Here’s one more historical curiosity to observe this election cycle. Since election day was standardized in 1845 there have been 6 presidential elections held on November 6th and Republicans have won all six. That means next Tuesday, the 7th Presidential election held on this date, will either break or uphold a streak that began in 1860 with the election of Abraham Lincoln.
Starting in 1792, states had a range of dates on which to conduct presidential elections, but in 1845 Congress standardized the date so it would always be the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Since then presidential elections have been held on dates ranging from November 2nd to November 8th with each date coming up about six times in a fairly regular pattern. The date November 6th has always been a good one for Republicans:
- 1860 – Abraham Lincoln over Stephen Douglas
- 1888 – Benjamin Harrison over incumbent Grover Cleveland
- 1900 – William McKinley over William Jennings Bryan
- 1928 – Herbert Hoover over Al Smith
- 1956 – Dwight Eisenhower over Adlai Stevenson
- 1984 – Ronald Reagan over Walter Mondale
Which brings us to November 6th, 2012 where it’s Mitt Romney in a tight race with the incumbent Barack Obama. Will the Republicans’ lucky streak hold or will Obama make history as the first Democrat to win on that date? We’ll know in a week (or so).
In case you’re wondering, the 2016 election will be held on November 8th. It will be the 7th presidential election on this date since 1845. The prior six were evenly split with three going to Democrats (Cleveland, FDR, Kennedy) and the other three to Republicans (Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, G.H.W. Bush).
Follow John on Twitter @verumserum
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