Election of 1840

United States presidential election, 1840

1836 ← October 30 – December 2, 1840 → 1844

All 294 electoral votes of the Electoral College 148 electoral votes needed to win Turnout 80.2% 22.4 pp   Nominee William H. Harrison Martin Van Buren Party Whig Democratic Home state Ohio New York Running mate John Tyler none Electoral vote 234 60 States carried 19 7 Popular vote 1,275,390 1,128,854 Percentage 52.9% 46.8%

Presidential election results map. Buff denotes states won by Harrison/Tyler, blue denotes those won by Van Buren & one of his three running mates. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.

President before election Martin Van Buren Democratic Elected President William H. Harrison Whig

Martin Van Buren
Democratic

William H. Harrison
Whig

The United States presidential election of 1840 was the 14th quadrennial presidential election, held from Friday, October 30, to Wednesday, December 2, 1840. It saw President Martin Van Buren fight for re-election during a time of great economic depression against a Whig Party unified for the first time behind a single candidate: war hero William Henry Harrison. Under these circumstances, the Whigs easily defeated Van Buren.

This election was 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 K. Polk, who received one electoral vote for vice president, and who would succeed Tyler in 1845. 42.4% of the voting age population voted for Harrison, the highest percentage in the history of the United States up to that time.

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