No presidential nominee has won the popular vote but not the electoral votes in history
There have been five US presidents in history who were elected without winning the popular vote, most recently, Donald Trump in 2016. Trump edged out Hillary Clinton in the key battleground states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan to win the election. vote despite receiving 2.8 million fewer votes nationwide than his Democratic rival.
Here are four other presidents who have taken similar, unconventional paths to victory:
John Quincy Adams: In 1824, Adams lost both the popular and electoral votes to Andrew Jackson, a member of the same party and one of the four presidential candidates. Jackson received a majority of the electoral votes, but not an outright majority. The top three were then sent to the House of Representatives for a final vote, which elected Adams over Jackson.
Rutherford B. Hayes: Like Adams, Hayes’ 1876 victory over Samuel Tilden, a Democrat, was decided by Congress after the Republicans contested the results of three district elections. The controversy prompted Congress to create a bipartisan commission that ultimately ruled in favor of Hayes and his nominees. Hayes won by 185 votes.
Benjamin Harrison: In 1888, Harrison lost the popular vote to the Democratic president, Grover Cleveland, by an estimated 90,000 votes, but won the Electoral College vote by a landslide 233–168 majority. Cleveland then ran again and won in 1893, making him the only US president to serve two consecutive terms – pending the results of the 2024 election.
George W. Bush: In 2000, Texas Gov. George W. Bush lost the popular vote to Democratic Vice President Al Gore by 500,000 votes but won the presidency, in a popular election that hinged on the state of Florida, allegations of “hanging” ballots, and ultimately, a Supreme Court decision of the US. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Bush, who ended up winning the election 271 to 266 over Gore.
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