Donald John Trump is eyeing a second stint in the White House when he faces incumbent Joe Biden in the US presidential election 2024 this November. It will be a rematch of 2016 showdown between the two leaders for The Oval Office.
The US presidential election process is unique and keenly tracked by everyone across the world. Usually, the candidate with maximum popular votes is declared the winner. But there have been five presidential contests in which the winner lost the popular vote but still was declared the winner.
ALSO READ: Trump readies for exciting rematch with Joe Biden, here’s how re-contest fared in history
US presidential election 2016: Donald Trump vs Hillary Clinton
In 2016, American businessman Donald Trump squared off against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the presidential contest. Trump had secured Republican nomination by defeating Ted Cruz by clinching 1542 delegates against the latter’s 563. On the other hand, Clinton, the former First Lady, was declared as the Democrat nominee after edging past Bernie Sanders.
In the presidential run off, Clinton bagged 65,853,516 popular votes (48.5%) against Trump’s tally of 62,984,825 popular votes (46.4%). Despite winning popular votes, she lost in the electoral college as she won just 232 votes against Trump’s 306.
US presidential election 2000: George W Bush vs Al Gore
The 2000 US Presidential election contest between then Texas governor George W Bush (Republican) and Al Gore (Democrat) was shrouded in controversy. On the election day, the results were too close in Florida, Oregon and New Mexico. The Democrat won Oregon and New Mexico by wafer thin margin. All eyes were on Florida which could decide the outcome of the results.
Gore, who had served as deputy to Bill Clinton, took to court after Florida declared Bush the winner. The Florida Supreme Court ruled in Gore’s favour by ordering recount of 45,000 ballots invalidated by the machines. Bush moved the US Supreme Court against the order, which rejected Florida’s count and declared the Republican as winner. Bush was elected President with 271 votes in his favour against Gore’s 266. According to Britannica, Gore won 50,999,897 popular votes against Bush’s 50,456,002 votes.
US presidential election 1888: Benjamin Harrison vs Grover Cleveland
In 1888, the presidential contest between incumbent president Grover Cleveland and his Republican challenger Benjamin Harrison was mired in controversy. Both the parties had accused each other of paying voters to cast ballots in their favour. Cleveland won 5,540,309 popular votes but could still get 168 electoral college votes. He lost to Harrison who had bagged 5,439,853 popular votes and 233 electoral college votes.
US presidential election 1876: Rutherford B Hayes vs Samuel Tilden
The election in 1876 was decided by the US Congress. Republican candidate Rutherford B Hayes defeated Democrat Samuel Tilden by 185 to 184 electoral college votes in a controversial election. According to History.com, the Republicans had raised objections on the result in Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina. The Congress created a Federal Electoral Commission that gave 20 votes to Hayes who was ultimately declared the winner.
US presidential election 1824: John Quincy Adams vs Andrew Jackson vs William Crawford vs Henry Clay
It was an election when the winner had lost both the electoral college and popular vote. John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, William Crawford and Henry Clay were four presidential candidates from the same Democratic-Republican party. After tallying of votes, Jackson had emerged as the winner of both popular and electoral college votes. But he was 32 electoral college votes short of the majority mark.
With no candidate winning a majority of electoral votes, the Constitution was invoked and the House of Representatives voted on the top three vote getters. Clay was eliminated in this vote count. The House voted to elect John Quincy Adams as the president, who had lost to Jackson by 99 electoral college votes to 84.
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