Illinois narrowly voted for the
Democratic candidate,
Lewis Cass, over
Whig candidate
Zachary Taylor and
Free Soil candidate
Martin Van Buren. Cass won Illinois by a tight margin of 2.49%. This was the last time until
2000 that Illinois would back a losing Democrat in a presidential election and the last time until
2004 that they would back a Democratic that lost the popular vote.
Results
1848 United States presidential election in Illinois[1][2]