Fun electoral trivia question

[falling apart like the ashes of American flags]

There is only one election in US history (at least since the point where we have reliable records of county results for all states) where no state had a sweep of all counties by one candidate. Which one?

[OSR stands with Israel]

1960 given it was during the time when the Solid South was starting to trend more and more Republican while the rural interior west wasnt yet Solidly Republican . Also there were an insane amount of competitive states in 1960 and while 1976 also had that, Carter swept GA so that cant be the answer

[falling apart like the ashes of American flags]

1960 given it was during the time when the Solid South was starting to trend more and more Republican while the rural interior west wasnt yet Solidly Republican . Also there were an insane amount of competitive states in 1960 and while 1976 also had that, Carter swept GA so that cant be the answer

Yes 1960 is it. Good reasoning used to narrow it down to find it.

[CentristRepublican]

I didn't know this before I saw RINO Tom's thread not that long ago on the forum itself. Had I not, I might have been able to use deductive reasoning like OSR to make an educated guess at 1960 but it's also quite possible I'd have not gotten it.

[Nate Shahidi]

Alright, I got a trivia question.

There have been a few presidential elections where the closest state (i.e. the state won by the narrowest margin) was also the closest state in the election exactly 100 years prior. (Example: Missouri was the closest state in 2008, and also in 1908).

But there is only one instance where this happened two elections in a row. What are the two elections, and what are the two states?

[CentristRepublican]

Alright, I got a trivia question.

There have been a few presidential elections where the closest state (i.e. the state won by the narrowest margin) was also the closest state in the election exactly 100 years prior. (Example: Missouri was the closest state in 2008, and also in 1908).

But there is only one instance where this happened two elections in a row. What are the two elections, and what are the two states?

Well, let's take a stab at it case by case. 2020's closest state was GA. Was GA the closest state in 1920? I doubt it, since it was part of the Solid South. 2016? It was WI and the Midwestern Trio. Maybe one of those states was the closest in 1916... Going to 2012, though, the closest state was FL, which was definitely not 1912's closest state. In 2008, NC was the closest state. In 1908...it might have been, can't say for sure. 2004? I believe it was OH, but no because OH was solid red in 1904. 2000 was FL...which couldn't have been the closest state in 1900. 1996's closest states could have been KY or AZ. AZ was not a state in 1896. KY was, and it was competitive...it might have been 1896's closest state. 1992, GA was probably close, as was FL, MT and CO. GA and FL are no-goes. MT and CO are both western and were probably Weaver states. I'm unsure which one would be closer, and if either could've been 1892's closest state. I also remember CT was kind of close in 1892.
So I might be really wrong, but I'm going to say 1892/1992 and 1896/1996, with CO or MT for 1892/1992 and KY for 1896/1996.

[Nate Shahidi]

Alright, I got a trivia question.

There have been a few presidential elections where the closest state (i.e. the state won by the narrowest margin) was also the closest state in the election exactly 100 years prior. (Example: Missouri was the closest state in 2008, and also in 1908).

But there is only one instance where this happened two elections in a row. What are the two elections, and what are the two states?

Well, let's take a stab at it case by case. 2020's closest state was GA. Was GA the closest state in 1920? I doubt it, since it was part of the Solid South. 2016? It was WI and the Midwestern Trio. Maybe one of those states was the closest in 1916... Going to 2012, though, the closest state was FL, which was definitely not 1912's closest state. In 2008, NC was the closest state. In 1908...it might have been, can't say for sure. 2004? I believe it was OH, but no because OH was solid red in 1904. 2000 was FL...which couldn't have been the closest state in 1900. 1996's closest states could have been KY or AZ. AZ was not a state in 1896. KY was, and it was competitive...it might have been 1896's closest state. 1992, GA was probably close, as was FL, MT and CO. GA and FL are no-goes. MT and CO are both western and were probably Weaver states. I'm unsure which one would be closer, and if either could've been 1892's closest state. I also remember CT was kind of close in 1892.
So I might be really wrong, but I'm going to say 1892/1992 and 1896/1996, with CO or MT for 1892/1992 and KY for 1896/1996.

Good guessing, and good thought processes to get to your guess. But that's wrong.

The way it goes is:

2020: Georgia
2016: Michigan
2012: Florida
2008: Missouri
2004: Wisconsin
2000: Florida
1996: Kentucky
1992: Georgia


And in case you're curious, the closest state in 1892 was California.

So good guess, but no. But I must give credit where it's due. While your overall answer was wrong, you're right in one aspect: one of the two states is Kentucky.

Here's a hint: The elections aren't recent, in fact, they're quite far back.

[CentristRepublican]

Alright, I got a trivia question.

There have been a few presidential elections where the closest state (i.e. the state won by the narrowest margin) was also the closest state in the election exactly 100 years prior. (Example: Missouri was the closest state in 2008, and also in 1908).

But there is only one instance where this happened two elections in a row. What are the two elections, and what are the two states?

Well, let's take a stab at it case by case. 2020's closest state was GA. Was GA the closest state in 1920? I doubt it, since it was part of the Solid South. 2016? It was WI and the Midwestern Trio. Maybe one of those states was the closest in 1916... Going to 2012, though, the closest state was FL, which was definitely not 1912's closest state. In 2008, NC was the closest state. In 1908...it might have been, can't say for sure. 2004? I believe it was OH, but no because OH was solid red in 1904. 2000 was FL...which couldn't have been the closest state in 1900. 1996's closest states could have been KY or AZ. AZ was not a state in 1896. KY was, and it was competitive...it might have been 1896's closest state. 1992, GA was probably close, as was FL, MT and CO. GA and FL are no-goes. MT and CO are both western and were probably Weaver states. I'm unsure which one would be closer, and if either could've been 1892's closest state. I also remember CT was kind of close in 1892.
So I might be really wrong, but I'm going to say 1892/1992 and 1896/1996, with CO or MT for 1892/1992 and KY for 1896/1996.

Good guessing, and good thought processes to get to your guess. But that's wrong.

The way it goes is:

2020: Georgia
2016: Michigan
2012: Florida
2008: Missouri
2004: Wisconsin
2000: Florida
1996: Kentucky
1992: Georgia


And in case you're curious, the closest state in 1892 was California.

So good guess, but no. But I must give credit where it's due. While your overall answer was wrong, you're right in one aspect: one of the two states is Kentucky.

Here's a hint: The elections aren't recent, in fact, they're quite far back.

I don't know in that case.

As a sidenote, my guesses about 2004, 2008 and 2016's closest states - especially 2008's - were stupid. I knew MI voted to the left of WI in 2016 so I don't know why I said WI might have been 2016's closest state (I must've confused closest state with tipping-point state). For 2008 I'm aware Obama won NC by 0.2 and McCain won MO by 0.13, but I forgot about MO and just immediately considered how close NC was (it was Obama's closest win) and put it there. Lastly, for 2004, everyone considered OH to be the foremost swing state and it swung leftwards and only narrowly backed Bush, so I didn't consider WI (although I was aware it came very close to being a Bush state in both 2000 and 2004).

[Nate Shahidi]

Yes, Ohio wasn't even that close, at least not compared to other states. Bush won by about 2 points. However, Kerry only won Wisconsin by 11K votes, 1.489M to 1.478M.

[Nate Shahidi]

Alright, I got a trivia question.

There have been a few presidential elections where the closest state (i.e. the state won by the narrowest margin) was also the closest state in the election exactly 100 years prior. (Example: Missouri was the closest state in 2008, and also in 1908).

But there is only one instance where this happened two elections in a row. What are the two elections, and what are the two states?

Maryland 1828 and 1832, though in the latter case, the statewide popular vote actually didn't assign electoral college votes, so its sort of irrelevant.

https://talkelections.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=458074.0

Not quite. While it's true Maryland was the closest state both of those years, there was obviously no elections in 1728 - 1732 (As the US hadn't formed yet) and as for the other way, the closest state in 1928 was Rhode Island, and 1932 was Connecticut.