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The American Political Almanac
RECONSTRUCTION & THE GILDED AGETHE SYSTEM OF 1896THE NEW DEAL ORDERTHE LONG REALIGNMENTPOLARIZED ERA1868RRRRD1888RDRRR1908RDD1920RRRDDDD1948DRRDD1968RRDRR1988RDDRR2008DDRD2024R

The Nation Decides

Electoral votes, the popular vote, and how every state moved
James M. Cox
Democrat
James M. Cox
127
Electoral votes
34.1% · 9,224,369
President · The System of 1896

1920

Harding def. Cox, 404–127
vote totals summed from county returns

Also running: Eugene V. Debs (3.4%)

✓ Won
Warren G. Harding
Republican
Warren G. Harding
404
Electoral votes
60.3% · 16,238,392
Electoral college — 266 to win (531 electors)127 D · 404 R
Popular vote34.1% · 60.3% · other 5.6% · margin R+26.2

27,008,505 votes counted (summed from counties) · Excludes third-party votes in 1 county whose source totals are double-counted.

Electoral map — one tile per state · coloured by county-summed popular vote
MEVTNHWAIDMTNDMNWIMINYMARIORNVWYSDIAILINOHPANJCTCAUTCONEMOKYWVVAMDDEAZNMKSARTNNCSCOKLAMSALGATXFL
R+40D+40third party won

Per-state electoral vote detail is staged from 1976; earlier years show the national college in the bar above, and states are coloured by their county-summed popular vote.

Missouri: the source double-counts some county totals this year, so third-party vote there is understated (shown with a +).

The swing from last time
Change in each state’s margin since 1916 · ← toward Republicans · toward Democrats →

The Map Beneath the Map

Three thousand counties, and the demography of the divide

Every county that cast a ballot, shaded by its margin. Hover any county to read it; click to open its 156-year profile. Scrub the timeline above and the map redraws in place. Vote counts exist for all forty elections; the demographic lenses begin in 2000.

County margin

Drawing three thousand counties…

R+40D+40no returns

Who voted for whom? The survey record begins with the 1948 ANES — there is no comparable individual-level account of the 1920 electorate.

Notes on this election

  • First election after the 19th Amendment — the eligible electorate roughly doubled. Harding's 60.3% remains the record PV share. Debs ran from federal prison.