Answers: Landslides and Cliffhangers

November 11, 2009 RSS Feed Print

1. Which of these presidents won the election by just one electoral vote?

B. Rutherford Hayes in 1876

2. Which of these elections was the closest in terms of the popular vote?

A. 1880

3. Which president won with 525 electoral votes, the most in history?

D. Ronald Reagan in 1984

4. True or false: Harry Truman beat Thomas Dewey in the 1948 election by fewer than 50 electoral votes.

False. He won by 114.

5. In 1820, who effectively ran unopposed, winning every state?

B. James Monroe

6. Excluding D.C., what was the only state George McGovern won in 1972?

C. Massachusetts

7. True or false: Warren Harding's election in 1920 was hotly contested.

False. It was a landslide.

8. In 1964, Lyndon Johnson won the popular vote by how large a margin?

D. More than 20 percent

9. Who was the last president to win an election despite winning fewer states than his opponent?

B. Jimmy Carter won 23 states and D.C.; Gerald Ford won 27.

10. Who won by a landslide only to lose by a landslide four years later?

D. Herbert Hoover

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