Electoral vote difference in U.S. presidential re-election campaigns 1792-2020

Since the presidency was established, sitting U.S. presidents have campaigned for re-election 28 times in total, with 18 successful re-elections, and ten unsuccessful campaigns. In history, 12 presidents have received a larger share of the electoral votes in their second campaign than in their previous campaign, while 15 campaigns received a smaller share of these votes, yet five of those still returned a majority and were successful.

Biggest decline

The largest drop in share of electoral votes was in 1932, when Herbert Hoover received 72.5 percent fewer electoral votes than in 1928, losing to Franklin D. Roosevelt, who would go on to be re-elected three times after this. Hoover was incredibly popular in 1928 due to the economic growth and prosperity of the 1920s while he was the Secretary of Commerce. However, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the economic mismanagement of the Great Depression's early years saw his approval rate plummet.

In contrast, the smallest difference happened over 100 years before, when John Quincy Adams lost the presidency to Andrew Jackson in 1928, with 0.38 percent fewer electoral votes than in 1824. However, the election in 1824 was irregular, as no nominee received a majority. The only time when there was no difference in share of electoral votes was for George Washington in 1782, as both elections were uncontested, and he received 100 percent of the votes.