Table of Election Results
Note that in the following table, the election of 1824 is ranked closer than the election of 1800 because the election of 1800 resulted in a two-way draw, while the election of 1824 resulted in a three-way draw.
Also note that the elections of 1789, 1792, 1796, and 1800 took place before the 12th Amendment and thus each elector had two votes (but had to vote for two separate people). For example, George Washington received the vote of every elector, but the second vote of each elector was split amongst other candidates. Thus Washington is accounted to have received 100% of the possible electoral votes.
Rank | Year | Winner | # of Electors (c) |
Votes cast for winner (w) |
Votes cast for runner-up (r) |
Normalized margin of victory |
Percentage |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 1824 | draw: Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, William Crawford | 261 | 84 | 99 | 0.000 | 32.18% |
2. | 1800 | draw: Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr | 138 | 73 | 73 | 0.000 | 50.00 |
3. | 1876 | Rutherford B. Hayes | 369 | 185 | 184 | 0.003 | 50.14% |
4. | 2000 | George W. Bush | 538 | 271 | 266 | 0.009 | 50.37% |
5. | 1796 | John Adams | 138 | 71 | 68 | 0.029 | 51.45% |
6. | 1916 | Woodrow Wilson | 531 | 277 | 254 | 0.043 | 52.17% |
7. | 2004 | George W. Bush | 538 | 286 | 251 | 0.063 | 53.16% |
8. | 1884 | Grover Cleveland | 401 | 219 | 182 | 0.092 | 54.61% |
9. | 1976 | Jimmy Carter | 538 | 297 | 240 | 0.104 | 55.20% |
10. | 1968 | Richard Nixon | 538 | 301 | 191 | 0.119 | 55.95% |
11. | 1848 | Zachary Taylor | 290 | 163 | 127 | 0.124 | 56.21% |
12. | 1960 | John F. Kennedy | 537 | 303 | 219 | 0.128 | 56.42% |
13. | 1948 | Harry S. Truman | 531 | 303 | 189 | 0.141 | 57.06% |
14. | 1836 | Martin Van Buren | 294 | 170 | 73 | 0.156 | 57.82% |
15. | 1880 | James A. Garfield | 369 | 214 | 155 | 0.160 | 57.99% |
16. | 1888 | Benjamin Harrison | 401 | 233 | 168 | 0.162 | 58.10% |
17. | 1856 | James Buchanan | 296 | 174 | 114 | 0.176 | 58.78% |
18. | 1812 | James Madison | 217 | 128 | 89 | 0.180 | 58.99% |
19. | 1860 | Abraham Lincoln | 303 | 180 | 72 | 0.188 | 59.41% |
20. | 1896 | William McKinley | 447 | 271 | 176 | 0.213 | 60.63% |
21. | 2012 | Barack Obama | 538 | 332 | 206 | 0.234 | 61.71% |
22. | 1844 | James K. Polk | 275 | 170 | 105 | 0.236 | 61.82% |
23. | 1892 | Grover Cleveland | 444 | 277 | 145 | 0.248 | 62.39% |
24. | 1900 | William McKinley | 447 | 292 | 155 | 0.306 | 65.32% |
25. | 1908 | William Howard Taft | 483 | 321 | 162 | 0.329 | 66.46% |
26. | 2008 | Barack Obama | 538 | 365 | 173 | 0.357 | 67.84% |
27. | 1828 | Andrew Jackson | 261 | 178 | 83 | 0.364 | 68.20% |
28. | 1992 | Bill Clinton | 538 | 370 | 168 | 0.375 | 68.77% |
29. | 1808 | James Madison | 175 | 122 | 47 | 0.394 | 69.71% |
30. | 1996 | Bill Clinton | 538 | 379 | 159 | 0.409 | 70.45% |
31. | 1904 | Theodore Roosevelt | 476 | 336 | 140 | 0.412 | 70.59% |
32. | 1924 | Calvin Coolidge | 531 | 382 | 136 | 0.439 | 71.94% |
33. | 1868 | Ulysses S. Grant | 294 | 214 | 80 | 0.456 | 72.79% |
34. | 1920 | Warren G. Harding | 531 | 404 | 127 | 0.522 | 76.08% |
35. | 1832 | Andrew Jackson | 286 | 219 | 49 | 0.531 | 76.57% |
36. | 1988 | George H. W. Bush | 538 | 426 | 111 | 0.584 | 79.18% |
37. | 1840 | William Henry Harrison | 294 | 234 | 60 | 0.592 | 79.59% |
38. | 1944 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | 531 | 432 | 99 | 0.627 | 81.36% |
39. | 1912 | Woodrow Wilson | 531 | 435 | 88 | 0.638 | 81.92% |
40. | 1872 | Ulysses S. Grant | 352 | 286 | 42 | 0.639 | 81.95% |
41. | 1952 | Dwight D. Eisenhower | 531 | 442 | 89 | 0.665 | 83.24% |
42. | 1928 | Herbert Hoover | 531 | 444 | 87 | 0.672 | 83.62% |
43. | 1816 | James Monroe | 217 | 183 | 34 | 0.687 | 84.33% |
44. | 1940 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | 531 | 449 | 82 | 0.691 | 84.56% |
45. | 1852 | Franklin Pierce | 296 | 254 | 42 | 0.716 | 85.81% |
46. | 1956 | Dwight D. Eisenhower | 531 | 457 | 73 | 0.721 | 86.06% |
47. | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | 531 | 472 | 59 | 0.778 | 88.89% |
48. | 1964 | Lyndon B. Johnson | 538 | 486 | 52 | 0.807 | 90.33% |
49. | 1980 | Ronald Reagan | 538 | 489 | 49 | 0.818 | 90.89% |
50. | 1864 | Abraham Lincoln | 233 | 212 | 21 | 0.820 | 90.99% |
51. | 1792 | George Washington | 132 | 132 | 77 | 0.833* | 100% |
52. | 1804 | Thomas Jefferson | 176 | 162 | 14 | 0.841 | 92.05% |
53. | 1972 | Richard Nixon | 538 | 520 | 17 | 0.933 | 96.65% |
54. | 1984 | Ronald Reagan | 538 | 525 | 13 | 0.952 | 97.58% |
55. | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | 531 | 523 | 8 | 0.970 | 98.49% |
56. | 1820 | James Monroe | 235 | 231 | 1 | 0.991 | 99.57% |
57. | 1789 | George Washington | 69 | 69 | 34 | 1.000* | 100% |
*Unanimous; George Washington received the vote of every elector, but the 2nd vote of each elector was split among other candidates. Thus Washington is accounted to have received 100% of the possible electoral votes.
- a None of the presidential candidates in 1824 received a majority of the electoral vote, so the presidential election was decided by the House of Representatives, who selected Adams.
- b Under the original procedure for the Electoral College, each elector had two votes and voted for two individuals. The candidate receiving the majority of votes became president and the candidate with the second highest number of votes became vice-president. While Jefferson had more electoral votes than his principal opponent, John Adams, he was tied with his own vice-presidential running mate, Aaron Burr, in electoral votes. Because of the tie, the 1800 presidential election was decided by the House of Representatives, who selected Jefferson as president. Subsequently the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution was enacted in order to provide for the president and vice-president to be elected as a single ticket.
- c There was a dispute as to whether Missouri's electoral votes in 1820 were valid, due to the timing of its assumption of statehood. The figures listed include those votes.
- d Only ten of the thirteen states cast electoral votes in the first ever presidential election. North Carolina and Rhode Island were ineligible to participate since they had not yet ratified the United States Constitution. New York failed to appoint its electors before the appropriate deadline because of a deadlock in its state legislature.
- e Votes which were not counted don't change the majority needed to win. Although there are only 232 counted votes in 1820, winner needed 118 (majority of 235) votes to win, same in 1872: By resolution of the House, 3 votes cast for Greeley were not counted (makes 349 counted votes) but 177 votes are still needed to win (majority of 352).
Read more about this topic: List Of United States Presidential Elections By Electoral College Margin
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