Donald Trump may be on his way to one of the worst popular
vote percentage losses in all of Presidential election history and
this was true even before the videotape surfaced showing his vile
comments about women. It is probably that he will win about 20 states at
least, and will have an electoral vote total in triple digits, but his
percentage of the total popular vote could rival the worst examples in
American history, a total of nine Presidential losers since the Civil
War who had less than 40 percent of the popular vote.According to Raw Story,
The all time low vote winner is Republican President William
Howard Taft, who faced a party revolt in 1912 from former President
Theodore Roosevelt, who formed the most significant third party in
American history, the Progressive (Bull Moose) Party. TR ended up second
in the election results behind Democrat Woodrow Wilson, with 27.4
percent of the popular vote, 6 states and 88 electoral votes, the all
time high for a third party nominee. As a result, President Taft ended
up third, with only 23.2 percent of the vote, 2 states and 8 electoral
votes.
The next worst performance was in 1924, when President
Calvin Coolidge defeated West Virginia Democrat John W. Davis, with
Wisconsin Senator Robert M. La Follette Sr. as the third party nominee
on the Progressive Party, a revival of the 1912 party of TR, but more to
the left of TR’s effort. With La Follette winning 16.6 percent of the
vote, Davis ended up with only 28.8 percent of the vote, 12 states and
136 electoral votes.
Ohio Democratic Governor James Cox, the nominee in 1920
against Warren G. Harding, received only 34.2 percent of the popular
vote, winning 11 states and 127 electoral votes, a performance which
could be the end result in percentage for Donald Trump if the
projections that have developed turn out to be accurate.
Kansas Republican Governor Alf Landon, the nominee in 1936
against President Franklin D. Roosevelt, won only 36.5 percent of the
popular vote, along with two states and 8 electoral votes. So Landon
matched in electoral votes what President Taft had been able to win in
1912.
Republican President George H. W. Bush, running for
reelection in 1992 against Bill Clinton and third party nominee Ross
Perot, suffered from the fact that Perot was able to gain the second
highest popular vote percentage for a third party nominee, behind TR and
ahead of La Follette with 18.9 percent of the vote. As a result, in a
losing cause, Bush won 37.4 percent of the vote, 18 states and 168
electoral votes.
South Dakota Democratic Senator George McGovern was the
Democratic nominee in 1972 against President Richard Nixon, and was only
able to win 37.5 percent of the popular vote, and only Massachusetts
and Washington DC, and 17 electoral votes.
New York Judge Alton B. Parker, the Democratic nominee in
1904 against President Theodore Roosevelt, was only able to win 37.6
percent of the popular vote, 13 states and 140 electoral votes.
Arizona Republican Senator Barry Goldwater, the nominee in
1964 against President Lyndon B. Johnson, was only able to win 38.5
percent of the popular vote, 6 states and 52 electoral votes.
Finally, Republican President Herbert Hoover, running for
reelection against Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, had only 39.7 percent
of the popular vote, 6 states and 59 electoral votes.
So a total of 9 times since the Civil War, a major party
nominee won less than 40 percent of the national popular vote, with
three times 1912, 1924, 1992 an independent or third party nominee
complicating the election and causing a poor performance by the losing
major party nominee Taft, Davis, and Bush.
Three Presidents lost reelection because of a poor percentage of the popular vote Taft, Hoover, and Bush.
Five of the nine candidates were Republicans Taft, Hoover,
Landon, Goldwater, and Bush, while four candidates were
Democrats Parker, Davis, Cox and McGovern.
Donald Trump could well end up in the company of these
gentleman and end up the tenth nominee to score less than 40 percent of
the national popular vote. We shall know very soon whether this is the
case.
AknMedia
NEWS
It’s possible Donald Trump could win a smaller percentage of the popular vote than any other presidential candidate
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
EmoticonEmoticon