If incumbent US President Donald Trump fails to win the re-election, he will not be the first incumbent president in history to have fallen from grace but will be the first in last three decades. In 1992, George HW Bush failed to win his second term as Democrat Bill Clinton won the election. Since Bush, all three US presidents — Bill Clinton, George W Bush (Junior), and Barack Obama — have won their re-elections.
Only four presidents, in the last 100 years, failed to win re-elections.
George HW Bush
The 1992 presidential election marked the end of a long period of Republican rule in the United States which began in 1968. Bush’s approval ratings were 89% and his re-election was considered very high. But Clinton won 43 per cent of the popular vote along with 370 electoral college votes. Bush won only 37.3 percent of the popular vote and 168 electoral college votes.
Jimmy Carter
Democrat Jimmy Carter lost out to Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980 US election. It was a landslide victory for Reagan as he won 50.7 per cent of the popular vote. 69-year-old Reagan was the oldest person to ever be elected for the first term until 70-year-old Donald Trump was elected president in 2016.
Gerald Ford
In 1976, Republican Gerald Ford lost out to Jimmy Carter who lost it to Ronald Reagan in 1980. When President Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, Ford, the vice president, was made the president. Thus he became the only president to have never been elected by the Electoral College.
Herbert Hoover
Republican Herbert Hoover was defeated by Democratic Franklin D Roosevelt in 1932. It was a landslide win for Roosevelt as the election was overshadowed by the Great Depression.
Both Donald Trump and his challenger Joe Biden have claimed to be ahead in the election as the final outcome in four states remain pending.
Neither candidate had garnered the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House. But Biden’s chances were better as he had 253 Electoral College votes compared to 213 won by President Trump, according to latest US media projections.
The results of Georgia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Nevada are yet to be declared as officials are still counting millions of votes, some that were cast on Tuesday and many more during weeks of early voting amidst the surging pandemic
