The Closest Presidential Race In History?

Tuesday's tight race between George W. Bush and Al Gore turned into a nail-biter of historic proportions. By Wednesday morning, the split of the popular vote was so close, you had to squint to read it:

• Bush: 48.6 percent
• Gore: 48.8 percent.

(That's their share of total votes cast by individuals. Either candidate could win if the states in which they won have more electoral votes cumulatively. Green Party candidate Ralph Nader had under 2.7 percent of the popular vote in morning totals.)

The numbers were in flux. But that minor margin of difference between the candidates' percentage of the popular vote would easily put this year's race in contention to be the closest presidential race in the modern two-party era.

Here's a look at the closest presidential election outcomes in since the Republican Party formed to challenge the Democratic Party before the Civil War.

• The percentage by each candidate is the portion of the popular votes (votes cast by all individual voters) received by that candidate.
• The candidate whose name is in boldface is the one who won the "electoral vote" -- the binding tally in which the candidate who wins the most popular votes in a state usually receives all of that state's electoral votes. For more on the Electoral College system, click here.

Closest Races Since 1824

1884

Grover Cleveland, Democrat -- 48.5%

James G. Blaine, Republican -- 48.2%

Benjamin F. Butler -- 3.2%

1960

John F. Kennedy, Democrat -- 49.7%

Richard M. Nixon, Republican -- 49.5%

1968

Richard M. Nixon, Republican -- 43.4%

Hubert H. Humphrey, Democrat -- 42.7%

George C. Wallace, American Independent -- 13.5%

1888

Benjamin Harrison, Republican -- 47.8%

Grover Cleveland, Democrat -- 48.6%

1976

James E. Carter, Jr., Democrat -- 50.1%

Gerald R. Ford, Republican -- 48.0%

1876

Rutherford B. Hayes, Republican -- 48.0%

Samuel J. Tilden, Democrat -- 51.0%

1916

Woodrow Wilson, Democrat -- 49.2%

Charles E. Hughes, Republican -- 46.1%

Allan Benson, Socialist -- 3.2%

2000

For an up-to-the-minute Electoral College count, click here

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