(Thread) Interesting factoids about presidential elections.

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Donald Trump's margin of victory in West Virginia was greater than any other presidential candidate's margin of victory, ever. 

Wyoming is the same case as West Virginia.

Trump's margin of victory in Kentucky was the largest of any presidential candidate since Horatio Seymour received almost 75% of the state's vote in 1868.

The other state where Trump won by a larger margin than any presidential candidate going back through the 1960s?  South Dakota (ugh) (though Ike won by more in 1952). 

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In 1960, Kennedy and Nixon each carried at least one county (or parish, or Alaskan electoral district) in every state.

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Orange County, CA and Orange County, FL--after long streaks of voting Republican, (beginning in 1940 for CA and 1948 for FL)--finally voted Democratic in 2016 and 2000, respectively.  Democrats lost both those elections, in spite of winning the PV.  These two counties are also the homes of Disneyland and Disney World, respectively.

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The only Republicans ever to break 80% in any state?  Goldwater in Mississippi and McKinley (1896) in Vermont.

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Buren in 1848 and Perot in 1992 are the only two cases I can think of where a candidate won no states but got over ten percent of the vote, although Douglas got extremely close to doing so in 1860

I think the only other example is Bell in 1860.

Bell carried 3 states.

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What I find funny about 1948 is that while Strom Thurmond received a mere 2.4% of the PV nationwide, he was the only candidate that year to obtain >70% in any state; he accomplished that in three-MS (87%), AL (80%), and SC (72%).

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Kamala Harris is the only Westerner ever to be on a Democratic ticket, unless you count the Southern Democratic ticket of 1860, which had Joseph Lane of Oregon as the VP candidate.

McGovern is the most recent Democrat from The West and was the last time until 2016 that The West overall trended leftwards of The East.

Nevada has been just as reliable as Ohio in determining the winner since 1912.

2016 was the first election since 1932 in which Pennsylvania and Minnesota voted to the right of the nation.

Trump is the first President to lose his home-state by double digits.

2012 was the first time since 1944 that the winner decreased both his Electoral and Popular count.



Jimmy Carter's election did not create ANY coattails in the Senate, in fact, incumbent Democrats actually lost more than they gained from vulnerable incumbent Republican. But this was saved by Democrats picking up more open seats from retiring Republicans than the reverse.

Jimmy Carter is also the first Democrat to win without Nevada since Grover Cleveland.

2004 was the first election Republicans won without a single Northeastern state, and if Ohio had gone to Kerry would've been the first time a Democrat won without The South.

2000 would've been the first time Democrats won with The South, if Al Gore had just picked Jeanne Shaheen to lock up New Hampshire.

1988 was the first time a Republican won without Iowa.

No...Romney lost Massachusetts by double digits (home state=state of residence at the time, not birth state).

To be fair, Romney was never President.  L. D. Smith's statement is still wrong, though, since Wilson lost New Jersey by double digits.

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2008 was the first presidential election in which Indiana was not more Republican than Kentucky (though they were just a point apart in the prior two elections).

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2020 is the second time ever that both Vermont and Georgia, or that both Vermont and Arizona, voted Democratic.

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Going back through 1860, the candidate who carried the city of Philadelphia was likely the same candidate who won a majority of the black vote nationwide each time.

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I believe someone has already mentioned in this thread that Montana has always voted more Democratic than Wyoming and Idaho. That’s why it’s odd that Montana and Idaho have only twice actually supported different candidates—1892 and 1992.

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The last time Mississippi and Alabama voted differently from each other was 1840.

If I am correct, actually the only time

1960.

It sort of counts, and sort of doesn't, like 1868.

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Six non-Protestants have been major party presidential nominees; four were from Massachusetts. 

The 2012 GOP ticket was the only major party ticket comprised of two non-Protestants.

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The Democrats haven’t nominated a sitting governor for VP since 1924.

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Republicans have swept all New England counties a handful of times, most recently in 1924 (along with all New York counties).  Ike came close in 1956, only losing Suffolk, MA.

Democrats have never swept the New England counties.  LBJ and Obama-08 each fell one county short; Goldwater won Carroll County, NH and McCain carried Piscataquis, ME.

As far as I know, no candidate of any party has swept every county in all five Deep South states, even though FDR came close each time.

[TDAS04]

Republicans have swept all New England counties a handful of times, most recently in 1924 (along with all New York counties).  Ike came close in 1956, only losing Suffolk, MA.

Democrats have never swept the New England counties.  LBJ and Obama-08 each fell one county short; Goldwater won Carroll County, NH and McCain carried Piscataquis, ME.

As far as I know, no candidate of any party has swept every county in all five Deep South states, even though FDR came close each time.

It's ironic how two Arizona Senators, the latter of whom was the successor of the former, had the worst Republican performances in New England. And I think you're correct about the Deep South. Roosevelt lost Fannin and Towns Counties in far northern Georgia, which are ancestrally Republican areas. Jimmy Carter in 1976, interestingly enough, is the only Democratic presidential candidate to have swept all of Georgia's counties, something which neither Roosevelt nor any other Democrat during the Jim Crow era was able to pull off.

And those two Arizona Senators were the Republicans who lost every state carried by Lincoln in 1860.

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As recently as 2000 (prior to that year’s election), every state—except Alaska—had voted Democratic more often than Vermont.

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The only time a Republican performed worse in a state than he did in the District of Columbia?  1968. Nixon received only 14% of the vote in Alabama and Mississippi, while obtaining 18% in DC.

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2016 was the first time since 1952 Nebraska voted to the left of South Dakota or North Dakota.

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Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan all voted very close in 2020 to how they voted in 1960.  Nevada too.

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Idaho has voted Democratic in more presidential elections than Vermont.

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1996 was the last time the Democratic ticket consisted of two Protestants, but the 2012 GOP ticket was the only ticket ever to pair two non-Protestants.

Even though four of the first five presidents were Virginians, John Tyler was the last president elected from Virginia (and he, of course, was only elected VP).

James Buchanan was the only POTUS from Pennsylvania.

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Okay, I forgot about Ike moving to PA.

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The ranking of states from best to worst for John Anderson in 1980 is a bit similar to the inverse of that for George Wallace in 1968.

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The only state where Dukakis didn’t outperform McGovern? Massachusetts.

I’m not sure what’s the worst performance of all time for a major-party’s presidential nominee in their own state, but Mitt Romney’s 23-point loss in the Bay State has got to be up there.