FUSTEST WTTHOUT MOSTEST
How many men have become President of the United States without having the most popular votes? Who were they? How do the records compare for each of the major political parties?
And - what difference does it make, anyway?
We are rapidly approaching that time of the fourth year when the question will come up again, as it does with regularity The concept of the popular vote and of the Electoral College vote puzzle most Americans and it remains a worsening problem because we think about it for one week or less every four years.. I can remember how we used to get all worked up and in a sort of political lather and convinced that the Electoral College was a terrible thing. However, I had saved an auricle clipped from an old copy of “American Legion Magazine” which explained the EC business very well and I could pull that item out of the old file and be re-convinced that it was, indeed, a wonderful thing to have this Electoral College arrangement in place. We have recently downsized our living place and done away with the old four drawer file by dumping the accumulated contents into boxes. I have yet to find the resuscitating article, this years projected Electoral College set-to might see me go off the deep end.
Some fifteen candidates have become President of the United States without having a majority of the popular votes.. Actually, the total is eighteen because three of them did so twice each. Grover Cleveland, in 1884, did it and then skipped a term to 1892 to allow a one-time skipper Benjamin Harrison , to do it in 1882. Then, Woodrow Wilson did a duet-thing in 1912 and, more recently William Jefferson Clinton in l992 and 1986 I find it interesting that the popularity of both Wilson and Clinton improved a bit on their second elections.
Regardless of the manner in which these figures are set forth recrimination comes form all,sides. It starts as a series of discussions when no one is certain of exactly what they think and advance to the argument stage as the figures become to say opposite things to different people.
The lowers Pop-scorer was John Quincy Adams. He was chosen, by the House of Representatives over challenger Andrew Jackson who, oddly enough, had a plurality in both the electoral and popular votes but did not have a majority in the electoral college. J.Q.A rated a 29.8% on the pop scale; the next lowest was Abe Lincoln 1860 at 39.9%. At the top end of the spectrum the highest percentage was that recorded for John F, Kennedy in 1969 - 49.7%/
The overall count per party excludes John Q. Adams, as House chosen, and Zachary Taylor who was member of the Whig Party The Democratic party has had ten with three double-doers, and the Republican Party has had a total of six, with George W. Bush holding the title at the moment with a rating set at 47.8 in 2000. A.D.
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More... as reports come lagging in.
A.L.M. May 8, 2004 [c524wds]
