Praxis II World and US History

Answer: C - Four men have become President of the United States without winning the popular vote. In 1824, John Quincy Adams lost the popular and electoral votes to Andrew Jackson. But, Jackson did not achieve an absolute majority, so the election went to the House of Representatives. Adams negotiated with members of the House to swing the election in his favor. The two mean faced off again four years later; Jackson won the popular and electoral votes once more, but he also won an absolute majority and the presidency the second time around. In 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes lost the popular vote to Samuel Tilden by a mere 25,000 votes and won the electoral vote by one vote. It was the closest race in American history. In 1888, Benjamin Harrison defeated incumbent president Grover Cleveland by a substantial number of electoral votes despite losing to him in the popular vote by 90,000. The two battled for the presidency again four years later, and Cleveland reclaimed the White House. In 2000, George W. Bush lost the popular vote to Al Gore, but debate over how to count incomplete or unreadable ballots sent the election to the U.S. Supreme Court, which decided in Bush's favor.