U.S. presidential election, 1840

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Facing bad economic times and a Whig Party unified behind war hero William Henry Harrison, President Martin Van Buren was easily defeated for re-election in 1840 by "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too."

The U.S. presidential election of 1840 was also unique in that electors cast votes for four men who had been or would become President of the United States: current President Martin Van Buren; President-elect William Henry Harrison; Vice-President-elect John Tyler, who would succeed Harrison upon his death; and James Polk, who received one electoral vote for Vice President.

Contents

1 General election 1.1 Results 2 Electoral college selection 3 See also 4 Reference

General election

Results

Presidential Candidate	Party	Home State	Popular Vote(a), (b)		Electoral Vote	Running Mate	Running Mate's Home State	Running Mate's Electoral Vote
			Count	Percentage
William Henry Harrison	Whig	Ohio	1,275,016	52.9%	234	John Tyler	Virginia	234
Martin Van Buren	Democratic	New York	1,129,102	46.8%	60	Richard Mentor Johnson	Kentucky	48
						Littleton W. Tazewell	Virginia	11
						James Knox Polk	Tennessee	1
James G. Birney	Liberty	New York	approx. 7,000	0.3%	0	Thomas Earle	Pennsylvania	0
Total			approx. 2,411,000	100%	294	Total		294
Needed to win					148	Needed to win		148

^(a) The popular vote figures exclude South Carolina where the Electors were chosen by the state legislature rather than by popular vote.
^(b) The popular vote total omits votes for candidates besides those listed, which skews the popular percentages up slightly.

Electoral college selection

Method of choosing Electors	State(s)
each Elector appointed by state legislature	South Carolina
each Elector chosen by voters statewide	(all other states)

See also

• History of the United States (1789-1849)

Reference

• "A Historical Analysis of the Electoral College (http://www.thegreenpapers.com/Hx/ElectoralCollege.html)." The Green Papers. Accessed on March 20, 2005.

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