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Year Winning Candidate Electoral
Votes
Losing Candidate Electoral
Votes
Other Candidates Electoral
Votes
Electoral
VoteTotal
Win %
59 2020 Joseph Biden 306 Donald Trump 232 538 56.88
 58 2016a Donald Trump 304 Hillary Clinton 227 5 Others 7 538 56.51
 57 2012 Barack Obama 332 Mitt Romney 206 538 61.71
 56 2008 Barack Obama 365 John McCain 173 538 67.84
 55 2004b W Bush 286 John Kerry 251 538 53.16
 55 2000c W Bush 271 Al Gore 266 538 50.37
 54 1996 Bill Clinton 379 Bob Dole 159 Ross Perot 0 538 70.45
 53 1992 Bill Clinton 370 George HW Bush 168 538 68.77
 52 1988d George HW Bush 426 Mike Dukakis 111 538 79.18
 51 1984 Ronald Reagan 525 Walter Mondale 13 538 97.58
 50 1980 Ronald Reagan 489 Carter 49 538 90.89
 49 1976e Jimmy Carter 297 Ford 240 538 55.20
 48 1972f Richard Nixon 520 George McGovern 17 538 96.65
 47 1968g Richard Nixon 301 Hubert Humphrey 191 George Wallace 46 538 55.95
 46 1964 Lyndon Johnson 486 Barry Goldwater 52 538 90.33
 44 1960h John Kennedy 303 Nixon 219 Harry Byrd 15 537 56.42
 43 1956i Dwight Eisenhower 457 Adlai Stevenson 73 531 86.06
 42 1952 Dwight Eisenhower 442 Adlai Stevenson 89 531 83.24
 41 1948j Harry Truman 303 Tom Dewey 189 Strom Thurmond 39 531 57.06
 40 1944 Franklin Roosevelt 432 Tom Dewey 99 531 81.36
 39 1940 Franklin Roosevelt 449 Wendel Willkie 82 531 84.56
 38 1936 Franklin Roosevelt 523 Alf Landon 8 531 98.49
 37 1932 Franklin Roosevelt 472 Hoover 59 531 88.89
 36 1928 Herbert Hoover 444 Al Smith 87 531 83.62
 35 1924 Calvin Coolidge 382 John Davis 136 Bob LaFollette 13 531 71.94
 34 1920 Warren Harding 404 James Cox 127 531 76.08
 33 1916 Woodrow Wilson 277 Charles Hughes 254 531 52.17
 32 1912 Woodrow Wilson 435 T Roosevelt 88 Taft 8 531 81.92
 31 1908 William Taft 321 WJ Bryan 162 483 66.46
 30 1904 Theodore Roosevelt 336 Alton Parker 140 476 70.59
 29 1900 William McKinley 292 WJ Bryan 155 447 65.32
 28 1896 William McKinley 271 WJ Bryan 176 447 60.63
 27 1892k Grover Cleveland 277 B Harrison 145 James Weaver 22 444 62.39
 26 1888 Benjamin Harrison 233 Cleveland 168 401 58.10
 25 1884 Grover Cleveland 219 James Blaine 182 401 54.61
 24 1880 James Garfield 214 Winfield Hancock 155 369 57.99
 23 1876 Rutherford Hayes 185 Sam Tilden 184 369 50.14
 22 1872l Ulysses Grant 286 Thomas Hendricks 42 3 Others 21 349 81.95
 21 1868 Ulysses Grant 214 Horatio Seymour 80 294 72.79
 20 1864 Abraham Lincoln 212 George McClellan 21 233 90.99
 19 1860 Abraham Lincoln 180 John Breckinridge 72 2 Others 51 303 59.41
 18 1856 James Buchanan 174 John Fremont 114 Millard Fillmore 8 296 58.78
 17 1852 Franklin Pierce 254 Winfield Scott 42 296 85.81
 16 1848 Zachary Taylor 163 Lewis Cass 127 290 56.21
 15 1844 James Polk 170 Henry Clay 105 275 61.82
 14 1840 William Harrison 234 Van Buren 60 294 79.59
 13 1836 Martin Van Buren 170 W Harrison 73 3 Others 51 294 57.82
 12 1832m Andrew Jackson 219 Henry Clay 49 2 Others 18 286 76.57
 11 1828 Andrew Jackson 178 JQ Adams 83 261 68.20
 10 1824n JQ Adams 84 Jackson 99 2 Others 78 261 n
 09 1820o James Monroe 231 JQ Adams 1 235 98.30
 08 1816 James Monroe 183 Rufus King 34 217 84.33
 07 1812 James Madison 128 De Witt Clinton 89 217 58.99
 06 1808p James Madison 122 Charles Pinckney 47 George Clinton 6 175 69.71
 05 1804 Thomas Jefferson 162 Charles Pinckney 14 176 92.05
 04 1800q Thomas Jefferson 73 Aaron Burr 73 138 52.90
 03 1796 John Adams 71 Jefferson 68 138 51.45
 02 1792 George Washington 132 Unopposed 132 100%
 01 1789 George Washington 69 Unopposed 69 100%

Although Joseph Biden is the 46th President of the United States, he is only the 45th person to be President.

If you count the names in the “Winning Candidate” column, you will only find 40 different names.

(Grover Cleveland served non-consecutive terms.) Did we forget five Presidents? No, not at all.

There were five American Vice Presidents

  • John Tyler
  • Millard Fillmore
  • Andrew Johnson
  • Chester Arthur
  • Gerald Ford

who succeeded into the Presidency due to the death or resignation of the previous president.

Of these five people, John Tyler, Andrew Johnson and Chester Arthur never chose to run for a second Presidential term.

In 1852, Millard Fillmore (a member of the Whig Party) was unable to get that party’s nomination to seek a second Presidential term.
In 1856 he unsuccessfully ran for the Presidency as a member of the “Know Nothing Party”.

In 1976, Gerald Ford unsuccessfully ran for a second Presidential term.

These five people were never elected into the Presidency.

The above, Electoral Vote Table, is fairly easy to understand.

In 2016, Donald Trump won 304 electoral votes, becoming President-elect, defeating Hillary Clinton who only received 227 electoral votes.

The “Win %” column is the electoral vote percentage the winner received.

For example, in 2016, Donald Trump won 304 out of 538 electoral votes.

Trump (304 ÷ 538) * 100 = 56.51%   and   Clinton (227 ÷ 538) * 100 = 42.19%

In 2016, Donald Trump declared his electoral vote total a “massive landslide victory”.

Actually, to be a landslide there must be at least a 15% difference between first and second place in the popular vote.

Donald Trump lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes to Hillary Clinton.

For an electoral vote landslide, it is generally agreed that the winning candidate should have 70% of the electoral vote total.

Donald Trump won 56.51% of the electoral vote and Hillary Clinton won 42.19%.

Donald Trump also stated “Today marks a historic electoral landslide victory in our nation’s democracy.” and the Democrats have “suffered one of the greatest defeats in the history of politics in this country.”

The United States has held 59 Presidential elections and if we were to put these 59 elections into order by electoral vote percentage, Donald Trump’s election is number 46.

So, despite what Donald Trump claims, his 2016 election victory was not a landslide.

A LIST OF FAITHLESS “ELECTORS” – ELECTORS WHO DID NOT VOTE FOR THEIR PLEDGED PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:

a In the election of 2016, Trump had 306 (out of 538) pledged electoral votes and Clinton had 232 but seven electors changed their pledged votes.
Two Trump electors cast their votes for Ron Paul and and John Kasich.
Five Clinton electors cast three votes for Colin Powell, one vote for Bernie Sanders and one vote for Faith Spotted Eagle.
b In the election of 2004, one electoral vote was cast for [sic] John Ewards.
c In the election of 2000, one electoral vote was not cast.
d In the election of 1988, one electoral vote went to Lloyd Bentsen.
e In the election of 1976, one electoral vote went to Ronald Reagan.
f In the election of 1972, one electoral vote went to John Hospers.
g In the election of 1968, one electoral vote was changed from Richard Nixon to George Wallace.
h In the election of 1960, one electoral vote was changed from Richard Nixon to Harry Byrd.
i In the election of 1956, one electoral vote went to Walter Burgwyn Jones.
j In the election of 1948, one electoral vote was changed from Harry Truman to Strom Thurmond.
k In the election of 1892, one electoral vote was changed from Benjamin Harrison to James Weaver.
l In the election of 1872, Horace Greeley died and his 63 electoral votes were re-apportioned.
m In the election of 1832, two electors did not cast electoral votes for Henry Clay.
n The election of 1824 was resolved by the House of Representatives, with John Quincy Adams winning 32.18% of the electoral votes.
o In 1820, 235 electors were appointed but only 232 votes were cast due to the death of 3 electors.
Also, one elector for James Monroe changed to John Quincy Adams, believing that only George Washington should have a unanimous election
p In the election of 1808, six James Madison electors cast their electoral votes for George Clinton.
q Due to a tie in electoral votes between Jefferson and Burr, the election of 1800 was resolved by the House of Representatives.

Italics indicate that these changes have already been taken into account in the electoral vote table.