The 'fun-house mirror' of American politics

At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, one of the more contentious questions the nation's Founding Fathers faced was how to elect the president. One faction held fast for the president's election by Congress; the other for direct vote of the people. In the end, the Founders settled on a compromise – what only later became known as the Electoral College. But the question of how best to elect the president continues to this day. Below are some of the reasons why:

  • 1800: Democratic and Republican candidates Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr each received 73 electoral votes for president, with the Federalist Party candidate, incumbent President John Adams, receiving 65, throwing the election into the House of Representatives. On the 36th ballot, Jefferson finally won. Burr became vice president.

  • 1824: The race was between John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson and William H. Crawford, each representing factions of the Democratic and Republican parties. Jackson led the popular voting in the 18 of 24 states that chose electors by popular vote. He also led the electoral vote with 99, to 84 for Adams, 41 for Crawford and 37 for Clay. The names of Jackson, Adams and Clay went to the House. But before the House vote, great controversy erupted over an anonymous letter in a Philadelphia newspaper alleging a secret deal between Adams and Clay by which Adams would become president and Clay the secretary of state. Adams still won the presidency on the first House ballot, by one vote, and subsequently named Clay his secretary of state. But Adams'presidency was forever tarnished. Jackson wrote to a friend, “Was there ever witnessed such a bare-faced corruption in any country before?” Jackson then sought, and won, the White House in 1828.

  • 1836: The Whig Party sought to manipulate the electoral system by running three candidates – William Henry Harrison, Daniel Webster and Hugh White – in different parts of the country, hoping the party would win a majority of electors and then unite behind one of the candidates. But the scheme failed when Democrat Martin Van Buren captured a majority of the electoral vote.

  • 1860: Republican Abraham Lincoln won the presidency with 180 of 303 electoral votes, though he won just 39.9 percent of the popular vote against Democrat Stephen A. Douglas and two other candidates. Other presidents who fell far short of a popular vote majority included Democrat Woodrow Wilson in 1912 (41 percent), Republican Richard Nixon in 1968 (43.4 percent) and Democrat Bill Clinton in 1992 (43 percent).

  • 1872: Horace Greeley, the Democratic nominee, died between the time of the popular vote and the Electoral College meeting, leaving the Democratic electors with no nominee to vote for. Republican Ulysses S. Grant, who carried 55.6 percent of the popular vote, ended up winning 286 of 366 electoral votes.

  • 1876: Republican Rutherford B. Hayes lost the popular vote to Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, 48 percent to 51 percent. But Hayes won the White House by one electoral vote following congressional decisions on disputed electoral votes from four states.

  • 1888: Republican Benjamin Harrison trailed Democrat Grover Cleveland in the popular vote, 47.8 percent to 48.6 percent, but won the White House easily in the Electoral College.

  • 1960: Following a disputed popular vote that Democrat John F. Kennedy officially won, but which many historians believe was actually won by Republican Richard M. Nixon, Kennedy won the White House with a solid majority in the Electoral College.

  • 1968: American Independent Party candidate George C. Wallace hoped to win enough Electoral College votes to force Democrat Hubert Humphrey or Republican Richard M. Nixon to make policy concessions or to force the election into the House. But his strategy failed, with Wallace winning 13.5 percent of the popular vote and 46 electoral votes, including that of one Republican defector.

  • 1984: Democrat Walter Mondale won 40.6 percent of the popular vote in a landslide loss to Republican Ronald Reagan's 58.8 percent, but Mondale won just 2 percent of the Electoral College vote.

  • 2000: Democrat Al Gore carried the popular vote with a plurality of 48.4 percent to Republican George Bush's 47.9 percent. But Bush won the presidency in the Electoral College by five votes following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in his favor regarding the disputed vote and recount in Florida. That election sparked controversy over voting systems that continues today.

    – William Osborne

  • Source for most items: “Presidential Elections, 1789-1992,” published by Congressional Quarterly.