United States presidential elections in Ohio explained

State:	Ohio
Number Of Elections:	55
Voted Democratic:	16
Voted Republican:	30
Voted Whig:	3
Voted Dem Rep:	6
Voted Other:	0
Voted Winning:	45
Voted Losing:	10

Following is a table of United States presidential elections in Ohio, ordered by year. Since its admission to statehood in 1803, Ohio has participated in every U.S. presidential election.

For most of its statehood from the Twentieth century on, Ohio has been considered a swing state, being won by either the Democratic or Republican candidates from election to election. As a swing state, Ohio is usually targeted by both major-party campaigns, especially in competitive elections.^[1] Pivotal in the election of 1888, Ohio has been a regular swing state since 1980.^[2] ^[3]

Additionally, Ohio is considered a bellwether. Historian R. Douglas Hurt asserts that not since Virginia "had a state made such a mark on national political affairs".^[4] The Economist notes that "This slice of the mid-west contains a bit of everything American—part north-eastern and part southern, part urban and part rural, part hardscrabble poverty and part booming suburb".^[5] In the time since the Civil War, Ohio has had ten misses (eight Democratic winners, one Democratic-Republican winner and one Whig winner) in the presidential election (John Quincy Adams in 1824, Martin Van Buren in 1836, James Polk in 1844, Zachary Taylor in 1848, James Buchanan in 1856, Grover Cleveland in 1884 and 1892, Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944, John F. Kennedy in 1960, and Joe Biden in 2020), and prior to the 2020 election it also had the longest consistent perfect streak of any state, voting for the winning presidential candidate in each election from 1964 to 2016 — a streak that ended when Joe Biden won in 2020. No Republican has ever won the presidency without winning Ohio, and since the advent of the duopoly two-party system, Democrats have won the presidency without winning Ohio only eight times, in the elections noted above.

Winners of the state are in bold.

Party abbreviations:

D = Democratic
R = Republican
D-R = Democratic-Republican
Fed. = Federalist
Prog. = Progressive (three distinct parties in 1912, 1924 and 1948, respectively)
Am. Ind. = American Independent Party (1968)
States' Rights D = States' Rights Democrats ("Dixiecrats") of 1948
Lib. R = Liberal Republican Party ("Mugwumps") in 1872
Const'l Union = Constitutional Union Party (1860)
N. Dem = Northern Democratic Party (1860)
S. Dem = Southern Democratic Party (1860)
Nat'l R = National Republican Party (1828 & 1832, later merging into the Whig Party).

Elections from 1864 to present

data-sort-type="number"	Year	Winner (nationally)	data-sort-type="number"	Votes	data-sort-type="number"	Percent	Runner-up (nationally)	data-sort-type="number"	Votes	data-sort-type="number"	Percent	Other national candidates	data-sort-type="number"	Votes	data-sort-type="number"	Percent	data-sort-type="number"	Electoral Votes	Notes
	2020^[6]		Joe Biden (D)	2,679,165	45.24		Donald Trump (R)	3,154,834	53.27	—			18
	2016 *^[7]		Donald Trump (R)	2,841,006	51.31		Hillary Clinton (D)	2,394,169	43.24	—			18	Clinton (D) won national popular vote 48.0% to 45.9%
	2012^[8]		Barack Obama (D)	2,827,710	50.67		Mitt Romney (R)	2,661,433	47.69	—			18
	2008^[9]		Barack Obama (D)	2,940,044	51.50		John McCain (R)	2,677,820	46.91	—			20
	2004^[10]		George W. Bush (R)	2,859,768	50.81		John Kerry (D)	2,741,167	48.71	—			20
	2000 *^[11]		George W. Bush (R)	2,351,209	49.97		Al Gore (D)	2,186,190	46.46	—			21	Gore (D) won national popular vote, 48.4% to 47.9%
	1996^[12]		Bill Clinton (D)	2,148,222	47.38		Bob Dole (R)	1,859,883	41.02		Ross Perot (Reform)	483,207	10.66	21
	1992		Bill Clinton (D)	1,984,942	40.18		George H. W. Bush (R)	1,894,310	38.35			1,036,426	20.98	21
	1988		George H. W. Bush (R)	2,416,549	55.00		Michael Dukakis (D)	1,939,629	44.15	—			23
	1984		Ronald Reagan (R)	2,678,560	58.90		Walter Mondale (D)	1,825,440	40.14	—			23
	1980		Ronald Reagan (R)	2,206,545	51.51		Jimmy Carter (D)	1,752,414	40.91			254,472	5.94	25
	1976		Jimmy Carter (D)	2,011,621	48.92		Gerald Ford (R)	2,000,505	48.65	—			25
	1972		Richard Nixon (R)	2,441,827	59.63		George McGovern (D)	1,558,889	38.07	—			25
	1968		Richard Nixon (R)	1,791,014	45.23		Hubert Humphrey (D)	1,700,586	42.95		George Wallace (Am. Ind.)	467,495	11.81	26
	1964		Lyndon B. Johnson (D)	2,498,331	62.94		Barry Goldwater (R)	1,470,865	37.06	—			26
	1960		John F. Kennedy (D)	1,944,248	46.72		Richard Nixon (R)	2,217,611	53.28	—			25
	1956		Dwight D. Eisenhower (R)	2,262,610	61.11		Adlai Stevenson II (D)	1,439,655	38.89			—	—	25
	1952		Dwight D. Eisenhower (R)	2,100,391	56.76		Adlai Stevenson II (D)	1,600,367	43.24	-			25
	1948		Harry S. Truman (D)	1,452,791	49.48		Thomas E. Dewey (R)	1,445,684	49.24			—	—	25	Henry Wallace (Prog.) won 1.3% of Ohio's votes
	1944		Franklin D. Roosevelt (D)	1,570,763	49.82		Thomas E. Dewey (R)	1,582,293	50.18	—			25
	1940		Franklin D. Roosevelt (D)	1,733,139	52.2		Wendell Willkie (R)	1,586,773	47.8	—			26
	1936		Franklin D. Roosevelt (D)	1,747,140	57.99		Alf Landon (R)	1,127,855	37.44	—			26
	1932		Franklin D. Roosevelt (D)	1,301,695	49.88		Herbert Hoover (R)	1,227,319	47.03	—			26
	1928		Herbert Hoover (R)	1,627,546	64.89		Al Smith (D)	864,210	34.45	—			24
	1924		Calvin Coolidge (R)	1,176,130	58.33		John W. Davis (D)	477,888	23.7		Robert M. La Follette (Prog.)	357,948	17.75	24
	1920		Warren G. Harding (R)	1,182,022	58.47		James M. Cox (D)	780,037	38.58		Parley P. Christensen (Farmer-Labor)	—	—	24
	1916		Woodrow Wilson (D)	604,161	51.86		Charles E. Hughes (R)	514,753	44.18	—			24
	1912		Woodrow Wilson (D)	424,834	40.96		Theodore Roosevelt (Prog.)	229,807	22.16		William H. Taft (R)	278,168	26.82	24	National vote: D 41.8%, Prog 27.4% & R 23.2%
	1908		William H. Taft (R)	572,312	51.03		William Jennings Bryan (D)	502,721	44.82	—			23
	1904		Theodore Roosevelt (R)	600,095	59.75		Alton B. Parker (D)	344,674	34.32	—			23
	1900	'	William McKinley (R)	543,918	52.30		William Jennings Bryan (D)	474,882	45.66	—			23
	1896		William McKinley (R)	525,991	51.86		William Jennings Bryan (D & People's)	477,497	47.08	—			23
	1892		Grover Cleveland (D)	404,115	47.53		Benjamin Harrison (R)	405,187	47.66		James B. Weaver (People's)	14,850	1.75	23	Electoral vote split 22 (Harrison) to 1 (Cleveland)
	1888 *		Benjamin Harrison (R)	416,054	49.51		Grover Cleveland (D)	396,455	47.18	—			23	Cleveland (D) won national popular vote, 48.6% to 47.8%
	1884		Grover Cleveland (D)	368,280	46.94		James G. Blaine (R)	400,082	50.99	—			23
	1880		James A. Garfield (R)	375,048	51.73		Winfield S. Hancock (D)	340,821	47.01		James B. Weaver (Greenback Labor)	6,456	0.89	22
	1876*^[13]		Rutherford B. Hayes (R)	330,698	50.21		Samuel J. Tilden (D)	323,182	49.07	—			22	Tilden (D) won a national popular majority, 50.9% to 47.9%
	1872		Ulysses S. Grant (R)	281,852	53.24		Horace Greeley (D & Lib. R)	244,321	46.15	—			22
	1868		Ulysses S. Grant (R)	280,159	54.0		Horatio Seymour (D)	238,506	46.0	—			21
	1864		Abraham Lincoln (Nat'l Union)	265,674	56.4		George B. McClellan (D)	205,609	43.6	—			21

Election of 1860

The election of 1860 was a complex realigning election in which the breakdown of the previous two-party alignment culminated in four parties each competing for influence in different parts of the country. The result of the election, with the victory of an ardent opponent of slavery, spurred the secession of eleven states and brought about the American Civil War.

data-sort-type="number"	Year	Winner (nationally)	data-sort-type="number"	Votes	data-sort-type="number"	Percent	Runner-up (nationally)	data-sort-type="number"	Votes	data-sort-type="number"	Percent	Runner-up (nationally)	data-sort-type="number"	Votes	data-sort-type="number"	Percent	Runner-up (nationally)	data-sort-type="number"	Votes	data-sort-type="number"	Percent	data-sort-type="number"	Electoral Votes
	1860		Abraham Lincoln (R)	231,709	52.3	Stephen A. Douglas (N. Dem.)	187,421	42.3	John C. Breckinridge (S. Dem.)	11,406	2.6		John Bell (Const'l Union)	12,194	2.8	23

Elections from 1828 to 1856

data-sort-type="number"	Year	Winner (nationally)	data-sort-type="number"	Votes	data-sort-type="number"	Percent	Runner-up (nationally)	data-sort-type="number"	Votes	data-sort-type="number"	Percent	Other national candidates	data-sort-type="number"	Votes	data-sort-type="number"	Percent	data-sort-type="number"	Electoral Votes	Notes
	1856		James Buchanan (D)	170,874	44.21		John C. Frémont (R)	187,497	48.51		Millard Fillmore (American & Whig)	28,126	7.28	23
	1852		Franklin Pierce (D)	168,933	47.83		Winfield Scott (Whig)	152,523	43.18			31,732	8.98	23
	1848		Zachary Taylor (Whig)	138,359	42.12		Lewis Cass (D)	154,773	47.12			35,347	10.76	23
	1844		James K. Polk (D)	149,061	47.74		Henry Clay (Whig)	155,113	49.68	—			23
	1840		William Henry Harrison (Whig)	148,157	54.1		Martin Van Buren (D)	124,782	45.57	—			21
	1836		Martin Van Buren (D)	96,238	47.56		William Henry Harrison (Whig)	104,958	51.87	various			21
	1832		Andrew Jackson (D)	81,246	51.33		Henry Clay (Nat'l R)	76,539	48.35	William Wirt (Anti-Masonic)	509	0.32	21
	1828		Andrew Jackson (D)	67,596	51.6		John Quincy Adams (Nat'l R)	63,453	48.4	—			16

Election of 1824

The election of 1824 was a complex realigning election following the collapse of the prevailing Democratic-Republican Party, resulting in four different candidates each claiming to carry the banner of the party, and competing for influence in different parts of the country. The election was the only one in history to be decided by the House of Representatives under the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution after no candidate secured a majority of the electoral vote. It was also the only presidential election in which the candidate who received a plurality of electoral votes (Andrew Jackson) did not become President, a source of great bitterness for Jackson and his supporters, who proclaimed the election of Adams a corrupt bargain.

|-! data-sort-type="number" | Year! Winner (nationally)! data-sort-type="number" | Votes! data-sort-type="number" | Percent! Runner-up (nationally)! data-sort-type="number" | Votes! data-sort-type="number" | Percent! Runner-up (nationally)! data-sort-type="number" | Votes! data-sort-type="number" | Percent! Runner-up (nationally)! data-sort-type="number" | Votes! data-sort-type="number" | Percent! data-sort-type="number" | Electoral
Votes|-| | 1824 |||Andrew Jackson
(D-R) || 12,280 || 24.55 |||John Quincy Adams
(D-R) || 18,489 || 36.96 |||Henry Clay
(D-R) || 19,255 || 38.49 |||William H. Crawford
(D-R) || no ballots || || 16 |}

Note: The national popular vote (from 18 of 24 states, the other six had electors chosen by the state legislature) was Jackson 41.36%, Adams 30.92%, Clay 12.99% and Crawford 11.21%. After none of the candidates had a majority on the electoral college, Adams won the contingent election in the House of Representatives.

Elections from 1804 to 1820

In the election of 1820, incumbent President James Monroe ran effectively unopposed, winning all eight of Ohio’s electoral votes, and all electoral votes nationwide except one vote in New Hampshire. To the extent that a popular vote was held, it was primarily directed to filling the office of Vice President.

data-sort-type="number"	Year	Winner (nationally)	Loser(s) (nationally)	data-sort-type="number"	Electoral Votes	Notes
	1820		James Monroe (D-R)	—	8	Monroe effectively ran unopposed.
	1816		James Monroe (D-R)		Rufus King (Fed.)	8
	1812		James Madison (D-R)	DeWitt Clinton (Fed./D-R Fusion)	7
	1808		James Madison (D-R)		Charles C. Pinckney (Fed.)	3
	1804		Thomas Jefferson (D-R)		Charles C. Pinckney (Fed.)	3

Notes and References

Web site: The Odds of an Electoral College-Popular Vote Split Are Increasing. 2016-11-01. FiveThirtyEight. en-US. 2016-11-06. https://web.archive.org/web/20161221013034/http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-odds-of-an-electoral-college-popular-vote-split-are-increasing/. December 21, 2016. live.
https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/02/arts/02camp.html Trolling the Campuses for Swing-State Votes
http://www.slate.com/id/2108640/ Game Theory for Swingers
Holli (1999), p. 162.
http://www.economist.com/World/na/displayStory.cfm?story_id=5327576 " A grain of sand for your thoughts"
News: Presidential Election Results: Biden Wins. The New York Times. 3 November 2020 . November 15, 2020.
https://transition.fec.gov/pubrec/fe2016/federalelections2016.pdf 2016 official Federal Election Commission report
http://www.fec.gov/pubrec/fe2012/federalelections2012.pdf 2012 official Federal Election Commission report
http://www.fec.gov/pubrec/fe2008/federalelections2008.pdf 2008 official Federal Election Commission report
Web site: Federal Elections 2004: Election Results for the U.S. President, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. May 2005 . Federal Elections Commission.
Web site: 2000 Presidential Election Statistics. Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
Web site: 1996 Presidential Election Statistics. Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. 2018-03-05.
David Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections; Ohio, 1876.