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Electing the President, 1840-2020

Most election maps emphasize the candidates and parties who won the Electoral College. This project shifts the focus to voters, revealing a more nuanced story.
by Robert K. Nelson, Riley D. Champine, Nathaniel Ayers, Chad Devers via American Panorama on August 1, 2024
Joe Biden sitting in the Oval Office.

There Has Been Nothing Like This in American History

Joe Biden is hardly the first president who has decided not to seek a second term—but the circumstances this time are unique.
by Fred Kaplan via Slate on July 21, 2024
Then President Donald Trump, right, and Joe Biden, then the Democratic presidential nominee, during the U.S. presidential debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., on Oct. 22, 2020.
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The Biden-Trump Rematch May Mark the End of an Era

Over the course of U.S. history, presidential rematches have signaled momentous political upheavals.
by Bruce J. Schulman via Made By History on April 4, 2024
Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

The Wild History of “Lesser of Two Evils” Voting

For as long as Americans have been subjected to lousy candidates, they’ve been told to suck it up and vote for one of them.
by Ginny Hogan via The Nation on March 19, 2024
Roger Stone

How to Steal an American Election

From Alexander Hamilton to Richard Nixon and more: meddling, fixing, rigging, fraud, and violence.
by William Hogeland via Hogeland's Bad History on January 28, 2021
A women in a newsroom covering the election
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Good TV Demands Results on Election Night, but That’s Bad for Democracy

The history of tuning in to televised election returns.
by Kathryn Cramer Brownell via Made By History on November 3, 2020

A Definitive Case Against the Electoral College

Why the framers created the Electoral College — and why we need to get rid of it.
by Sean Illing, Jesse Wegman via Vox on July 21, 2020

The Corrupt Bargain

Eric Foner reviews two new books that make the case against the Electoral College.
by Eric Foner via London Review of Books on May 21, 2020
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Jimmy Carter and The Myth That Gave the Iowa Caucuses Their Political Power

What does winning in Iowa really mean?
by Wallace Hettle via HNN on January 19, 2020

The Electoral College Was Terrible From the Start

It’s doubtful even Alexander Hamilton believed what he was selling in “Federalist No. 68.”
by Garrett Epps via The Atlantic on September 8, 2019

Here’s Every Defense of the Electoral College — and Why They’re All Wrong

Most of the arguments for preserving our insane system are morally odious, unsubstantiated, and/or factually incorrect.
by Eric Levitz via Intelligencer on March 20, 2019
Delegates on the floor at the Democratic National Convention at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, August 26, 1964.

How to Steal an Election

The crazy history of nominating Conventions.
by Jill Lepore via The New Yorker on June 27, 2016
Grover Cleveland.

How Grover Cleveland’s Grandson Feels About Donald Trump

Trump is often described as unprecedented, but in winning a non-consecutive second term, he has a significant antecedent: Grover Cleveland.
by Zach Schonfeld, George Cleveland via TIME on November 19, 2024
Davy Crockett monument in Texas.

The Political Example of Davy Crockett

As a congressman, Davy Crockett found ways to navigate populist upheaval and maintain his own independence.
by Miles Smith IV via Law & Liberty on November 12, 2024
Children smile and wave flags at a Farmer-Labor Party demonstration, circa 1920.

The Rise and Fall of Midwest Populism

When the Minnesota’s Farmer-Labor Party merged into the Democratic machine, its populist energies were chewed up and spat out.
by Patrick Greeley via Jacobin on November 11, 2024
Three men using the large UNIVAC computer to predict the 1952 election, with two reading a printed readout and one using a phone.

The Year Election Night First Became a TV Event

In 1952, news stations combined two new technologies—the TV and the computer—to forever transform how voters experience election night.
by Jordan Friedman via HISTORY on October 28, 2024
Campaign signs.
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The Long History of the 'October Surprise'

Last minute disclosures or revelations can play an outsized role in the last weeks before an election.
by Robert B. Mitchell via Made By History on October 24, 2024
Attendees look at a map of the U.S. electoral college during the Republican National Convention (RNC) near the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.
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The Debate That Gave Us the Electoral College

John Dickinson's contributions to the Constitution continue to reverberate today.
by Jane E. Calvert via Made By History on October 18, 2024
President Dwight Eisenhower and his wife, Mamie, left, with Vice President Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat, wave at a crowd after winning the 1956 residential election.

‘No Antidote for Bad Polls’

In 1956, The New York Times, dismayed by wayward polls in the prior presidential race, sent teams of reporters across the nation to better gauge public opinion.
by W. Joseph Campbell via The Conversation on October 8, 2024
Kamala Harris on stage at a campaign rally

The Polling Imperilment

Presidential polls are no more reliable than they were a century ago. So why do they consume our political lives?
by Rick Perlstein via The American Prospect on September 25, 2024
Theodore Roosevelt giving a speech.

A Brief History of Former Presidents Running for Reelection: 3 Losses, 1 Win and 1 Still TBD

History illustrates that voters become galvanized and change their party allegiance when former US presidents run for a nonconsecutive term.
by Graeme Mack via The Conversation on September 24, 2024
A drawing of two people speaking with a third person's head listening between them.

Diverging Majority

Demography has not managed to be destiny in the past half-century—but predictions of a millenarian shift have not lost their appeal.
by Rick Perlstein, Geraldo Cadava via The Baffler on September 3, 2024
A photograph of Joe Biden next to a photograph of Lyndon Baines Johnson imposed on a red background.

Lyndon Johnson Knew That Part of Wielding Power Is Knowing When to Let It Go

As Democrats debate whether Joe Biden should stay in the race against Trump, LBJ’s often misunderstood example looms.
by Christopher Hooks via Texas Monthly on July 2, 2024
Then-Democratic presidential candidate Al Sharpton speaks at the Human Rights Campaign forum in Washington, July 15, 2003.

Remembrance of Ratf**ks Past

As Cornel West is receiving ballot access help from Republicans, 20 years ago Al Sharpton’s campaign for president was largely orchestrated by Roger Stone.
by Rick Perlstein via The American Prospect on June 12, 2024
John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson.

A Trump-Biden Tie Would Be a Political Nightmare — But Maybe a Boon to Democracy

The political upheaval of 1824 changed America. The same could happen in 2024.
by Joshua Zeitz via Politico on May 16, 2024
A large crowd listening to Harry Truman give a speech on a train.

Harry Truman's Train Ride

A whistle-stop train tour, and some plain speaking spur Harry Truman's come from behind win in 1948 over Thomas Dewey.
by Michael Liss via 3 Quarks Daily on March 25, 2024
A cartoon Trump is shooed away by a hand in a judge's robe

The Case for Disqualification

Three years later, amid another national election, the American public is still slow to understand the enormity of January 6, 2021.
by Sean Wilentz via New York Review of Books on January 30, 2024
A sign left behind by Trump supporters at a rally outside the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, September 27, 2023.

American Fascism

On how Europe’s interwar period informs the present.
by Rick Perlstein via The American Prospect on January 24, 2024
Photo of Donald Trump at a podium and pointing.

The Supreme Court Must Unanimously Strike Down Trump’s Ballot Removal

Excluding him, wrongfully, by a close vote of the Supreme Court could well trigger the next Civil War.
by Lawrence Lessig via Slate on December 20, 2023
Donald Trump behind bars made of the US Constitution

The Constitution Prohibits Trump From Ever Being President Again

The only question is whether American citizens today can uphold that commitment.
by Laurence H. Tribe, J. Michael Luttig via The Atlantic on August 19, 2023
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