United States presidential election

type of election in the United States

The election of the President and Vice President of the United States is an indirect vote in which citizens cast ballots for a set of members of the U.S. Electoral College. These electors then cast direct votes for the President and Vice President. If both votes result in an absolute majority, the election is over. If a majority of electors do not vote for President, the House of Representatives chooses the President; if a majority of electors do not vote for Vice President, the Senate votes. Presidential elections occur quadrennially on Election Day, which since 1845 has been the Tuesday after the first Monday in November,[1][2] coinciding with the general elections of various other federal, state, and local races. The most recent United States presidential election was held on November 3, 2020.

List of presidential elections

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These are the lists of every U.S. presidential elections since 1788 to 2020.

Bold indicates the winners and results of each election.

Each colour represents each party (winner) in every election.[a]

Parties

  Independent   Federalist   Democratic-Republican   Democratic   Whig   Republican   National Union (1864)

United States presidential elections
Year Major candidates[b] Electoral votes Popular votes
1788 George Washington 69
1792 George Washington 132
1796 John Adams
Thomas Jefferson
71
68
1800 Thomas Jefferson
John Adams
73[c]
65
1804 Thomas Jefferson
Charles C. Pinckney
162
14
1808 James Madison
Charles C. Pinckney
122
47
1812 James Madison
DeWitt Clinton
128
89
1816 James Monroe
Rufus King
183
34
1820 James Monroe 231[d]
1824[e] John Quincy Adams
Andrew Jackson
William H. Crawford
Henry Clay
84 (13 delegates)
99 (7 delegates)
41 (4 delegates)
37 (N/A delegates)
1828 Andrew Jackson
John Quincy Adams
178
83
1832 Andrew Jackson
Henry Clay
John Floyd
William Wirt
219
49
11
7
1836 Martin Van Buren
William Henry Harrison
Hugh L. White
Daniel Webster
Willie P. Mangum
170
73
26
14
11
1840 William Henry Harrison
Martin Van Buren
234
60
1844 James K. Polk
Henry Clay
170
105
1848 Zachary Taylor
Lewis Cass
163
127
1852 Franklin Pierce
Winfield Scott
254
42
1856 James Buchanan
John C. Frémont
Millard Fillmore
174
114
8
1860 Abraham Lincoln
John C. Breckinridge
John Bell
Stephen A. Douglas
180
72
39
12
1864 Abraham Lincoln
George B. McClellan
212[f]
21
1868 Ulysses S. Grant
Horatio Seymour
214
80
1872 Ulysses S. Grant
Horace Greeley
Thomas A. Hendricks
Benjamin Gratz Brown
Charles J. Jenkins
David Davis
286 (14 invalidated)[g]
0 (63 invalidated and 3 rejected)[h]
42
18
2
1
1876 Rutherford B. Hayes
Samuel J. Tilden
185
184
1880 James A. Garfield
Winfield Scott Hancock
214
155
1884 Grover Cleveland
James G. Blaine
219
182
1888 Benjamin Harrison
Grover Cleveland
233
168
1892 Grover Cleveland
Benjamin Harrison
James B. Weaver
277
145
22
1896 William McKinley
William Jennings Bryan
271
176
1900 William McKinley
William Jennings Bryan
292
155
1904 Theodore Roosevelt
Alton B. Parker
336
140
1908 William Howard Taft
William Jennings Bryan
321
162
1912 Woodrow Wilson
Theodore Roosevelt
William Howard Taft
435
88
8
1916 Woodrow Wilson
Charles Evans Hughes
277
254
1920 Warren G. Harding
James M. Cox
404
127
1924 Calvin Coolidge
John W. Davis
Robert M. La Follette
382
136
13
1928 Herbert Hoover
Al Smith
444
87
1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt
Herbert Hoover
472
59
1936 Franklin D. Roosevelt
Alf Landon
523
8
1940 Franklin D. Roosevelt
Wendell Willkie
449
82
1944 Franklin D. Roosevelt
Thomas E. Dewey
432
99
1948 Harry S. Truman
Thomas E. Dewey
Strom Thurmond
303[i]
189
39[j]
1952 Dwight D. Eisenhower
Adlai Stevenson II
442
89
1956 Dwight D. Eisenhower
Adlai Stevenson II
Walter Burgwyn Jones
457
73[k]
1
1960 John F. Kennedy
Richard Nixon
Harry F. Byrd
303
219[l]
15
1964 Lyndon B. Johnson
Barry Goldwater
486
52
1968 Richard Nixon
Hubert Humphrey
George Wallace
301[m]
191
46[n]
1972 Richard Nixon
George McGovern

John G. Hospers

520[o]
17
1
1976 Jimmy Carter
Gerald Ford
Ronald Reagan
297[p]
240
1
1980 Ronald Reagan
Jimmy Carter
489
49
1984 Ronald Reagan
Walter Mondale
525
13
1988 George H. W. Bush
Michael Dukakis
Lloyd Bentsen
426
111[q]
1
1992 Bill Clinton
George H. W. Bush
370
168
1996 Bill Clinton
Bob Dole
379
159
2000 George W. Bush
Al Gore
271
266[r]
2004 George W. Bush
John Kerry
John Edwards
286
251[s]
1
2008 Barack Obama
John McCain
365
173
2012 Barack Obama
Mitt Romney
332
206
2016 Donald Trump
Hillary Clinton
Colin Powell
Faith Spotted Eagle
Ron Paul
John Kasich
Bernie Sanders
304 (306)[t]
227 (232)[u]
3
1
1
1
1
2020 Joe Biden
Donald Trump
306
232

Eligibility

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To be eligible to be president, a candidate must:

  • Be a natural-born citizen of the United States[v][7]
  • Be at least 35 years old[7]
  • Have been a resident of the United States for 14 years[7]
  1. Some presidents that is not elected due to resigned, death, etc...
  2. This list only includes the candidates who got electoral votes.
  3. Each elector had two votes before the ratification of the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Jefferson and Burr both received 73 votes, resulting in a tie. The United States House of Representatives subsequently elected Jefferson as president.
  4. Three electors from three states (Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Tennessee) pledged to the Monroe/Tompkins ticket died before the Electoral College convened and were not replaced. Additionally, one faithless elector (in New Hampshire) cast his vote for Adams/Rush.
  5. The result of the election was inconclusive, as no candidate won a majority of the electoral vote. In the election for vice president, John C. Calhoun was elected with a comfortable majority of the vote. Because none of the candidates for president garnered an electoral vote majority, the U.S. House of Representatives, under the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment, held a contingent election. On February 9, 1825, the House voted (with each state delegation casting one vote) to elect John Quincy Adams as president, ultimately giving the election to him.[3][4]
  6. 234 electors were permitted to cast votes; however, an elector from Nevada pledged to the Lincoln/Johnson ticket was snowbound and unable to cast a vote for President or Vice President, bringing the total number of electoral votes cast to 233.[5]
  7. Elections were held in Arkansas and Louisiana; however, due to various irregularities including allegations of electoral fraud, all electoral votes from those states (6 and 8, respectively) were invalidated.
  8. Greeley died after the election, but prior to the Electoral College meeting. Greeley had won 66 pledged electors, of which 63 cast their votes for other candidates. 3 Georgian electors voted for Greeley; however, their votes were rejected.
  9. In state-by-state tallies, Truman earned 304 pledged electors, Thurmond 38. Truman lost one vote in Tennessee to Preston Parks, who voted for Thurmond & Wright, despite Truman carrying the state.
  10. In state-by-state tallies, Truman earned 304 pledged electors, Thurmond 38. Truman lost one vote in Tennessee to Preston Parks, who voted for Thurmond & Wright, despite Truman carrying the state.
  11. In state-by-state tallies, Stevenson earned 74 pledged electors, but he lost one vote in Alabama to W. F. Turner, who voted for Jones & Talmadge, despite Stevenson carrying the state.
  12. One Oklahoma faithless elector voted for Harry F. Byrd for President and Barry Goldwater for Vice President.
  13. In state-by-state tallies, Nixon earned 302 pledged electors, Wallace 45. Nixon lost one vote in North Carolina to Lloyd W. Bailey, who voted for Wallace & LeMay, even though Nixon carried the state.
  14. In state-by-state tallies, Nixon earned 302 pledged electors, Wallace 45. Nixon lost one vote in North Carolina to Lloyd W. Bailey, who voted for Wallace & LeMay, even though Nixon carried the state.
  15. A faithless Republican elector voted for the Libertarian ticket: Hospers–Nathan
  16. A faithless Republican elector, Mike Padden in Washington, voted for Ronald Reagan to be president. Padden voted for Bob Dole to be vice president as pledged. As a result, Ford had 240 electoral votes instead of 241.
  17. A faithless Democratic elector voted for Bentsen for president and Dukakis for vice president.
  18. 267 electors pledged to the Gore/Lieberman ticket were elected; however, an elector from the District of Columbia abstained from casting a vote for president or vice president, bringing the ticket's total number of electoral votes to 266.
  19. One Minnesota elector voted for Edwards for both president and vice president.
  20. In state-by-state tallies, Trump earned 306 pledged electors, Clinton 232. They lost respectively two and five votes to faithless electors. Vice presidential candidates Pence and Kaine lost one and five votes, respectively. Three other votes by electors were invalidated and recast.
  21. In state-by-state tallies, Trump earned 306 pledged electors, Clinton 232. They lost respectively two and five votes to faithless electors. Vice presidential candidates Pence and Kaine lost one and five votes, respectively. Three other votes by electors were invalidated and recast.
  22. The authority most often cited for the meaning of "natural born" is William Blackstone. In hisCommentaries on the Laws of England, Volume II, edited by St. George Tucker (one of the Founding Fathers of the United States), published in 1803, Chapter 10:

    As to the qualifications of members to sit at this board: any natural born subject of England is capable of being a member of the privy council; taking the proper oaths for security of the government, and the test for security of the church. But, in order to prevent any persons under foreign attachments from insinuating themselves into this important trust, as happened in the reign of king William in many instances, it is enacted by the act of settlement,l that no person born out of the dominions of the crown of England, unless born of English parents, even though naturalized by parliament, shall be capable of being of the privy council.[6]

References

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  1. Caldwell, Leigh Ann (November 4, 2015). "A Viewer's Guide to the Next Year in Presidential Politics". NBC News. Retrieved November 8, 2015.
  2. Cohen, Andrew (October 29, 2012). "Could a Hurricane Like Sandy Postpone the Presidential Election?". The Atlantic. Retrieved November 8, 2015.
  3. Robin Kolodny, "The Several Elections of 1824." Congress & the Presidency: A Journal of Capital Studies 23#2 (1996) online[dead link].
  4. George Dangerfield, George. The Awakening of American Nationalism: 1815-1828 (1965) pp 212–230.
  5. Rocha, Guy. "Nevada Myths". Nevada State Library and Archives. Archived from the original on September 8, 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  6. "Presidential Eligibility". The Constitution Society. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 "The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription". The National Archives. Retrieved 17 March 2016.(Article II, Section 1)