Elections between two bad candidates

[Daniel Adams]

1796: John Adams had become an increasingly aristocratic and partisan president. The Alien and Sedition Acts was a most blatant attempts at destroying the (Democratic-)Republican opposition. Jefferson is overrated in my opinion. He continued to pay tribute to three Barbary nations even after defeating the Tripoli pirates. The Embargo Act to defend harassment of US ships was a huge disaster which harmed the US more than it did the UK or France. For this election I would have preferred Alexander Hamilton's idea of electing the Federalist vice-presidential candidate, Charles Pinckney, to the presidency.

1872: One of the worst elections in history, candidates-wise. Grant's administration was exceedingly corrupt, but Greeley's "Liberal Republicans" were against civil rights for blacks and would have turned a blind eye towards Southern terrorist organizations such as the KKK. (Greeley originally supported equal rights, but now relinquished this position in exchange for Democratic support.) At least Grant offered some protection to blacks in the South, so I would've probably reluctantly voted for him.

1900: William McKinley was a true imperialist and advocated ridiculously high tarriffs. William Jennings Bryan was a populist who would've made a horrible president. And he was on the wrong side in the Scopes trial. 1896 also features these two bad choices, but at least there was a good third party candidate, Bourbon Democrat John McAuley Palmer.

1972: Richard Nixon was ruining his presidency by participating in the cover-up of Watergate, the sole reason I would not have voted for him. McGovern was worse, a "walking caricature of bleeding-heart liberalism" as gorkay aptly calls him. I would've voted for John Hospers, the Liberarian candidate.

The elections of 1840 and 1852 also had pretty bad major-party candidates yet there were Free Soil candidates in both these elections.