With the presidential election looming, you’re probably seeing a lot of people trying to predict the results using maps that look something like this:
We’re used to seeing electoral maps that look like the 2020 results above — a patchwork of red and blue, with certain states remaining stubbornly Republican or Democrat over time as political polarization deepens. However, election results haven’t always looked like this, and it’s honestly really fascinating to see how the way we vote has changed over time. If you, like me, find history to be a comforting reminder that whatever you’re worried about right now will someday be in the past, check out these 12 electoral maps from history that look like fiction compared to 2024:
1.1789
Two things about this map look wild by 2024 standards: the fact that there are so few states filled in and the fact that the states that cast electoral votes are all shaded in green.
270 to Win / Via 270towin.com
The United States’ very first presidential election took place in 1789, when George Washington ran against John Adams. Both candidates were members of the Federalist Party. George Washington won the race with 69 electoral votes.
2.1824
In 2024, the two-party system feels like it might as well be set in stone, so it’s a little bit jaw-dropping to see four different candidates winning in different states on this map. Even stranger by modern standards, all four candidates in this race belonged to the same party: the Democratic-Republicans.
270 to Win / Via 270towin.com
John Quincy Adams ultimately won the 1824 election, but it was certainly a process. One of his competitors, Andrew Jackson, won the popular vote and got more electoral votes, too, but not enough to take the race. Adams ended up being elected by the House of Representatives.
3.1836
The 1836 election saw five different candidates win electoral votes, representing three parties: Martin Van Buren, a Democrat; W.P. Magnum, an Independent; and three candidates from the Whig party.
270 to Win / Via 270towin.com
Martin Van Buren won out with 170 electoral votes. During this race, Democrats alleged that the Whig party was running multiple candidates in an attempt to prevent anyone from winning a majority of the electoral college, but historians don’t think it was done strategically.
4.1860
This map stands out to me because not only does it show four different candidates winning states, but it also reveals the division between North and South one year before the Civil War.
270 to Win / Via 270towin.com
Abraham Lincoln, seen here just two weeks before giving the Gettysburg Address, ended up winning the race with 180 electoral votes. Despite facing so much competition, Lincoln didn’t do campaign events or stump speeches and basically campaigned from home.
5.1864
This election came a few years into the Civil War, so the Confederate states are shaded in gray. Of the remaining states in the Union, it’s interesting to note that almost all of them went to the same candidate.
270 to Win / Via 270towin.com
Abraham Lincoln won again in 1864 with 212 electoral votes. Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth the very next year, and his Vice President Andrew Johnson finished out his term in office.
6.1912
The 1912 map is fascinating because it shows three candidates on the board, but one clearly had a blow-out victory.
270 to Win / Via 270towin.com
Woodrow Wilson won the 1912 race with 435 electoral votes. However, he actually only won 42% of the popular vote.
7.1920
This map once again shows a country with a firm geographic divide between red and blue. It’s also pretty wild to see how many states flipped red in this election, just a few years after a decisive blue victory.
270 to Win / Via 270towin.com
Warren G. Harding won 404 electoral votes. His victory was seen as a reaction against the policies of his predecessor, President Wilson, whose popularity plummeted over his handling of the end of World War I, his mass deportations of people suspected of being “radical,” and his siding with the bosses against labor in some highly-publicized strikes.
8.1932
This map is so blue that even states like Texas and Florida, which are now Republican strongholds, went for the Democrats.
270 to Win / Via 270towin.com
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, seen here with his dog Chief, won with 472 electoral votes, and he would go on to serve four terms as president. To this day, he’s the only president to have served more than two terms.
9.1952
Just a few election cycles after Roosevelt’s Democratic dominance, the map flipped again. This time, it turned mostly red save for a few Democratic southern states.
270 to Win / Via 270towin.com
Dwight D. Eisenhower, seen here in a photo that had a very funny second life on Twitter, won 442 electoral votes. The “Red Scare” panic about communism was fully underway during this election cycle. Eisenhower and his running mate, Richard Nixon, ran on an anti-communist platform.
10.1964
And the map flips again! Now it’s mostly blue with some random red states in the South. As a thirty-something who’s only seen red and blue patchwork-style maps in my lifetime, it’s very wild to see how much the electorate used to flip back and forth between the parties.
270 to Win / Via 270towin.com
Lyndon B. Johnson, seen here being sworn in as president shortly after the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy, beat out Barry Goldwater in 1964 with 486 electoral votes. Johnson signed Kennedy’s Civil Rights Act into law in the summer before the election, while his opponent, Goldwater, generated heaps of controversy with his staunchly conservative views.
11.1972
The map flipped red in 1972 in one of the biggest landslides in American history.
270 to Win / Via 270towin.com
Richard Nixon, seen here on the day of his 1974 resignation, may have won by a landslide, but his illegal activities during his campaign ultimately cost him the presidency. Nixon was impeached and resigned to avoid being voted out of office.
12.1984
Last but not least, this map shows the largest-ever share of electoral votes going to a single candidate. It’s so solidly red that it honestly looks like a meme to me in 2024.
270 to Win / Via 270towin.com
Ronald Reagan, seen here visiting the tennis camp of future star athletes Venus and Serena Williams in 1990, won re-election in 1984 with a jaw-dropping 525 electoral votes. This election was also the first time a woman appeared on a major party’s ticket. Geraldine Ferraro was chosen as Democrat Walter Mondale’s running mate.
Is there a particular election from history (or your own memory) that you’ve always been fascinated by? Tell me your thoughts in the comments!
