Compare and contrast the presidential elections of 2004 and 2012 on the following factors:
1) Election results;
So as I talk about the comparisons of two presidential elections, I look at the differences between the year 2004 and 2012. During the year 2004, the candidates that were running for office was George W. Bush (Republican), John Kerry (Democratic) and Ralph Nader (Independent). The race for winning the seat of office in 2004 was a slight close one, with the results of Bush getting 286 electoral votes (62,040,606 votes 51%), Kerry getting 252 electoral votes (59,028,109 votes 48%) and Nader getting zero electoral votes (411,304 votes 1%).
For the 2012 presidential election, the candidates for this race was Barack H. Obama (Democratic), Willard Mitt Romney (Republican) and Gary Johnson (Libertarian). The results from the race came to the conclusion with Obama getting 332 electoral votes (65,918,507 votes 51.01%) Romney received 206 electoral votes (60,934,407 votes 47.15%) and then Johnson ending with zero electoral votes (1,275,923 votes 0.99%).
…show more content…
Those aside from the Democrat and Republican groups, the other groups don’t fare well at all. Second being Republicans won in 2004 while Democrats won in 2012. There is also the percentage numbers are quite near the same between the two elections, but even seeing the same percentages the electoral votes are different between the two, showing us that numbers really don’t matter much when electoral votes are
The Presidential Election of 1824 was a very close race. None of the presidential candidates received the majority of the votes in the electoral college, so the decision was then left up to congress. Andrew Jackson received 99 votes in the electoral college, John Quincy Adams received 84 votes in the electoral college, Crawford received 41 votes in the electoral college. Henry Clay was also a candidate during the election of 1824 came in fourth place. Clay despised Jackson and decided to support John Quincy Adams, giving him his votes in the electoral college. Clay’s decision gave John Quincy Adams the extra votes needed to win the majority of the electoral college, making Adams the 6th president of the United States of America.
It highlighted the necessary suppression of votes cast in Florida for a Republican victory. It became apparent that Gore would have won if the recounts had continued. The election of 2000 recognized a flaw in the Electoral College: a candidate can win popular vote, and still lose the election because of a lack in electoral votes. Al Gore lost electoral college votes by 537 electoral college votes; to win the presidency, he only required one more vote. The congressional election of 2000 hosted a 50/50 split in the Senate, and lost three seats in the House of Representatives. Democrats were leading in Congress, but when Bush won presidency, a balance between a Democratic Congress and a Republican Executive branch was
In 2012, President Obama secured his 2nd term in the oval against his opponent Mitt Romney. The voter turnout was not as high as it was in 2008 but minority voters turned out in voted in such high numbers again. According to pew research, minority votes determined the 2012 election.
The electoral vote allotment is based on the population of each state, collected from the census. This method of division leads to severe imbalances between the decisions of small states and the decisions of the larger states. In 2010, Alaska, Delaware, DC, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Montana, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming had a total amount of 44 electoral votes. Illinois, a single state, had 20. This means that one sole state had as many electoral votes as six states put together. While the electoral system is usually unfair to smaller states, in the case of ties, the larger states suffer the most. When the electoral vote is tied, each state can only cast one vote for the final decision, meaning that a “representative from Wyoming, representing 500,000 voters, would have as much say as the 55 representatives from California, who represent 35 million voters,” according to Bradford Plumer, author of the article “The Indefensible Electoral College.” No matter what happens during the election, one group is always being cheated out of their rightful votes. The choice of our country’s leader should not be based on a system that is unfair to a specific group of voters simply due to their state
It was Speaker of the House Clay, who was eliminated from the selection process because he came in fourth, that wrapped up the election for Adams by openly supporting him in the House of Representatives. The issue did not end there, however. The populace was none too happy about this incident; four years later Jackson defeated Adams (Longley and Braun 36-37).In the 1876 election, Samuel Tilden gained about 250,000 more popular votes than Rutherford Hayes, but still lost the election by an electoral vote of 185 to 184 (Longley and Braun 33-34). The contest had been so close in South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana, with both sides claiming fraud, that each of these states cast their electoral votes for both candidates. Congress eventually set up a commission which, with a bit of politicking, chose to give Hayes the electoral votes of all three states, thus securing his election. Later, Congress passed a law that gave the states the right to determine the legality of their own elector choices and required a majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate in order to reject the electoral vote of any state (Kimberling 9). By far, the most disturbing instance of Electoral College failure is that even in the year 2000 a minority president was able to be elected. In the 2000 election, Al Gore received over 500,000 more popular votes than George W. Bush,
As the pillars of the electoral college collapse under the tests of time, the institution itself becomes obsolete. First, the concept of, “Winner Takes All,” means that if an election splits 49%-51%, then the smaller party’s votes are virtually erased. This system represents only the majority party in each state, thus effectively silencing all other parties. Additionally, basing the number of electors on the members in both houses of Congress creates an unequal distribution of votes across the states. Due to their infamously low population, Wyoming should statistically have only one elector, but the addition of their two senators brings them to a total of three electors. This means that each of Wyoming’s votes represents less people than every other state. For instance, each of Texas’s 38 votes represents 733,157 people while each of Wyoming’s votes represents 195,157 people. Therefore, the votes of the people of Wyoming are worth 26.62% more than that of Texans. The inequality of voting power between states combined with the “winner take all” system method of tallying votes projects an inaccurate portrayal of will of the American people.
During the election of 1824, there were five candidates for the president. The election of 1824 was the fall of the Federalist Party that never would rise to power again. All the candidates were Democratic-Republican, but that didn’t seem to weigh heavily on the outcome of the election of 1824. The two front runners were John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson that would be decided by the House of Representatives because of the Twelve Amendment to the Constitution states the House will decide by majority vote between the two candidates when there is no majority of the electoral votes. As a result of the first ballot in the House of Representatives in voting for a president, John Quincy Adams emerged victorious at the election of 1824.
The US Presidential Election of 2000 featured George W. Bush and Al Gore. It will go down in history as one of the most closest elections¡¦ in US history. It also goes down as one of the most controversial. The final decision was based on just a few hundred votes in Florida. The controversy began when the media prematurely declared the winner twice based solely on exit polls. They finally conceded that the Florida count was just too close to predict. It would take a month before the election was ultimately certified after numerous court challenges and vote recounts. Republican candidate George W. Bush was declared the winner of the Florida¡¦s 25 electoral votes. This was a victory by a razor thin margin of popular
The 2000 presidential election was a major eye opener for many people. As it appeared to also be the dismay of many, the candidate who won the most popular votes nationwide actually lost the contest. In the election's risen moment, popular attention centered around the Electoral College and its role in the presidential election. Under the U.S. Constitution, the people did not necessarily direct vote for the President in a nationwide election; rather, the people in each state would vote for electors from that state, who in turn would cast the constitutionally decisive votes for President and Vice President. Moreover, not only is the people's influence indirect, the Electoral College's voting pattern does not necessarily track the national popular
It is hard to believe that it will be a year since the Bush vs. Gore campaign was in it’s
The New York Times published their opinion in “It Pays to Win the Small States” stating, Those people who defend the Electoral College should confront the truth about the unfairness, which they are defending. The “unfairness” state translates to the possibility of the least favorite candidate being chosen; such as the 2000 election which was the closest election in history, causing a heated debate between democrats and republicans. Additionally, creating a possibility of a tie, as numerous elections have a relatively high chance of a tie vote or
In the most recent 2012 presidential election; Romney (R) received 57.2 % while Obama (D) received 41.4% (Texas Political Almanac, 2013).
The 1980 presidential election of the United States featured three primary candidates, Republican Ronald Reagan, Democrat Jimmy Carter and liberal Republican John Anderson. Ronald Reagan was the governor of California before he decided to run for the presidency. John Anderson was a representative in Illinois and Carter was the incumbent. The lengthy Iran hostage crisis sharpened public opinions by the beginning of the election season. In the 1970s, the United States were experiencing a straining episode of low economic growth, high price increases and interest rates and an irregular energy crisis. The sense of discomfort in both domestic and foreign affairs in the nation were heading downward, this added to the downward spiral that was already going on. Between Carter, Anderson and Reagan, the general election campaign of the 1980s seemed more concerned with shadowboxing around political issues rather than a serious discussion of the issues that concerned voters.
This election however wasn’t as close as the 2000 election. Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by a drastic margin in the Electoral College with 306 votes to Hillary’s 232.
A Presidential Election, determines how the next four years would be. The election is a fight between different political parties, and they fight to win and represent the political beliefs and values of their followers. In the 2016 Presidential Election, there are many candidates who ran for president. There are main two main parties, the Democrat party and the Republican party, there were also many Third-party candidates. Donald Trump the primary candidate for the Republicans ran with no political experiences and won while Hillary Clinton the primary Democrat candidate who was the former sectary of state ran and lost. Not only was there a fight between the different parties, there also was fighting among each other and in individual parties. Many parties had many different views on the issues of today world. They both made many different promises on each issue.