[OC] US-Wahlen: Gewinner sind keine Mehrheiten: US-Präsidentschaftswahlen in drei Charts (1932-2024)

[OC] U.S. elections: Winners aren’t majorities: U.S. presidential elections in three charts (1932-2024)

This chart shows U.S. presidential elections from 1932–2024 as shares of the Voting-Eligible Population (VEP), separating the electorate into three groups: the winning candidate, the losing candidate, and those who did not vote. Each row represents a single election year, with winners shown to the left, losers to the right, and non-voters centered as a mirrored bar. The layout emphasizes the relative size of each group within the full eligible population rather than within ballots cast, making clear how electoral outcomes relate to overall participation.

This chart is a third iteration on earlier posts:
– [Winning & Losing Share of the Voting-Eligible Population](https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/1s4o4qy/oc_winning_losing_share_of_the_votingeligible/)
– [U.S. elections: Winners aren’t majorities](https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/1sagy24/oc_us_elections_winners_arent_majorities_most_of/).
– Thanks for constructive comments!

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**Sources**

University of Florida Election Lab,
– 1980-2022 General Election Turnout Rates (v1.2):
– https://election.lab.ufl.edu/dataset/1980-2022-general-election-turnout-rates-v1-2/

University of Florida Election Lab,
– 2024 General Election Turnout Rates (v0.4)
– https://election.lab.ufl.edu/dataset/2024-general-election-turnout-rates-v0-4/

Federal Election Commission,
– Election results and voting information:
– https://www.fec.gov/introduction-campaign-finance/election-results-and-voting-information/

—

**Tools**

– MacOS Numbers (data prep)
– R (dplyr, ggplot2)
– Adobe Illustrator (final layout)

—

**Intent**

The chart is designed to shift perspective from vote margins among participants to the broader composition of the electorate. By placing non-voters alongside winners and losers on the same scale, it highlights how often the largest share of eligible citizens does not participate and how winning candidates typically represent a minority of the total eligible population. The goal is not to make a causal claim, but to provide a clearer baseline for understanding the scale and context of electoral outcomes.

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**Methodology**

Shares are calculated using the Voting-Eligible Population (VEP) as the denominator, with total ballots cast and VEP sourced from the U.S. Election Lab and major-party vote totals from the American Presidency Project, with Federal Election Commission data used to validate recent elections (1996–2024). Winner and loser shares reflect the Democratic and Republican nominees based on Electoral College outcomes. Non-voters are defined as the portion of the VEP that did not cast a ballot. Third-party votes are included in total turnout calculations but excluded from the visual display; years in which third-party candidates exceeded 3% of VEP are noted separately.

Shares are calculated as a percentage of the Voting-Eligible Population (VEP). Third-party votes are excluded from the visualization but accounted for in calculations. Non-voters are defined as the remainder of the VEP after all ballots cast.

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**Input Data**

| YEAR | VEP_POP | VOTES_TOTAL | VOTES_D | VOTES_R | EV_D | EV_R |
|——|———–|————-|———-|———-|——|——|
| 2024 | 243803423 | 156766239 | 75019230 | 77303568 | 226 | 312 |
| 2020 | 242077783 | 159738337 | 81268773 | 74216728 | 306 | 232 |
| 2016 | 230780798 | 138747904 | 65788564 | 62955340 | 232 | 306 |
| 2012 | 222437494 | 130231296 | 65899660 | 60932152 | 332 | 206 |
| 2008 | 213306165 | 132609063 | 69456897 | 59934814 | 365 | 173 |
| 2004 | 202972858 | 123535883 | 59028444 | 62040610 | 251 | 286 |
| 2000 | 194259660 | 107390107 | 50992335 | 50455156 | 266 | 271 |
| 1996 | 186327678 | 96277223 | 47402357 | 39198755 | 379 | 159 |
| 1992 | 179565711 | 104425014 | 44909326 | 39103882 | 370 | 168 |
| 1988 | 173609148 | 91594809 | 41809074 | 48886097 | 111 | 426 |
| 1984 | 167708463 | 92652842 | 37577185 | 54455075 | 13 | 525 |
| 1980 | 159690927 | 86513813 | 35483883 | 43904153 | 49 | 489 |
| 1976 | 148824615 | 81555889 | 40830763 | 39147793 | 297 | 240 |
| 1972 | 138289242 | 77718554 | 29170383 | 47169911 | 17 | 520 |
| 1968 | 117139000 | 73211875 | 31275166 | 31785480 | 191 | 301 |
| 1964 | 112491389 | 70644592 | 43129566 | 27178188 | 486 | 52 |
| 1960 | 107896895 | 68838219 | 34226731 | 34108157 | 303 | 219 |
| 1956 | 103034731 | 62026908 | 26022752 | 35590472 | 73 | 457 |
| 1952 | 98797621 | 61550918 | 27314992 | 33777945 | 89 | 442 |
| 1948 | 93278724 | 48691494 | 24105810 | 21970064 | 303 | 189 |
| 1944 | 85825886 | 47976670 | 25612610 | 22014160 | 432 | 99 |
| 1940 | 79835175 | 49817149 | 27243218 | 22334940 | 449 | 82 |
| 1936 | 74831133 | 45646991 | 27750866 | 16679683 | 523 | 8 |
| 1932 | 69855506 | 39747783 | 22818740 | 15760425 | 472 | 59 |

This doesn’t look that much different from the previous [iteration of this chart](https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/1sagy24/oc_us_elections_winners_arent_majorities_most_of/). It has most of the same issues that make this chart intuitive to read(e.g. the dead space in between the vote percentages, the mirroring of of the winning percentages on the losing side, etc.) It looks like the OP largely ignored any suggestions for improvement from the previous post and reposted the same chart with slightly different colors.

It is interesting data but the presentation isn’t beautiful.