Skip to content
The American Political Almanac
RECONSTRUCTION & THE GILDED AGETHE SYSTEM OF 1896THE NEW DEAL ORDERTHE LONG REALIGNMENTPOLARIZED ERA1868RRRRD1888RDRRR1908RDDRR1928RDDDD1948DRRDD1968RRDRR1988RDD2000RRDDRD2024R

The Nation Decides

Electoral votes, the popular vote, and how every state moved
Al Gore
Democrat
Al Gore
266
Electoral votes
48.4% · 50,996,062
President · The Long Realignment

2000

Bush def. Gore, 271–266
pledged 267–271 · 1 elector abstainedwon the presidency, lost the popular vote

Also running: Ralph Nader (2.7%)

✓ Won
George W. Bush
Republican
George W. Bush
271
Electoral votes
47.9% · 50,456,169
Electoral college — 270 to win (538 electors · 537 cast)266 D · 271 R
Popular vote48.4% · 47.9% · other 3.7% · margin D+0.5

105,593,982 votes counted

Electoral map — one tile per state
AK3ME4VT3NH4WA11ID4MT3ND3MN10WI11MI18NY33MA12RI4OR7NV4WY3SD3IA7IL22IN12OH21PA23NJ15CT8CA54UT5CO8NE5MO11KY8WV5VA13MD10DE3AZ8NM5KS6AR6TN11NC14SC8DC3OK8LA9MS7AL9GA13HI4TX32FL25
R+40D+40third party won
The swing from last time
Change in each state’s margin since 1996 · ← 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
What predicts the county vote? · 2000

A map shows where; a regression shows how much. The Democratic margin is modelled on five county traits at once, each standardized — a coefficient reads as “points of margin per one standard deviation, holding the other four fixed.” Pick a trait to follow through all three views:

Across all counties, nationally
dot = effect on the Democratic margin per +1 SD · whisker = 95% CI · all five entered together
…and within each state, separately

each dot = a state (≥15 counties) · filled = significant (|t|≥2) · ┊ national · ← Rep · Dem →

Who Voted for Whom

The American electorate by income, education, faith and more

How each slice of the electorate split between the parties — by their own account. Weighted ANES self-reports from a national sample: they tilt slightly toward the winner and carry no county detail.

Loading the survey…

Notes on this election

  • Decided by 537 votes in Florida and Bush v. Gore. One DC elector abstained (Gore pledged 267, cast 266).