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List of United States presidential elections by popular vote margin

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In a United States presidential election, the popular vote is the total number or the percentage of votes cast for a candidate by voters in the 50 states and Washington, D.C.; the candidate who gains the most votes nationwide is said to have won the popular vote. As the popular vote is not used to determine who is elected as the nation's president or vice president, it is possible for the winner of the popular vote to end up losing the election, an outcome that has occurred on five occasions, most recently in 2016. This is because presidential elections are indirect elections; the votes cast on Election Day are not cast directly for a candidate but for members of the Electoral College. The Electoral College's electors then formally elect the president and vice president.

The Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution (1804) provides the procedure by which the president and vice president are elected; electors vote separately for each office. Previously, electors cast two votes for president, and the winner and runner up became president and vice-president respectively. The appointment of electors is a matter for each state's legislature to determine; in 1872 and in every presidential election since 1880, all states have used a popular vote to do so. In every presidential election from 1788 through 1828, multiple state legislatures selected their presidential electors by discretionary appointment rather than by popular vote, while the South Carolina General Assembly did so in every presidential election through 1860, and the Florida Legislature and the Colorado General Assembly selected their presidential electors by discretionary appointment in 1868 and 1876 respectively.

The 1824 election was the first in which the popular vote was first fully recorded and reported. Since then, 19 presidential elections have occurred in which a candidate was elected or reelected without gaining a majority of the popular vote. Since the 1988 election, the popular vote of presidential elections has been decided by single-digit margins, the longest streak of close-election results since states began popularly electing presidents in the 1820s.

List

Vote outcomes: Winner received only a plurality of the popular vote • Winner lost the popular vote • Winner chosen by the House of Representatives

11.6%
! scope="row"
132/132
28,579
28,579
6.3%
-
! scope="row"
71/138
51.45%
53.45%
6.90%
35,726
4,611
20.1%
- style="background-color:lightgreen;"
! scope="row"
73/138
52.90%
61.43%
22.86%
41,330
15,378
32.3%
-
! scope="row"
162/176
92.05%
72.79%
45.58%
104,110
65,191
23.8%
-
! scope="row"
122/175
69.72%
64.74%
32.33%
124,732
62,301
36.8%
-
! scope="row"
128/217
58.99%
50.37%
2.74%
140,431
7,650
40.4%
-
! scope="row"
183/217
84.33%
68.16%
37.24%
76,592
41,852
23.5%
-
! scope="row"
231/232
99.57%
80.61%
64.69%
87,343
69,878
10.1%
-
- style="background-color:lightgreen;"
! scope="row"
84/261
32.18%
30.92%
−10.44%
113,142
−38,221
26.9%
-
! scope="row"
178/261
68.20%
55.93%
12.25%
642,806
140,839
57.3%
-
! scope="row"
219/286
76.57%
54.74%
17.81%
702,735
228,628
57.0%
-
! scope="row"
170/294
57.82%
50.79%
14.20%
763,291
213,384
56.5%
-
! scope="row"
234/294
79.59%
52.87%
6.05%
1,275,583
145,938
80.3%
-
- style="background-color:#FFDDF4;"
! scope="row"
170/275
61.82%
49.54%
1.45%
1,339,570
39,413
79.2%
-
- style="background-color:#FFDDF4;"
! scope="row"
163/290
56.21%
47.28%
4.79%
1,360,235
137,882
72.8%
-
! scope="row"
254/296
85.81%
50.83%
6.95%
1,605,943
219,525
69.5%
-
- style="background-color:#FFDDF4;"
! scope="row"
174/296
58.78%
45.29%
12.20%
1,835,140
494,472
79.4%
-
- style="background-color:#FFDDF4;"
! scope="row"
180/303
59.41%
39.65%
10.13%
1,855,993
474,049
81.8%
-
! scope="row"
212/233
90.99%
55.03%
10.08%
2,211,317
405,090
76.3%
-
! scope="row"
214/294
72.79%
52.66%
5.32%
3,013,790
304,810
80.9%
-
! scope="row"
286/352
81.25%
55.58%
11.80%
3,597,439
763,729
72.1%
-
- style="background-color:#FFDEAD;"
! scope="row"
185/369
50.14%
47.92%
−3.00%
4,034,142
−252,666
82.6%
-
- style="background-color:#FFDDF4;"
! scope="row"
214/369
57.99%
48.31%
0.09%
4,453,337
1,898
80.5%
-
- style="background-color:#FFDDF4;"
! scope="row"
219/401
54.61%
48.85%
0.57%
4,914,482
57,579
78.2%
-
- style="background-color:#FFDEAD;"
! scope="row"
233/401
58.10%
47.80%
−0.83%
5,443,892
−90,596
80.5%
-
- style="background-color:#FFDDF4;"
! scope="row"
277/444
62.39%
46.02%
3.01%
5,553,898
363,099
75.8%
-
! scope="row"
271/447
60.63%
51.02%
4.31%
7,112,138
601,331
79.6%
-
! scope="row"
292/447
65.23%
51.64%
6.12%
7,228,864
857,932
73.7%
-
! scope="row"
336/476
70.59%
56.42%
18.83%
7,630,557
2,546,677
65.5%
-
! scope="row"
321/483
66.46%
51.57%
8.53%
7,678,335
1,269,356
65.7%
-
- style="background-color:#FFDDF4;"
! scope="row"
435/531
81.92%
41.84%
14.44%
6,296,284
2,173,563
59.0%
- style="background-color:#FFDDF4;"
! scope="row"
277/531
52.17%
49.24%
3.12%
9,126,868
578,140
61.8%
-
! scope="row"
404/531
76.08%
60.32%
26.17%
16,144,093
7,004,432
49.2%
-
! scope="row"
382/531
71.94%
54.04%
25.22%
15,723,789
7,337,547
48.9%
-
! scope="row"
444/531
83.62%
58.21%
17.41%
21,427,123
6,411,659
56.9%
-
! scope="row"
472/531
88.89%
57.41%
17.76%
22,821,277
7,060,023
56.9%
-
! scope="row"
523/531
98.49%
60.80%
24.26%
27,752,648
11,070,786
61.0%
-
! scope="row"
449/531
84.56%
54.74%
9.96%
27,313,945
4,966,201
62.4%
-
! scope="row"
432/531
81.36%
53.39%
7.50%
25,612,916
3,594,987
55.9%
-
- style="background-color:#FFDDF4;"
! scope="row"
303/531
57.06%
49.55%
4.48%
24,179,347
2,188,055
52.2%
-
! scope="row"
442/531
83.24%
55.18%
10.85%
34,075,529
6,700,439
62.3%
-
! scope="row"
457/531
86.06%
57.37%
15.40%
35,579,180
9,551,152
60.2%
-
- style="background-color:#FFDDF4;"
! scope="row"
303/537
56.42%
49.72%
0.17%
34,220,984
112,827
63.8%
-
! scope="row"
486/538
90.33%
61.05%
22.58%
43,129,040
15,953,286
62.8%
-
- style="background-color:#FFDDF4;"
! scope="row"
301/538
55.95%
43.42%
0.70%
31,783,783
511,944
62.5%
-
! scope="row"
520/538
96.65%
60.67%
23.15%
47,168,710
17,995,488
56.2%
-
! scope="row"
297/538
55.20%
50.08%
2.06%
40,831,881
1,683,247
54.8%
-
! scope="row"
489/538
90.89%
50.75%
9.74%
43,903,230
8,422,115
54.2%
-
! scope="row"
525/538
97.58%
58.77%
18.21%
54,455,472
16,878,120
55.2%
-
! scope="row"
426/538
79.18%
53.37%
7.72%
48,886,597
7,077,121
52.8%
-
- style="background-color:#FFDDF4;"
! scope="row"
370/538
68.77%
43.01%
5.56%
44,909,889
5,805,339
58.1%
- style="background-color:#FFDDF4;"
! scope="row"
379/538
70.45%
49.23%
8.51%
47,401,185
8,203,716
51.7%
-
- style="background-color:#FFDEAD;"
! scope="row"
271/538
50.47%
47.87%
−0.51%
50,456,002
−543,895
54.2%
-
! scope="row"
286/538
53.16%
50.73%
2.46%
62,040,610
3,012,166
60.1%
-
! scope="row"
365/538
67.84%
52.93%
7.27%
69,498,516
9,550,193
61.6%
-
! scope="row"
332/538
61.71%
51.06%
3.86%
65,915,795
4,982,291
58.6%
-
- style="background-color:#FFDEAD;"
! scope="row"
304/538
56.50%
46.09%
−2.09%
62,984,828
−2,868,686
60.1%
-
! scope="row"
306/538
56.88%
51.31%
4.45%
81,283,501
7,059,526
66.6%
-
- style="background-color:#FFDDF4;"
! scope="row"
312/538
57.99%
49.80%
1.48%
77,302,580
2,284,967
64.1%
}

Timeline

References

Bibliography

Leip, David. Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
Peters, Gerhard. Voter Turnout in Presidential Elections.

References

(November 18, 2025). "Trump's 2024 'mandate' isn't as robust as Biden's was in 2020". The Washington Post.
(November 6, 2024). "Presidential Election Margin of Victory". The American Presidency Project (University of California).
(November 9, 2016). "Clinton on pace to win popular vote despite losing election". CBS News.
Bostedt, Shelbie Lynn. (November 9, 2016). "How it happened: Clinton wins popular vote but loses Election". Chicago Tribune.
Williams, Norman R.. (2012). "Why the National Popular Vote Compact is Unconstitutional". [[J. Reuben Clark Law School]].
"1868 Presidential General Election Results".
McPherson, J. (2001). ''To the Best of My Ability: The American Presidents''. Dorling Kindersly Publishing.
Enten, Harry. (December 26, 2022). "The most underdiscussed fact of the 2022 election: how historically close it was". CNN.
McDonald, Michael P.. (11 June 2014). "National General Election VEP Turnout Rates, 1789-Present".

Info: Wikipedia Source

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