldwater won 87% of the vote. Of these states, Louisiana had been the only state where a Republican had won even once since Reconstruction.

thumb|right|Results by congressional district.

The 1964 election was a major transition point for the South, and an important step in the process by which the Democrats' former "Solid South" became a Republican bastion. Nonetheless, Johnson still managed to eke out a bare popular majority of 51–49% (6.307 to 5.993 million) in the eleven former Confederate states. Conversely, Johnson was the first Democrat ever to carry the state of Vermont in a presidential election, and only the second Democrat, after Woodrow Wilson in 1912, when the Republican Party was divided, to carry Maine since the Republican Party was founded in 1854. Maine and Vermont had been the only states that FDR had failed to carry during any of his four successful presidential bids.

Around twenty percent of the people who had voted for Nixon in the 1960 election switched their support to Johnson. Of the 3,126 counties/districts/independent cities making returns, Johnson won in 2,275 (72.77%), while Goldwater carried 826 (26.42%). Unpledged electors carried six counties in Alabama (0.19%). Johnson was the first president whose home state was in the former Confederacy since Zachary Taylor in 1848. Goldwater was the only Republican presidential candidate between 1952 and 1992 to never have served as president.

Johnson's landslide victory coincided with the defeat of many conservative Republican congressmen. The subsequent 89th Congress would pass major legislation such as the Social Security Amendments of 1965 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The 1964 election marked the beginning of a major, long-term re-alignment in American politics, as Goldwater's unsuccessful bid significantly influenced the modern conservative movement. The movement of conservatives to the Republican Party continued, culminating in the 1980 presidential victory of Ronald Reagan.

This was the first election to have the participation of the District of Columbia, under the Twenty-third Amendment to the US Constitution from 1961. The Johnson campaign broke two American election records previously held by Franklin Roosevelt: the most Electoral College votes won by a major-party candidate running for the White House for the first time (with 486 to the 472 won by Roosevelt in 1932); and the largest share of the popular vote under the current Democratic/Republican competition (Roosevelt won 60.8% nationwide, Johnson 61.1%). This first-time electoral count was exceeded when Ronald Reagan won 489 votes in 1980.

This was also the last election until 1988 in which the Democrats carried Iowa or Oregon, 1992 in which the Democrats carried California, Colorado, Illinois, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, New Jersey, New Hampshire, or Vermont, and 2008 in which the Democrats carried Virginia or Indiana. As such, this was the most recent presidential election in which the entire Midwestern region voted Democratic. This is also the only election between 1952 and 1972 in which Richard Nixon did not appear on the Republican ticket.