Redskins Rule
Year Presidential Election Result Redskins ( Score ) Opponent ( Score ) Redskins Win or Lose ? Incumbent Party Win or Lose ? Rule upheld ? Popular Vote Won
2016 Trump defeats H. Clinton Redskins 27 Philadelphia Eagles 20 win lose no H. Clinton
2012 Obama defeats Romney Redskins 13 Carolina Panthers 21 lose win no Obama
2008 Obama defeats McCain Redskins 6 Pittsburgh Steelers 23 lose lose yes Obama
2004 G. W. Bush defeats Kerry Redskins 14 Green Bay Packers 28 lose win yes G. W. Bush
2000 G. W. Bush defeats Gore Redskins 21 Tennessee Titans 27 lose lose yes Gore
1996 B. Clinton defeats Dole Redskins 31 Indianapolis Colts 16 win win yes B. Clinton
1992 B. Clinton defeats G. H. W. Bush Redskins 7 New York Giants 24 lose lose yes B. Clinton
1988 G. H. W. Bush defeats Dukakis Redskins 27 New Orleans Saints 24 win win yes G. H. W. Bush
1984 Reagan defeats Mondale Redskins 27 Atlanta Falcons 14 win win yes Reagan
1980 Reagan defeats Carter Redskins 14 Minnesota Vikings 39 lose lose yes Reagan
1976 Carter defeats Ford Redskins 7 Dallas Cowboys 20 lose lose yes Carter
1972 Nixon defeats McGovern Redskins 24 Dallas Cowboys 20 win win yes Nixon
1968 Nixon defeats Humphrey Redskins 10 New York Giants 13 lose lose yes Nixon
1964 L. Johnson defeats Goldwater Redskins 27 Chicago Bears 20 win win yes L. Johnson
1960 Kennedy defeats Nixon Redskins 10 Cleveland Browns 31 lose lose yes Kennedy
1956 Eisenhower defeats Stevenson Redskins 20 Cleveland Browns 9 win win yes Eisenhower
1952 Eisenhower defeats Stevenson Redskins 23 Pittsburgh Steelers 24 lose lose yes Eisenhower
1948 Truman defeats Dewey Redskins 59 Boston Yanks 21 win win yes Truman
1944 F. Roosevelt defeats Dewey Redskins 14 Cleveland Rams 10 win win yes F. Roosevelt
1940 F. Roosevelt defeats Willkie Redskins 37 Pittsburgh Steelers 10 win win yes F. Roosevelt
Results
The Redskins Rule is a spurious relationship in which the results of National Football League (NFL) games correlated strongly with the results of subsequent United States presidential elections. Briefly stated, there was a strong correlation between the outcome of the last Washington Redskins home football game prior to the U.S. presidential election and the outcome of the election: when the Redskins won, the party of the incumbent president retained the presidency; when the Redskins lost, the opposition party won. This coincidence was noted by many sports and political commentators, used as a bellwether to predict the results of elections, and held true in every election from 1940 through 2000. A variant of the Redskins Rule was contrived to maintain the correlation through the 2008 election (under the original formulation, it would have failed in 2004), after which it failed completely in the 2012 election, and later, the 2016 election.