United States presidential elections in Florida
Florida is a state in the South Atlantic region of the United States. Since it joined the nation in March 1845, Florida has taken part in every United States presidential elections. The very first election Florida joined was in 1848, and the Whig Party won with over half of the votes.
In 1860, Florida did not allow the Republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln, to be on the ballot. Instead, John C. Breckinridge won, and soon after, Florida left the United States and joined the Confederacy. Because of this, Florida did not take part in the 1864 election.
After the Civil War ended, Florida joined the United States again and took part in the 1868 election. This time, the state legislature chose the winner instead of regular voting, and they picked Ulysses S. Grant.
For many years, Florida often changed its voting patterns. But since 2000, when George W. Bush won by just 537 votes after a careful counting process, Florida has been seen as leaning toward one party more strongly. In the 2024 election, Donald Trump won Florida by a large margin, showing that the state is now more reliably voting for that party.
Presidential elections
1848 to 1856
1860 and 1864
The 1860 election was a big change, with four parties competing across the country. The winner did not support slavery, which led to eleven states leaving and starting the American Civil War.
1868 to present
Graph
| Year | Winner | Runner-up (nationally) | Other candidate | EV | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % | Candidate | Votes | % | Candidate | Votes | % | |||||
| 1848 | Zachary Taylor (W)‡ | 4,120 | 57.2% | Lewis Cass (D) | 3,083 | 42.8% | Martin Van Buren (FS) | – | – | 3 | |||
| 1852 | Franklin Pierce (D)‡ | 4,318 | 60.03% | Winfield Scott (W) | 2,875 | 39.97% | John P. Hale (FS) | – | – | 3 | |||
| 1856 | James Buchanan (D)‡ | 6,358 | 56.81% | John C. Frémont (R) | – | – | Millard Fillmore (KN) | 4,833 | 43.19% | 3 | |||
| Year | Winner | Runner-up | Runner-up | Runner-up | EV | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes (%) | Candidate | Votes (%) | Candidate | Votes (%) | Candidate | Votes (%) | ||||||
| 1860 | John C. Breckinridge (SD) | 8,277 (62.23%) | John Bell (CU) | 4,801 (36.1%) | Stephen A. Douglas (D) | 223 (1.68%) | Abraham Lincoln (R)‡ | – | 4 | ||||
| 1864 | |||||||||||||
| Year | Winner | Runner-up | Other candidate | EV | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % | Candidate | Votes | % | Candidate | Votes | % | |||||
| Ulysses S. Grant (R)‡ | – | – | Horatio Seymour (D) | – | – | – | – | – | 3 | ||||
| Ulysses S. Grant (R)‡ | 17,763 | 53.52% | Horace Greeley (LR) | 15,427 | 46.48% | – | – | – | 4 | ||||
| Rutherford B. Hayes (R)‡ | 23,849 | 50.99% | Samuel J. Tilden (D) | 22,927 | 49.01% | – | – | – | 4 | ||||
| Winfield S. Hancock (D) | 27,964 | 54.17% | James A. Garfield (R)‡ | 23,654 | 45.83% | – | – | – | 4 | ||||
| Grover Cleveland (D)‡ | 31,769 | 52.96% | James G. Blaine (R) | 28,031 | 46.73% | John St. John (PRO) | 72 | 0.12% | 4 | ||||
| Grover Cleveland (D) | 39,557 | 59.48% | Benjamin Harrison (R)‡ | 26,529 | 39.89% | Clinton Fisk (PRO) | 414 | 0.62% | 4 | ||||
| Grover Cleveland (D)‡ | 30,153 | 85.01% | James B. Weaver (PO) | 4,843 | 13.65% | John Bidwell (PRO) | 475 | 1.34% | 4 | ||||
| William Jennings Bryan (D) | 32,756 | 70.46% | William McKinley (R)‡ | 11,298 | 24.3% | John M. Palmer (ND) | 1778 | 3.82% | 4 | ||||
| William Jennings Bryan (D) | 28,273 | 71.31% | William McKinley (R)‡ | 7,355 | 18.55% | John G. Woolley (PRO) | 2,244 | 5.66% | 4 | ||||
| Alton B. Parker (D) | 27,046 | 68.82% | Theodore Roosevelt (R)‡ | 8,314 | 21.15% | Eugene V. Debs (S) | 2,337 | 5.95% | 5 | ||||
| William Jennings Bryan (D) | 31,104 | 63.01% | William Howard Taft (R)‡ | 10,654 | 21.58% | Eugene V. Debs (S) | 3,747 | 7.59% | 5 | ||||
| Woodrow Wilson (D)‡ | 35,343 | 69.52% | Eugene V. Debs (S) | 4,806 | 9.45% | Theodore Roosevelt (PR-1912) | 4,555 | 8.96% | 6 | ||||
| Woodrow Wilson (D)‡ | 55,984 | 69.34% | Charles Evans Hughes (R) | 14,611 | 18.1% | Allan L. Benson (S) | 5,353 | 6.63% | 6 | ||||
| James M. Cox (D) | 90,515 | 62.13% | Warren Harding (R)‡ | 44,853 | 30.79% | Eugene V. Debs (S) | 5,189 | 3.56% | 6 | ||||
| John W. Davis (D) | 62,083 | 56.88% | Calvin Coolidge (R)‡ | 30,633 | 28.06% | Robert M. La Follette (PR-1924) | 8,625 | 7.9% | 6 | ||||
| Herbert Hoover (R)‡ | 144,168 | 56.83% | Al Smith (D) | 101,764 | 40.12% | Norman Thomas (S) | 4,036 | 1.59% | 6 | ||||
| Franklin D. Roosevelt (D)‡ | 206,307 | 74.49% | Herbert Hoover (R) | 69,170 | 24.98% | Norman Thomas (S) | 775 | 0.28% | 7 | ||||
| Franklin D. Roosevelt (D)‡ | 249,117 | 76.08% | Alfred Landon (R) | 78,248 | 23.9% | Norman Thomas (S) | 9 | ≈0% | 7 | ||||
| Franklin D. Roosevelt (D)‡ | 359,334 | 73.99% | Wendell Willkie (R) | 126,158 | 25.98% | Various candidates (Write-ins) | 148 | 0.03% | 7 | ||||
| Franklin D. Roosevelt (D)‡ | 339,377 | 70.29% | Thomas Dewey (R) | 143,215 | 29.66% | Various candidates (Write-ins) | 211 | 0.04% | 8 | ||||
| Harry Truman (D)‡ | 281,988 | 48.82% | Thomas Dewey (R) | 194,280 | 33.63% | Strom Thurmond (DI) | 89,755 | 15.54% | 8 | ||||
| Dwight D. Eisenhower (R)‡ | 544,036 | 54.99% | Adlai Stevenson II (D) | 444,950 | 44.97% | Various candidates (Write-ins) | 351 | 0.04% | 10 | ||||
| Dwight D. Eisenhower (R)‡ | 643,849 | 57.19% | Adlai Stevenson II (D) | 480,371 | 42.67% | Various candidates (Write-ins) | 1,542 | 0.14% | 10 | ||||
| Richard Nixon (R) | 795,476 | 51.51% | John F. Kennedy (D)‡ | 748,700 | 48.49% | – | – | – | 10 | ||||
| Lyndon B. Johnson (D)‡ | 948,540 | 51.14% | Barry Goldwater (R) | 905,941 | 48.84% | – | – | – | 14 | ||||
| Richard Nixon (R)‡ | 886,804 | 40.53% | Hubert Humphrey (D) | 676,794 | 30.93% | George Wallace (AI) | 624,207 | 28.53% | 14 | ||||
| Richard Nixon (R)‡ | 1,857,759 | 71.91% | George McGovern (D) | 718,117 | 27.8% | Various candidates (Write-ins) | 7,407 | 0.29% | 17 | ||||
| Jimmy Carter (D)‡ | 1,636,000 | 51.93% | Gerald Ford (R) | 1,469,531 | 46.64% | Eugene McCarthy (I) | 23,643 | 0.75% | 17 | ||||
| Ronald Reagan (R)‡ | 2,046,951 | 55.52% | Jimmy Carter (D) | 1,419,475 | 38.5% | John B. Anderson (I) | 189,692 | 5.14% | 17 | ||||
| Ronald Reagan (R)‡ | 2,730,350 | 65.32% | Walter Mondale (D) | 1,448,816 | 34.66% | David Bergland (LI) | 754 | 0.02% | 21 | ||||
| George H. W. Bush (R)‡ | 2,618,885 | 60.87% | Michael Dukakis (D) | 1,656,701 | 38.51% | Ron Paul (LI) | 19,796 | 0.46% | 21 | ||||
| George H. W. Bush (R) | 2,173,310 | 40.89% | Bill Clinton (D)‡ | 2,072,698 | 39% | Ross Perot (I) | 1,053,067 | 19.82% | 25 | ||||
| Bill Clinton (D)‡ | 2,546,870 | 48.02% | Bob Dole (R) | 2,244,536 | 42.32% | Ross Perot (RE) | 483,870 | 9.12% | 25 | ||||
| George W. Bush (R)‡ | 2,912,790 | 48.85% | Al Gore (D) | 2,912,253 | 48.84% | Ralph Nader (G) | 97,488 | 1.63% | 25 | ||||
| George W. Bush (R)‡ | 3,964,522 | 52.1% | John Kerry (D) | 3,583,544 | 47.09% | Ralph Nader (RE) | 32,971 | 0.43% | 27 | ||||
| Barack Obama (D)‡ | 4,282,074 | 50.91% | John McCain (R) | 4,045,624 | 48.09% | Ralph Nader (E) | 28,128 | 0.33% | 27 | ||||
| Barack Obama (D)‡ | 4,237,756 | 50.01% | Mitt Romney (R) | 4,163,447 | 49.13% | Gary Johnson (LI) | 44,726 | 0.53% | 29 | ||||
| Donald Trump (R)‡ | 4,617,886 | 49.02% | Hillary Clinton (D) | 4,504,975 | 47.82% | Gary Johnson (LI) | 207,043 | 2.2% | 29 | ||||
| Donald Trump (R) | 5,668,731 | 51.22% | Joe Biden (D)‡ | 5,297,045 | 47.86% | Jo Jorgensen (LI) | 70,324 | 0.64% | 29 | ||||
| Donald Trump (R) ‡ | 6,110,125 | 56.09% | Kamala Harris (D) | 4,683,038 | 42.99% | Jill Stein (G) | 43,155 | 0.4% | 30 | ||||
Results Maps
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This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on United States presidential elections in Florida, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.