These 11 most popularly elected US presidents have defeated their opponents by the largest margin of the popular vote.
In order to compensate for the increase of voters’ numbers during history, the presidents are ranked according to the margin of victory percentages. It wouldn’t be fair to compare George Washington, who won his 1792 presidency with 28,579 votes and Barack Obama who won his in 2008 with 69.5 million votes. These are the two presidents who were elected with the smallest and largest popular vote count in history, by the way. It is worth noting that the states weren’t obliged to cast their elector votes based on popular voting, so in 1792 only two states, Pennsylvania and Maryland, held popular elections. Speaking of states, it would be interesting to compare how these most beautiful states voted throughout history.
The part that is confusing to foreigners is that it is possible to win the popular vote and still lose the elections. It happened at least 4 times in history. John Quincy Adams, Rutherford Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, and George W. Bush all became presidents while receiving fewer votes than their opponents. John Quincy Adams even lost the electoral vote, but since his opponent, Andrew Jackson didn’t receive a majority vote, the House of Representatives choose the president. Andy Jackson was less than pleased and in his usual manner called the elections a corrupt bargain, the phrase that was used to describe two more presidential elections.
Two names appear twice on the list. Roosevelt’s elections in 1932 and 1936 earned him two spots on the list of most popularly elected us presidents. Herbert Hoover also appears twice, albeit in different roles. He won the 1928 elections by a landslide, only to lose in 1932 in a similar fashion. Incumbent candidates lost just 5 elections since 1900. To be fair to Hoover, he did have to deal with the minor inconvenience called The Great Depression during his term and that may had something to do with his disastrous results.
11 most popularly elected US presidents on our list didn’t have problems winning the popular vote. In fact, they all won it by a landslide. Let’s see who won by the largest margin.
11.Dwight Eisenhower (Republican)
Year: 1956
% margin: 15.40%
Votes: 35,579,180
Margin: 9,551,152
Opponent: Adlai Stevenson (Democratic)
In a re-match of the 1952 elections, widely popular Eisenhower carried by the recently signed peace in Korea demolished Adlai Stevenson for the second time and secured his second presidency.
10.Herbert Hoover (Republican)
Year: 1928
% margin: 17.41%
Votes: 21,427,123
Margin: 6,411,659
Opponent: Al Smith (Democratic)
Memories of Tammany Hall proved to be too much for Al Smith to have even a fighting chance against Herbert Hoover, who ran instead of incumbent president Coolidge.
9.Franklin Roosevelt (Democratic)
Year: 1932
% margin: 17.76%
Votes: 22,821,277
Margin: 7,060,023
Opponent: Herbert Hoover (Republican)
The second appearance on our list by Herbert hoover, this time as a loser of the presidential elections of 1932. With an unemployment at 20%, it was impossible for him to defend against the relentless attacks by Roosevelt and his campaign managers, who blamed him for the appalling condition of the US economy during the depression.
8.Andrew Jackson (Democratic)
Year: 1832
% margin: 17.81%
Votes: 702,735
Margin: 228,628
Opponent: Henry Clay (National Republican)
The elections of 1832 saw the appearance of partisan national conventions as the mean for electing presidential candidates for the first time. Other than that, nothing much happened and Jackson won in an expected landslide.
7.Ronald Reagan (Republican)
Year: 1984
% margin: 18.21%
Votes: 54,455,472
Margin: 16,878,120
Opponent: Walter Mondale (Democratic)
Ronald Reagan managed to win in 49 states in the 1984 elections, a feat that only one other candidate achieved. His opponent only win came in his home state of Minnesota.
6.Theodore Roosevelt (Republican)
Year: 1904
% margin: 18.83%
Votes: 7,630,557
Margin: 2,546,677
Opponent: Alton Brooks Parker (Democratic)
Rising to the presidency after the assassination of William McKinley in 1901, Theodore Roosevelt was the first incumbent candidate who came to the White House as a vice-president to win an election. After him, several other former vice-presidents managed to do it as well.
5.Lyndon Johnson (Democratic)
Year: 1964
% margin: 22.58%
Votes: 43,127,041
Margin: 15,951,287
Opponent: Barry Goldwater (Republican )
Number 5 on our list of most popularly elected US presidents is Lyndon Johnson. Carried on the wings of late president Kennedy’s popularity, Johnson didn’t have any issues in winning the 1964 elections. Not even genius use of chemistry (one of Goldwater slogans was AuH2O, probably the only time Periodic table of elements was used in a presidential election) couldn’t help Barry.
4.Richard Nixon (Republican)
Year: 1972
% margin: 23.15%
Votes: 47,168,710
Margin: 17,995,488
Opponent: George McGovern (Democratic)
Nixon’s first term was among the most successful presidencies in history. Open China, détente with the Soviet Union and gradual withdrawal of troops from Vietnam all helped him secure a second term by winning unprecedented 49 states. Then Watergate reared its ugly head and it all came crashing down. Nixon went to history books as the only president ever to resign the office.
3.Franklin Roosevelt (Democratic)
Year: 1936
% margin: 24.26%
Votes: 27,752,648
Margin: 11,070,786
Opponent: Alf Landon (Republican)
Roosevelt won the 1936 election in 46 out of 48 states. The only two he lost were Vermont and Maine, leading some of his advisors to jokingly propose after the election that selling those two to Canada might speed up the Great Depression recovery. Interestingly enough, the idea is still alive today, but instead of selling, people now suggest giving Vermont and Maine for free.
2.Calvin Coolidge (Republican)
Year: 1924
% margin: 25.22%
Votes: 15,723,789
Margin: 7,337,547
Opponent: John Davis (Democratic)
The booming economy in the Roaring Twenties, for which people gave credit to incumbent candidate Coolidge and a split in the Democratic party helped Republicans secure the second consecutive term in the White House.
1.Warren Harding (Republican)
Year: 1920
% margin: 26.17%
Votes: 16,144,093
Margin: 7,004,432
Opponent: James Cox (Democratic)
And the most popularly elected US president was Warren Harding, the 34th President of the United States. Probably sensing the people’s resentment of his policies during the First World War, the incumbent president Wilson choose not to run for the third term. The Democratic Party chose James Cox as the candidate while Republicans nominated Warren Harding since Theodore Roosevelt died in 1919. Both men were from Ohio. Harding went to win the election with the largest popular margin ever recorded.
