John H. Chafee won with 51.2% of the vote (175,495 votes), ahead of Julius C. Michaelson with 48.8% (167,283 votes).
The margin between the first two candidates was 2.4 percentage points (8,212 votes). The party margin (Republican share minus Democratic share) was a Republican lead of 2.4 points.
Compared with the previous comparable race in the same area, the party margin moved 52.6 points toward Republicans. The winning party changed.
342,778 votes were counted in this race, for 2 candidates or options.
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