# electorial votes **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 29, 2011, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electorial-votes/601240 "2011-10-29T23:52:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jackedmondson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@jackedmondson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackedmondson)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2011, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electorial-votes/601240/1 "2011-10-29T23:52:21Z")
if it takes 270 electorial votes to elect a presedet If FDR was elected four times he would have had the most electorial votes. Which presedent recceived the least amount of total votes? ---
**Author:** ![Algorithm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/algorithm/32/12204_2.png) [@Algorithm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algorithm)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electorial-votes/601240/2 "2011-10-30T00:34:46Z")
If you count all electoral votes received regardless of whether or not the candidate won, I think it’s Zachary Taylor with 163. If you’re only counting votes the candidate received when they won an election, probably Quincy Adams, since he won with 84 in 1824 (but also received 83 in 1828, which he lost). ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electorial-votes/601240/3 "2011-10-30T01:18:09Z")
John Adams won with 71. Of course, the country was smaller then. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electorial-votes/601240/4 "2011-10-30T01:45:26Z")
> [@jackedmondson](#): > > if it takes 270 electorial votes to elect a presedet If FDR was elected four times he would have had the most electorial > votes. F. Roosevelt, in his career as a Presidential candidate, received 1876 electoral votes. (It took 266 to win in his day, by the way.) Am I safe in assuming that’s what you mean? > [@](#): > > Which presedent recceived the least amount of total votes? So are we looking for a career total of electoral votes for someone who was at least once President? As **Captain Amazing** implies, a percentage would probably work better. And I’d suspect (being too lazy to crunch numbers tonight) that such as John Quincy Adams (elected by the House), or a Gerald Ford (a succeeding Vice-President who lost a bid for election) is probably the answer. I also suspect that second behind FDR is Grover Cleveland. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electorial-votes/601240/5 "2011-10-30T01:51:45Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > F. Roosevelt, in his career as a Presidential candidate, received 1876 electoral votes. (It took 266 to win in his day, by the way.) Am I safe in assuming that’s what you mean? I’ll add that Roosevelt’s electoral vote victories were truly impressive by any standards. It wasn’t just that he ran four times; he kicked ass four times. 472-59 523-8 449-82 432-99 ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electorial-votes/601240/6 "2011-10-30T01:53:26Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > I also suspect that second behind FDR is Grover Cleveland. Cleveland is 7th, behind Roosevelt, Nixon (who won and lost the same number of elections as Cleveland, but with more electoral votes to be won and one huge landslide), Reagan, Eisenhower, Clinton, and Wilson. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electorial-votes/601240/7 "2011-10-30T02:25:14Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > Cleveland is 7th, behind Roosevelt, Nixon (who won and lost the same number of elections as Cleveland, but with more electoral votes to be won and one huge landslide), Reagan, Eisenhower, Clinton, and Wilson. I didn’t even think of Nixon, and I, of all people, should have. ---
**Author:** ![jackedmondson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@jackedmondson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackedmondson)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electorial-votes/601240/8 "2011-10-30T05:55:05Z")
> [@jackedmondson](#): > > if it takes 270 electorial votes to elect a presedet If FDR was elected four times he would have had the most electorial > votes. Which presedent recceived the least amount of total votes? > [@Frank](#): > > I didn’t even think of Nixon, and I, of all people, should have. bad question/ I didn; take iinto consideration fact the the number would change every time we added a new State, I was thinking Ford Was there any other that became president with out going through the electoral collage? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electorial-votes/601240/9 "2011-10-30T06:10:23Z")
Ford is the only President we’ve had who never won a presidential election. But in the 1976 election, where he lost to Carter, he still managed to win 240 electoral votes. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electorial-votes/601240/10 "2011-10-30T06:49:53Z")
How about Andrew Johnson. He received zero electoral votes for President. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electorial-votes/601240/11 "2011-10-30T08:08:13Z")
Okay, I counted all the electoral votes ever cast for President. Presidents: Franklin Roosevelt - 1876 Richard Nixon - 1040 Ronald Reagan - 1015 Dwight Eisenhower - 899 Bill Clinton - 749 Woodrow Wilson - 712 Grover Cleveland - 664 George H. W. Bush - 594 William McKinley - 563 George W. Bush - 557 Herbert Hoover - 503 Ulysses Grant - 500 Andrew Jackson - 496 Lyndon Johnson - 486 Theodore Roosevelt - 424 James Monroe - 414 Warren Harding - 404 Abraham Lincoln - 392 Calvin Coolidge - 382 Benjamin Harrison - 378 Barack Obama - 365 Jimmy Carter - 346 William Taft - 329 William Harrison - 307 Thomas Jefferson - 307 John Kennedy - 303 Harry Truman - 303 Franklin Pierce - 254 James Madison - 250 John Adams - 247 Gerald Ford - 240 Martin Van Buren - 230 James Garfield - 214 George Washington - 201 Rutherford Hayes - 185 James Buchanan - 174 James Polk - 170 John Quincy Adams - 168 Zachary Taylor - 163 Millard Fillmore - 8 Chester Arthur - 0 Andrew Johnson - 0 John Tyler - 0 Non-presidents: William Jennings Bryan - 493 Thomas Dewey - 288 Al Gore - 266 Charles Evans Hughes - 254 John Kerry - 251 Henry Clay - 191 Hubert Humphrey - 191 Samuel Tilden - 184 James Blaine - 182 John McCain - 173 Adlai Stevenson - 162 Robert Dole - 159 Winfield Hancock - 155 Alton Parker - 140 John Davis - 136 Lewis Cass - 127 James Cox - 127 Charles Pinckney - 126 John Fremont - 114 Michael Dukakis - 111 Aaron Burr - 104 DeWitt Clinton - 89 Al Smith - 87 Wendell Willkie - 82 Horatio Seymour - 80 John Breckinridge - 72 George Clinton - 66 Barry Goldwater - 52 George Wallace - 46 Thomas Hendricks - 42 Winfield Scott - 42 William Crawford - 41 John Bell - 39 Strom Thurmond - 39 Rufus King - 34 Hugh White - 26 James Weaver - 22 George McClellan - 21 Benjamin Brown - 18 George McGovern - 17 Samuel Adams - 15 Harry Byrd - 15 John Jay - 15 Daniel Webster - 14 Robert La Follette - 13 Walter Mondale - 13 Stephen Douglas - 12 Oliver Ellsworth - 11 John Floyd - 11 Willie Mangum - 11 Alf Landon - 8 William Wirt - 7 Robert Harrison - 6 John Rutledge - 6 John Hancock - 4 Horace Greeley - 3 James Iredell - 3 John Henry - 2 Samuel Huntington - 2 Charles Jenkins - 2 Samuel Johnston - 2 John Milton - 2 James Armstrong - 1 Lloyd Bentsen - 1 David Davis - 1 John Edwards - 1 John Hospers - 1 Walter Jones - 1 Benjamin Lincoln - 1 Edward Telfair - 1 ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electorial-votes/601240/12 "2011-10-30T14:07:06Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > John Adams won with 71. Of course, the country was smaller then. However, he ran with George Washington under the old system where electoral votes for President and Vice-President were not separated, so he racked up EVs in those elections. – see **Little Nemo** ’s chart above.