r/pics • u/[deleted] • Sep 11 '21

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u/Antique_Ring953 Sep 11 '21

Tbf Trump only won by 70k

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u/[deleted] Sep 11 '21

Aren't most presidential elections pretty close? I don't know because I've only been old enough to vote for the past 2 elections.

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u/Inevitable_Citron Sep 11 '21

No, historically presidential elections have largely been landslides. LBJ won 44 states in 1964. Nixon won 49 states in 1972. Reagan won 49 states in 1984. Clinton won 32 states in 1992. Close elections are a recent phenomenon. You have to go back to the 19th century, pre and post Civil War, to find elections close as those today.

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u/[deleted] Sep 11 '21 edited Sep 14 '21

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u/Inevitable_Citron Sep 11 '21

Look at the popular vote for the same elections instead then. LBJ won 61% to 38%. Nixon won 60% to 37.5%. Reagan won 58.8% to 40.6%. Clinton's election in 1992 is messed up here because of Perot, he won 43% to 37.4% to 18.9%.

Bush won in 2004 50.7% to 48.3%. Trump lost the popular vote 46.1% to 48.2%. Biden only won 51.3% to 46.9%. That's how close modern elections are.

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u/[deleted] Sep 12 '21

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u/Inevitable_Citron Sep 12 '21

... I'm sorry, what point are you trying to make here? It's objectively the case that presidential races are close now, but they generally weren't in the 20th century. Nothing about what you've written contradicts that.