[lit-ideas] American presidential election oddities
- From: Chris Bruce <bruce@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2004 20:12:41 +0200
Never mind the question as to why Florideans are voting today - I'd=20
like it explained to me how Ronald Reagan received one electoral=20
college vote in the *1976* election!
By the way, 2000 wasn't the first year in which a candidate won the=20
election in spite of receiving less ('popular') votes than his=20
opponent:
1876 - Hayes received 4,036,000 votes to Tilden's 4,288,000
(Hayes won by one electoral college vote)
1888 - Harrison 5,445,000; Cleveland 5,540,000
(Elelctoral college: Harrison 233; Clevelnad 168)
2000 - Bush 50,461,000; Gore 50,994,000
(Elelctoral college: Bush 271; Gore 266
- does anyone know why that one Gore elector
from D.C. abstained?)
But the presidential race in 1824 is perhaps the most interesting in=20
this regard: Andrew Jackson lost to John Quincy Adams in the House of=20
Representatives after winning a plurality of the popular (Jackson=20
153,000; Adams 116,000) *and* electoral (Jackson 99; Adams 84) vote.
In 18 elections between 1824 and 2000, presidents were elected without=20=
popular majorities=97including Abraham Lincoln, who won election in 1860=20=
with under 40 percent of the national vote.
In 1980 Ronald Reagan won just over 50 percent of the popular vote and=20=
91 percent of the electoral vote; in 1988 George Bush received 53=20
percent of the popular vote and 79 percent of the electoral vote; and=20
in 1992 and 1996 William J. Clinton won 43 and 49 percent of the=20
popular vote, respectively, and 69 and 70 percent of the electoral=20
vote.
It's an interesting system that you Americans have for ensuring that=20
'government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not=20
perish from the earth.' (I just saw Capra's 'Mr. Smith Goes to=20
Washington' for the first time - do people still bring their children=20
to the Lincoln Memorial and read aloud the Gettysburg Address?)
Chris Bruce
Kiel, Germany
P.S: My source for all of the data reiterated above is _The=20
Encyclopaedia Britannica 2003 Deluxe Edition CD-ROM_.
--=
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