Did Trump win by a landslide? Why or why not?
Did Obama?
Did Obama?
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Trump's Landslide?
- Thread starter InTheLight
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No he did not. We have not had a president win by a landslide since Bush in 88 with 426 electoral votes and 53.4% of the the popular vote.
My primary critera for a landslide victory would have to be winning over 50% of the popular vote. Trump only got 46.3% of the popular vote, a plurality not a majority. Also it helps if you actually did win in the popular vote not just the electoral vote. And if you are going to look at the Electoral college I think you need to hit at least 400 in the electoral vote which he did not do either.
Where would you put his Electoral College victory on the scale of all presidential elections? There's been what, 56 presidential elections? So where does Trump's Electoral College victory margin rank in these 56 elections? Where in the list of 56 should a landslide Electoral College victory rank? Top 10? Top 20?
He did not win the popular vote, so he didn't win a landslide by that criteria. He won the Electoral College vote 306-232. By your criteria of at least 400 electoral college votes, that is not a landslide either.
Since the number of Electoral College votes has changed over the years I think we should use the percent of electoral college votes won as the measuring stick for landslides in the Electoral College. Using this technique, your criteria would mean that 400 out of 538 Electoral College votes would be 74.3%. So in your mind, a margin of 74.3% of Electoral College votes is a landslide.
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Trump is rank 38 out of the last 46 elections for his electoral college win. I based that on % of the electoral votes since the electoral college has grown over time to its current 538 votes. This only takes into account the from the 10th election on because of how they changed how VP were selected after the 1800 election.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_elections_by_popular_vote_margin
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That chart does not include the first nine elections. Based on percent of total electoral college votes own, that chart shows Trump's victory was the 11th skinniest electoral college victory in history. Don't see how that is a landslide, by any stretch of the imagination.
Yes I know. I assume that is because of the changes made to how VP were elected after 1800s. Before that electors had 2 votes and who ever got the majority was President and whoever came in 2nd was the VP which would not be true comparison to our system now of just 1 vote for a President VP set.
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I would say Obama won a landslide victory in 2008. (365 - 173)
He won another landslide in 2012. (332 - 206)
The most recent close contests would be:
2000 George W. Bush 271
Al Gore 266
2004 George W. Bush 286
John Kerry 251
I think the chart you linked to didn't show the early elections because the popular vote was not counted prior to 1824.
I found this chart from a link in the footnotes of your chart.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_...dential_elections_by_Electoral_College_margin
There is no reason to count it now. President and Vice President are the only nationally elected offices in the US Government and they are elected by the states, not by the popular vote.
Reagan v Mondale. Now that is a landslide!
Here's my definition of landslide:
I would agree, 2008 was a landslide.
But I'm not sure if I would count 2012. Keeping your opponent under 200 EC votes would be my (arbitrary) threshold.
306 EC to 232 EC you bet it was a landslide
Sigh, I'd rather break it down how I believe this thread looks for you, ITL.
IOWs, basically, something amounting to a sour grapes argument by thinking he has a “gotcha” on anyone who would dare use the term “landslide” and get into a big ole debate on the definition of landslide and attacking anyone that would use it, how fun!
Obama won by a decisive victory also – to the detriment of our country.
Friendly advice: Get off the #NeverTrump agenda, except the change and start seeing the light of the bigger picture ITL.
Yep, pretty much. Hard to believe someone would want to be looking for an argument on a debate board. The surprise, the shock!
Although it was prompted by this Tweet I saw by Trump's campaign manager.
Which prompted me to look up the widest Electoral College margins. Which made me realize that the 45th largest margin in election history cannot in any way be called a "landslide", nor "a blowout", nor "historic". It's just another example of the false hype that the Trump campaign pumps out and his followers eat up with a spoon. And defend like sycophants.
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When I was in junior high school, right after the Nixon victory in 1972, I was taught a landslide was 55% of the popular vote, or 67% of the electoral vote. Those numbers have stuck with me. I've lived through three of the biggest landslides in history--LBJ (where I first heard the term 'landslide'), Nixon in 1972 and Reagan in 1984. These elections met both criteria. Reagan's 1980 victory beat the electoral college criteria of 67%.
Barack Obama's victory in 2008 met the Electoral College criteria but not the popular vote. He got neither in 2012.
Barack Obama's victory in 2008 met the Electoral College criteria but not the popular vote. He got neither in 2012.
Forty-four other elections had bigger margins. Were they also landslides?
There is no such thing as a "Popular Vote" for US President.
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