As things turned out, Wisconsin would be comfortably, if not overwhelmingly, carried by Republican nominee Hughes, who won the state by 6.29 percentage points. Signs of the collapse of German Catholic Democratic loyalties were seen in Hughes carrying
Ozaukee County, which no Republican had ever won before and was Wisconsin's only county to resist major Republican landslides by backing both
William Jennings Bryan in
1896 and
1900 and
Alton Brooks Parker in
1904. This German Catholic Democratic collapse – broken abruptly by a powerful vote for coreligionist
Al Smith in
1928 and for
Franklin D. Roosevelt in
1932 – would be a major feature of interwar Wisconsin presidential politics. By backing Wilson,
Portage County voted for the statewide loser for the first time ever; the county's bellwether streak had extended all the way back to Wisconsin's statehood in 1848. Simultaneously, this election began several very long bellwether streaks in other counties:
Adams County and
Jackson County would back the statewide winner in every election until
2020;
Washburn County in every election until
2000;
Burnett County in every election until
1980; and
Eau Claire County in every election until
1968. ==See also==