Inspired by the "
Did Biden win comfortably or squeak by?" thread, I was wondering how many votes each defeated presidential nominee was short of a victory.
Trump was only 42,921 votes short of his re-election.
Gore needed a mere 538 votes in order to defeat Bush.
Calculating those margins can be very tricky. Not only do you need to find the correct combination of states, you also have to find out if a tie in the Electoral College would have been sufficient for a victory (like in Trump's case), and moreover if it's nt a mistake to disregard the votes of tiny states such as Vermont and Wyoming.
Strictly speaking, you'll even have to inform yourself about what happens in case of a tie in different states.
Has a compilation of such "vote shortages" ever been made?
If not, I think it's time to start one right now...
