Don’t believe Trump — he didn’t win in a landslide

Don&#8217;t believe Trump &#8212; he didn&#8217;t win in a landslide
President-elect Donald Trump, followed by his wife Melania Trump and son Barron Trump, boards his plane at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Fla. on Nov. 27. (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press)

It's been three weeks since Donald Trump won the presidential election, but he can't stop stewing over the narrow result.




Both claims are false.


Nobody, including the Trump aides who were supposed to be watching for fraud, has produced any evidence of illegal votes. And Trump didn't win the electoral college in a landslide — not even close. He won 57% of electoral votes, but that's well below average for winning candidates. His 306 electoral votes are comparable to the 303 John F. Kennedy won in 1960. That kind of election is generally called a squeaker, not a landslide.

As a young builder from Queens, Trump felt excluded from Manhattan... Now, as president-elect, he can’t shake his anger that anyone is questioning his victory.

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Why is Trump raging about the numbers when he ought to be focusing on the job he's going to have in just over seven weeks? He's worried about two problems: his legitimacy, and his mandate.








He won about 46% of the popular vote; Clinton won 48%. You want a mandate? In 1980, Ronald Reagan won 51% of the popular vote in a three-way race. In 2008, Barack Obama won 53%. In 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt won 57%.

Voters recognize the difference.

A Washington Post poll last week found that only 29% of voters think Trump has a mandate to carry out his program; most said they want him to seek compromises with Democrats instead.

By comparison, in 2008, 50% said Obama had a mandate. In 2000, 41% said George W. Bush, who lost the popular vote, had a mandate.


Trump's "favorability" has inched upward since the election to 47% in the CNN Poll, but he's still short of a majority. That's never happened to a president-elect in modern polling before.




If enough voters remember that Trump didn't win in a landslide, he'll have to build a mandate the hard way: by getting things done. If his administration is brilliantly managed and his program succeeds, his percentage of the popular vote won't matter for long. For now, he's on shaky footing — no matter what he tweets.

Twitter: @DoyleMcManus

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