To rank the post-war elections:
1. 1948
2. 1968
3. 1992
4. 2008
5. 1960
6. 1972
7. 1980
8. 1964
9. 1976
10. 2004
11. 2000 (would be lower if not for Florida)
12. 1988
13. 2012
14. 1952
15. 1996
16. 1984
17. 1956 (no real doubt as to the winner)
I would say 1984 is a little higher. The election gave us "hymietown", "where's the beef?", the first female VP candidate, "There is despair, Mr. President, in the faces that you don't see, in the places that you don't visit in your shining city", "We'll both raise your taxes. The difference is, he won't tell you. I just did", "there's a bear in the woods", "morning in America", "I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience", and the former editor of Ramparts voting for Ronald Reagan, was an entertaining election, even if the outcome was never seriously in doubt.
Don't forget "Are you better off than you were four years ago?".
