[2] The dominance of the culture of the Lower Peninsula by anti-slavery Yankees[4] would be augmented by the turn of formerly Democratic-leaning German Catholics away from that party as a result of the remodelled party’s agrarian and free silver sympathies, which became rigidly opposed by both the upper class and workers who followed them,[5] while the Populist movement eliminated Democratic ties with business and commerce of Michigan and other Northern states.

[7] Although by taking a substantial proportion of the 1912 “Bull Moose” vote, incumbent president Woodrow Wilson had managed the best performance in Michigan by a Democrat since Grover Cleveland in 1888,[8] 1918 saw a major reaction against Wilson throughout the Midwest, due to supposed preferential treatment of Southern farmers:[9] Republicans would hold every seat in the State Senate for over a decade after the fall election,[10] as they had between 1895 and 1897 and between 1905 and 1911.

During the 1920 election campaign Michigan gained almost no attention because it had been so firmly Republican over the past quarter century.

A poll of four university students showed three voting for Republican candidate Warren G. Harding and one for Democratic opponent James M.

[16] Harding received the largest share of the popular vote in a presidential election for Michigan at the time, though that record would be broken four years later.