How do you measure a Landslide?

[Statistikhengst]

Easier said than done:

Statistikhengst's ELECTORAL POLITICS - 2013 and beyond: Refresher on Landslide statistics in US elections


The best answer is to ask a question: "how do you want to measure a landslide?"


The link above simply gives the exact statistics for national landslide superlatives (3 to 4 places in each group) according to:

National popular vote:

1.) highest percentage of the NPV
2.) largest % margin of the NPV
3.) largest actual raw vote margin


Electoral College:

4.) most Electors won
5.) highest EV %

Geography:

6.) Largest geographic landslide, by % of total landmass of the USA.


Now, were we to bandy about who has enjoyed the largest presidential landslide, I bet the names Reagan, Nixon, LBJ and FDR would come up right away. And yes, they are on the lists the most often. But there are two other names on the list that are probably a total surprise. Go read the link and find out. If fact, the guy who won the largest %-margin ever in our history is a president whom most have long forgotten.

My personal preference is %-margin of the national popular vote. I would suspect that most think that no. 3 and no. 6 are most cosmetic in nature.

All in all, three times in history we have seen such overwhelmining landslides that all but 2 "states" (including DC) were won by one party: 1936, 1972 and 1984. Notice that 1964 is not on that list.


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[auditor0007]

Easier said than done:

Statistikhengst's ELECTORAL POLITICS - 2013 and beyond: Refresher on Landslide statistics in US elections


The best answer is to ask a question: "how do you want to measure a landslide?"


The link above simply gives the exact statistics for national landslide superlatives (3 to 4 places in each group) according to:

National popular vote:

1.) highest percentage of the NPV
2.) largest % margin of the NPV
3.) largest actual raw vote margin


Electoral College:

4.) most Electors won
5.) highest EV %

Geography:

6.) Largest geographic landslide, by % of total landmass of the USA.


Now, were we to bandy about who has enjoyed the largest presidential landslide, I bet the names Reagan, Nixon, LBJ and FDR would come up right away. And yes, they are on the lists the most often. But there are two other names on the list that are probably a total surprise. Go read the link and find out. If fact, the guy who won the largest %-margin ever in our history is a president whom most have long forgotten.

My personal preference is %-margin of the national popular vote. I would suspect that most think that no. 3 and no. 6 are most cosmetic in nature.

All in all, three times in history we have seen such overwhelmining landslides that all but 2 "states" (including DC) were won by one party: 1936, 1972 and 1984. Notice that 1964 is not on that list.


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It really is quite simple. You measure it in relation to the 1984 presidential election. That was a landslide.

 

[Politico]

It ain't 51% that's for sure.

 

[Statistikhengst]

It really is quite simple. You measure it in relation to the 1984 presidential election. That was a landslide.

Thanks for stopping by. Yes, 1984 was a massive landslide, one of the biggest in our history, but in spite of that, Reagan did not win with the largest margin ever, nor did he win with the highest percentage of electoral college. Those honors go to Warren Harding and FDR, respectively. But yes, 1984 is one of the most impressive of our history, most impressive to me because it was actually more evenly spread throughout the nation than in Nixon's 1972 or LBJ's 1964 landslides. In fact, you have to go back to 1936 to find one that was so evenly spread in margin throughout the land.

It ain't 51% that's for sure.

I agree with you. But btw, did you know that Reagan did not hit 51% in 1980? He came in under 51% against Jimmy Carter in that year.

Barack Obama is one of only four Presidents in history to break 51% at least two times in a row:

Ulysses S. Grant (1868, 1872)
FDR (1932, 1936, 1940, 1944)
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1952, 1956)
Barack H. Obama (2008, 2012)

Glad you stopped by. Hope to hear more from both of you.