The 5 Closest Presidential Elections in U.S. History

Mr. Beat counts down the five closest presidential elections in American history. This is only his opinion, ok? If you disagree with his opinion, well...then you're nuts, man, because he's been, like, obsessed with this stuff since third grade. Just kidding, your opinion is probably more correct than his.

Thanks for reading the description you lovable dork. This was produced by Matt Beat and Beat Productions, LLC. All images and video by Matt Beat, used under fair use guidelines, or found in the public domain. Thanks as well to Ian Weaver for helping to edit this video. Check out his channel at @GeeksWelcomeYT.

Music by @ElectricNeedleRoom(Mr. Beat's band), Bad Snacks, Jeremy Blake, and Slenderbeats.

Every presidential election in American history:

Related videos:

Here's an annotated script with footnotes:

Sources/further reading:

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#presidentialelection2024 #election #politicalhistory

0:00 Introduction
0:50 Sponsor (YouGov)
1:38 Introduction again
2:48 The election of 1960
4:55 The election of 1884
5:53 The election of 1880
7:15 The election of 2000
9:01 The election of 1876
12:29 Recap and honorable mentions

[iammrbeat]

I meant to say Andrew Jackson easily won the "plurality" of the vote in 1824, not the "majority." My bad.

Uh yeah, and don't forget my sponsor. They've been sending me presidential election polls lately that have been pretty juicy.
Thanks YouGov for sponsoring!

[drawkicks]

"Our country cannot afford the agony of a constitutional crisis" - Richard Nixon

Well thank God Nixon never caused one of those.

[dijonrayrollan]

Crazy to know that Hayes' election was so *close* that he had to be inaugurated in a secret location.

[hakeemfullerton]

There needs to be a spinoff to this list called The Top 5 or 10 Presidential Landslide Elections in American History

[NikoBellic]

The 2000 election is infuriating knowing what would happen in the 8 years after it.

[EforEvery]

George Washington and James Monroe: (laughs)

[ChancellorOfHistory]

In my personal opinion, whatever candidate has a better beard should win the election, so Hayes was in his rights to win.

[SiVlog]

The 2000 election is like a recurring theme on this channel, probably at least the 4th video that mentioned it. I never knew, until looking back, that Al Gore conceded, retracted it, then (after the controversial Supreme Court decision) conceded again.

Speaking of which, I think Justice John Paul Stephens was on point with his descent in Bush Vs Gore:

"(...) the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It's the nation's confidence in the judge to act as an impartial bastion of the rule of law, "

[jacklazzaro]

There’s something I don’t like about the 2000 election’s aftermath.
When the supreme court ruled that the recounts ensued were unconstitutional, why did they just demand that Bush be given the electoral votes, rather than demand a state-wide recount, and give a more reasonable deadline before inauguration day?

Edit: to be clear, the decision occurred in late November, and inauguration day is Jan 20

Edit: And if you think about it, why didn’t they also rule that the butterfly ballots went against the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment?

[maddies_hert]

Mister Breast would win in a landslide

[DanielKolbin]

Elections sure are fascinating and tense

[michaelburt]

Congrats on 1, 000, 000 subscribers, my man!

[LeakyTrees]

Literally just finished the Checkmate Lincolnites finale, now Mr Beat uploads?? Today is a good, good day.

[AaronOnTheTrails]

I cringe to think what would happen in a modern election if a state was decided by less than 200 votes. They might have to take the ballots to the Supreme Court to have them do a personal hand recount.

[Cinnamonfr]

can’t imagine what this years election will look like

[LucasVini]

Around 500 votes decided the world from 2001 onwards

[CommunistCreeper]

Always a good day when Mr. Beat uploads an election related video.

[salveregaIo]

Just when we needed him the most, the legend returns

[michaelneufer]

I've learned more with Mr. Beat than my 4 years of high school. Love your work Mr. Beat keep it up!

[dudethedude]

What I find interesting is that the bigger the voter turnout is, the closer the election is, and also the closer the election is to to being unfair thanks to the electoral college system. Remember to vote, folks, your vote counts! Your strongly left or right state can easily be a swing state, so still participate!