This was the beginning of the so-called âbaby boom.â In 1947, another 3.8 million babies were born; 3.9 million were born in 1952; and more than 4 million were born every year from 1954 until 1964, when the boom finally tapered off. By then, there were 76.4 million âbaby boomersâ in the United States.
In 1888, Benjamin Harrison received 233 electoral votes to Grover Clevelandâs 168, winning the presidency. But Harrison lost the popular vote by more than 90,000 votes. In 2000, George W. Bush was declared the winner of the general election and became the 43rd president, but he didnât win the popular vote either. Al Gore holds that distinction, garnering about 540,000 more votes than Bush. However, Bush won the electoral vote, 271 to 266.
George W. Bush, of course, narrowly lost the popular vote, a fact exacerbated by the Florida recount â yet four years later, Bush won a popular majority. If Trump is seen by the voters as a good president, he may do the same â and if heâs seen as a bad one, that will be his undoing, not the popular vote in 2016. Until Barack Obama, every modern president to win reelection did so by expanding his voting coalition.