Rhode Island voted for the
Democratic candidate,
Franklin Pierce, over the
Whig Party candidate,
Winfield Scott. Pierce won the state by a margin of 6.52%. This was the first of three times that the state voted differently than Massachusetts (along with 1972 and 1980).
This would be the final time until
1912 that a Democratic presidential candidate was able to win Rhode Island and the final time until
1928 that a Democratic candidate won a majority of the popular vote.
Results
1852 United States presidential election in Rhode Island[1]