Rhode Island was won by the Democratic candidate, Vice PresidentHubert Humphrey, with 64.03% of the popular vote, against the Republican candidate, former Senator and Vice President Richard Nixon, with 31.78% of the popular vote. American Independent Party candidate George Wallace also appeared on the ballot, finishing with 4.07% of the popular vote.[3][4] Despite the state trending 30 points Republican after setting a record in 1964, the state continued to overwhelmingly vote for the Democratic candidate.
Nixon was the first Republican to win the presidency without gaining the majority vote in Washington, Kent, and Newport counties.
^Although he was born in California and he served as a U.S. Senator from California, in 1968 Richard Nixon’s official state of residence was New York, because he moved there to practice law after his defeat in the 1962 California gubernatorial election. During his first term as president, Nixon re-established his residency in California. Consequently, most reliable reference books list Nixon's home state as New York in the 1968 election and his home state as California in the 1972 (and 1960) election.