6 Facts About Barack Obama’s Reelection

On January 20, Barack Obama will be sworn in for a second term as president of the United States—though because the 20th is a Sunday, the public inauguration will actually occur on January 21. It will mark only the third time since the Twentieth Amendment was ratified in 1933 that inauguration day—officially January 20—has fallen on a Sunday. And, each time it has occurred—for Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1957 and Ronald Reagan in 1985—it has been for a president being sworn in for a second term.

Barack Obama—with his wife, Michelle—being sworn in as the 44th president of the United States, Jan. 20, 2009. Credit: MSgt Cecilio Ricardo, U.S. Air Force/U.S. Department of Defense


Here are six other historical facts by the numbers about Barack Obama’s victory on November 6. Admittedly, I’m stretching a bit on some of these.

7 — Number of presidents winning two elections with a majority of the popular vote

In 2008, Obama won nearly 53% of the vote. On November 6, 2012, Obama captured about 51% of the popular vote to Mitt Romney’s 47%, making him the seventh president to win a majority of the popular vote in at least two victories. In doing so, he joined Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, William McKinley, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (four times), Dwight Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan. Of course, popular voting for president only started in 1824, so two-term presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe never faced an electorate. Two-termers Abraham Lincoln, Grover Cleveland, Woodrow Wilson, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush all won at least one of their two victories without a majority of the popular vote. In fact, Lincoln won only 39.9% of the vote in winning the election of 1860. The lowest popular vote percentage for a winning candidate?  John Quincy Adams in 1824. He won only 30.8% of the votes and trailed Jackson in the electoral college, but Quincy Adams was selected the winner by the House of Representatives after no candidate achieved an electoral college majority.

3 — Lefties rule

In 2009 Obama became the eighth lefty to enter the White House, joining James Garfield, Herbert Hoover, Harry Truman, Gerald Ford, Reagan (who was born a lefty but learned to write right-handed), George H.W. Bush, and Clinton. And, with his victory in 2012, he became only the third lefty to win a second term. Though Truman served as president for eight years, he only won one term, having succeeded to the presidency following the death of FDR in office.

4 — Youth rules

Upon his inauguration in 2009, Obama, then age 47, was the fifth-youngest man to take the oath of office. Only Theodore RooseveltJFK, Clinton, and Grant were younger. And, on January 20 Obama will follow TR, Clinton, and Grant as the fourth youngest to be sworn in for a second term.

8 of 9 — Height rules

History tells us that height matters with presidents. Though Mitt Romney lost the election and was actually taller by one inch than Obama, presidents are generally taller than the average American (only seven presidents were shorter than the average American male). Obama stands 6’1″ tall, and at 6’4″ Lincoln was America’s tallest president. Eleven presidents have been 6’1″ or taller—Lincoln, LBJ, Jefferson, Washington, Chester Arthur (who some sources claim stood only 6’0″ and anyway succceeded to the presidency upon the death of James Garfield), FDR, Bush Sr., Clinton, Jackson, Reagan, and Obama. Interestingly, eight of the nine who ran for a second term were reelected. Bush Sr. was the only loser, and he lost to fellow tall guy Clinton. Of course, LBJ chose not to run for reelection, and Arthur was never elected president.

1 — The “Unsolid South”?

From the period after Reconstruction until the 1960s, the Democrats dominated the Southern states in the electoral college. But, with the civil rights movement and the Democrats’ support of it, LBJ presciently noted that the Democrats had “lost the South for a generation.” Since the 1960s, the Republicans have dominated the South, with the exception of Jimmy Carter in 1976 and, to a lesser extent, Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996. Though both John McCain and Romney won large majorities in most of the South, Obama captured Florida and Virginia in both elections. It was thus the first time since FDR that the Democrats won both states in successive elections. In 1976 the only Southern state Carter lost was Virginia, which he lost in 1980.

> 65 million — The most popular president ever?

In 2008 Obama won more than 69 million votes, and in 2012 he won more than 65 million. No other candidate has ever surpassed 65 million votes, and only two other candidates (George W. Bush and Romney) have exceeded 60 million votes. Then again, the population of the United States has grown substantially, so this fact is less impressive than it seems superficially. Obama’s highest share of the vote is only 53% (2008)—dwarfed by the 61.1% garnered in 1964 by LBJ with only 42.8 million votes.

Of course, these are just six of the thousands and thousands of facts associated with Barack Obama’s victory. We invite you to provide some others in the comment section below.


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