Analysis of the US Presidential Elections - Assignment Example

Majority rule is the common way in which one candidate can win the presidency in the United States. However, there are situations whereby majority rule is overlooked, and some circumstances call for an electoral vote. The number of electoral votes from a state can highly dictate the presidential win (McCaffrey, 2004).b) If only two candidates running for President of the United States would the majority rule dictate the winner of Michigan's electoral votes? What about Nebraska? Michigan as a state has 16 electoral votes, which are highly influential during the process of electing the next president.

As a rule, the 16 electoral votes from Michigan will go to the presidential candidate who has won the majority rule. The majority rule at times is usually overlooked when electoral votes are considered. When analyzing the 1876 election, electoral votes proved to be more powerful than the majority rule. Nebraska as a state has 5 electoral votes; the majority rule will determine the presidential winner (McCaffrey, 2004). c) Investigate the results of the US presidential election in 1876. Write a summary of your findings and explain how they relate to our study of majority rule.

In 1876, the presidential election in the United States was tightly contested, and it resulted in a lot of controversies. The presidential race was between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel J. Tilden. Hayes was a republican candidate from Ohio, while Tilden was democratic from New York. Although Hayes was pronounced as the president, a lot of questions were raised. The results showed that Tilden had a popular vote of 4.2 million, against Hayes’s 4.0 million. However, regarding electoral votes, Hayes had 185 electoral votes, a difference of 1 from Tilden who had 184 electoral votes (McCaffrey, 2004).

 The 1968 presidential election, tightly contested by top candidates Richard Nixon a republican, Hubert H. Humphrey a democrat, and George Wallace from the American Independent party, ultimately resulted in Nixon winning. The popular vote results were Nixon’s approximately 31,700,000 votes, Humphrey’s approximately 31,200,000 votes, and Wallace’s approximately 9,900,000 votes.

The electoral vote results were Nixon 301, Humphrey 191, and Wallace 46. The election was a plurality because the presidential winner, Nixon, only attained 43.4%, which was less than the required majority vote of more than 51%. The other candidates, Humphrey, and Wallace had 42.7% and 13.5% respectively (McCaffrey, 2004). b) Look for an election other than the years listed in part “a” when the winning candidate did not receive a plurality of the overall US popular vote. The 1824 presidential election, contested by top candidates Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams, resulted in a minority election.

Jackson was a candidate from Tennessee, while Adams was a candidate from Massachusetts. The results were as follows; Jackson garnered approximately 150,000 popular votes and 99 electoral votes, while Adams garnered approximately 113,000 popular votes and 84 electoral votes. The ultimate decision of the 1824 presidential election was determined by the House of Representatives. The decision was arrived at because plurality and the majority were essential for a candidate to win the election. In the 1824 elections, the pronounced president did not garner enough votes that claimed popularity (McCaffrey, 2004).