Couldn't Get Re-elected Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bill Clinton

Republican President George HW Bush won the 1988 election on the promise that "read my lips, no new taxes" but made people upset when he raised existing taxes. He was called to task by his party by having to run in primaries where he managed to defeat challenger Pat Buchanan. Bill Clinton, the Democratic Governor of Arkansas ran against him for the 1992 election. Interestingly, an independent candidate, H. Ross Perot, also made a significant bid for election himself.

The Bush supporters highly touted his foreign policy, but the dissolution of the Soviet Union made most people value this less. The country was in a recession and Clinton's economic policy really appealed to many voters. Perot, despite looking strong in polling, managed to get just under 19% of the popular vote and didn't win any electoral votes. Bush won 18 states and 168 electoral votes while Clinton carried 32 states (and Washington DC) and a massive 370 electoral votes to depose Bush after only one term. Clinton's popularity would carry on into the 1996 elections where he would win a second term.

Answer: Benjamin Harrison

Democratic President Grover Cleveland won one of the dirtiest elections in US history in 1884 by defeating James Blaine, the chosen successor to President Chester A. Arthur. Cleveland had a lot of popularity in the southern States, and carried all of them by promising a reduction in tariffs, one of the main campaign issues of the 1888 election. Benjamin Harrison won the nomination of the Republican party as a senator from Indiana and the grandson of former President William Henry Harrison.

He argued that higher tariffs would protect US businesses and create jobs, a policy that was popular in the industrial sector, prevalent in the northern States.

In the end, Cleveland won the popular vote, but lost the two key swing states of New York and Indiana and was deposed as President.

Answer: Thomas Jefferson

John Adams had been narrowly elected in 1796 over Thomas Jefferson. At that time, the candidate with the second-most electoral votes was declared the vice-president, but, in the election of 1800, each party decided to nominate a president as well as a vice-president on a slate and to have them elected as a team from the same party.

John Adams was the Federalist nominee as the incumbent President. He campaigned on close ties with Great Britain as well as keeping the country's power centralized. Thomas Jefferson had just formed the Democratic-Republican party and nominated Aaron Burr as the vice-president. They wanted to have the power at the state level and supported easier immigration practices. In the end, Jefferson and Burr beat out Adams and Pickney due to a power struggle from within the Federalist party versus a well-organized campaign on the side of the Democratic-Republican party. This election was marked by mudslinging as well as smearing of candidates, making it uncharacteristically dirty.

Answer: William Henry Harrison

Martin van Buren won the 1836 election as the successor to the wildly popular Andrew Jackson. The Whig part had just been formed and was not organized enough to defeat van Buren, but, they were ready in 1840. The United States was still reeling from the economic collapse of 1837 and much of the blame for the aftermath was placed on van Buren. On the other hand, William Henry Harrison, the Whig candidate, and John Tyler, his chosen vice-president, were war heroes and became popular with the younger voters. The campaign slogan for the election was "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" referencing the Battle of Tippecanoe where both Harrison and Tyler fought. Harrison won a landslide victory carrying 19 out of the 26 states.

Harrison would not enjoy his presidency. Inauguration day was rainy and cold and Harrison gave an extraordinarily long speech. He named a few controversial members to his cabinet and called for a controversial special session of Congress. 31 days after being inaugurated, Harrison passed away.

Answer: Ronald Reagan

In the 1976 presidential election, Jimmy Carter had defeated incumbent Gerald Ford winning only 23 states, as well as Washington DC, but he won in the states that had many electoral votes. In 1980, Carter was faced against former actor and Governor of California Ronald Reagan.

However, he almost was ousted by his own party with Ted Kennedy putting up a serious challenge in the Democratic primaries. Jimmy Carter had faced a bad economic situation at home and growing unrest abroad (with the Soviet Cold War heating up and the Iran-Contra affair freshly scandalous). Ronald Reagan was a fresh face who campaigned promising an optimistic future for Americans.

The election was not even close. Carter only carried six states and Washington DC, and Reagan won a massive 489 electoral votes.

When elected, Reagan was the oldest president elected to the office, being 69 years old at the time.

Answer: Woodrow Wilson

When Teddy Roosevelt decided that he wasn't going to run in the 1908 election and seek a third term, though only a second elected term, this opened up the path for his successor, William Howard Taft, to win the presidency. However, in 1912, Taft faced a challenge on two sides, one from Roosevelt, who narrowly lost in the primaries, and thus decided to launch a presidential campaign under the Progressive "Bull Moose" party banner, and one from Democratic Woodrow Wilson. While the main campaign issue seemed to be the economy, the problem for Taft was that Roosevelt's popularity would siphon away many of his votes, and he was already predestined to lose. However, the split in the party gave Wilson the upper hand and, despite only getting under 42% of the popular vote, Wilson carried 40 states and won by a landslide...

One can always wonder what might have happened if Wilson had run against Roosevelt with no other popular third candidate.

Answer: Grover Cleveland

In the 1892 presidential election, Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison faced off once again in a historic rematch. This time, the election marked a significant moment in U.S. history as it was the first time two former US Presidents competed for the office. Despite the closely contested nature of their previous matchup in 1888, the 1892 election unfolded as a three-way race with James Weaver of the Populist Party joining the fray. Cleveland emerged victorious, securing an impressive 277 electoral votes by carrying 23 states. In contrast, Harrison managed to win only 145 electoral votes from 16 states. The addition of Weaver as a third candidate reflects the shifting political landscape of the time.

Interestingly, this election marked the last Democratic win for president until 1912, highlighting its significance in the country's political history.

Answer: Andrew Jackson

When John Quincy Adams faced off against Andrew Jackson (as well as two other candidates) in the 1824 election, neither of them were able to get a majority of the electoral college votes. While Jackson had more of the popular vote as well as electoral college votes, he did not have enough for a majority. Therefore, under the 12th Amendment, the election was held in the House of Representatives where Adams won.

Four years later, the two faced off again, but, this time, they were the only significant candidates. The mudslinging was in abundance during the campaign and economics as well as the right to vote for all white males were campaign issues, and a fracture in the Democratic-Republican Party led to the formation of the Democratic as well as the National Republican Parties. The views of the latter party were that they opposed the popular, but controversial, Jackson. Unfortunately, this didn't help them. Andrew Jackson carried 15 states and got 178 electoral votes out of 261 and deposed Adams as president.

Interestingly, John Quincy Adams was the son of former President John Adams who also lost an election as President.

Answer: Franklin D Roosevelt

Republican Herbert Hoover won a crushing victory in 1928 against Democratic candidate Al Smith. President Calvin Coolidge did not seek re-election and Hoover was the party's nominee, and he did very well. With a total of 444 electoral votes out of 531, it was a resounding message that the Republicans still had power in the United States.

1932 was a different story. The United States had been devastated by the Great Depression and Black Friday (the crash of Wall Street in 1929). President Hoover was blamed for the country's situation and Franklin Delano Roosevelt campaigned on "a new deal for the American people" and became popular, extremely so. In fact, Roosevelt beat out Hoover's success by getting 472 electoral votes and carrying 42 states. Roosevelt would go on to win the next three elections as well and become the only US President to serve four terms.

Answer: Joe Biden

The election of 2016 saw a tough race being run between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Clinton had been Secretary of State and the former First Lady as well, and was well-versed in politics. On the other hand, Trump was a businessman and a television personality. The campaign was dirty and difficult and it was later revealed that there had been attempts to influence the election by foreign powers. Trump won election despite not doing as well in the popular vote as Clinton.

After a divisive and tense four years, Trump ran again for re-election and was now opposed by Joe Biden, the former vice-president to President Barack Obama. Taking on an interesting running mate, Biden chose to go with Kamala Harris, a woman of colour from California. The COVID-19 pandemic, Obamacare, and the economy were on the list of topics for the campaign. Biden, despite a slow start in the polls, started to make headway when he encouraged his supporters to mail in their ballots to support social distancing. Trump started out ahead in several key states, but, when the advance polling ballots were counted, Biden ended up unseating Trump.