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The presidential election of 1972 was between incumbent Richard M. Nixon, a Republican, and George McGovern, a Democrat. Richard M. Nixon won the election with 520 electoral votes. McGovern received 17 electoral votes and Libertarian John Hospers received 1 electoral vote from Virginia. Nixon received 47,169,911 popular votes, which represented 60.69%; McGovern got 29,170,383 votes (37.53%). Nixon earned the nomination by virtue of his involvement in the House of Representatives and the Senate; he was Vice-president to Eisenhower for eight years. McGovern received his nomination after he had served in the House of Representatives, and was elected to the Senate in 1962.

In 1972, the economy was in an expansion spurred on in part because of the Vietnam War. Eleven months had passed since the last contraction had ended. Real GDP had grown 9.1% since the last quarter of 1970. The unemployment rate hovered between 5.6% and 5.8% in 1972 and didn't seem to be a big problem because people's expectations were positive given the current economic expansion. The inflation rate in 1972 was 3.1%, which was reasonable and had been stable since the last election. Inflation didn't seem to be a worry on many people's minds at that time. Other issues important in 1972 were the ending of the Vietnam War, the formation of minor regional trade blocs, Nixon's opening of China and its subsequent outcomes, and the growth of the technology sector. Other macroeconomic issues important in 1972 were rising prices, real GDP growth, growth of the global markets, and government deficits caused by the Vietnam War.

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Copyright, Troy Sundquist, 2001.