Why Did Truman Lose The 2000 Election

In presidential elections, the winner is often predicted to win in the closing days of the election according to the polls. Some of the election outcomes can just shock everyone because no one expected that specific candidate to win or win that large. The biggest shock elections are when Thomas Dewey was expected to defeat Harry Truman and Hillary Clinton was expected to defeat Donald Trump. The 1948 Presidential Election had the Democratic nominee incumbent Harry Truman and New York Governor the Republican nominee Thomas Dewey. Previously, the Democrats had won the last four presidential elections by wide landslides and without Franklin Roosevelt on the ticket the Democratic Party seemed to be doomed in the fall. Truman had just become president
He became very unpopular as the recession came through and therefore, lead to loss in both houses of Congress to the Republicans. After Dewey lost against Roosevelt 4 years prior, he began to gain momentum and won the Republican nomination again after a lengthy battle against Robert Taft. Though Truman secured his nomination as he was the incumbent, he was seen as unelectable. It didn’t help Truman’s case when the Democratic vote was split between him, former Vice President Henry Wallace, and Strom Thurmond. Even those close to Truman couldn’t see a victory possible as Dewey won every single poll against him. After the convention, Truman was able to energize the Democratic base and attacking the Republican Congress who wouldn’t cooperate with him on passing bills or laws. In the closing days of the campaign, Truman had seemed to nearly catch up to Dewey in the polls but still not enough to lead 49% to 45%. On Election Day, November 2, 1948, Truman defeated Dewey by a wide margin. Not only did he win with over 300 electoral votes he surpassed Dewey in the
Businessman Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were the two major party nominees. Both of the candidates were widely disliked by the American people, but Clinton was seen as extremely more likely to get the undecided voters instead of Donald Trump. At the start of the campaign, Donald Trump was immediately seen as controversial when he spoke of illegal immigration and the Syrian refugees. They both had a tough primary battle against their respective challengers, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. By the time July came in 2016, both candidates had secured their nomination and became the nominees of the Democratic and Republican parties. Trump was always trailing in the polls until September when he actually seemed like he had a chance to win. Clinton’s health and email scandal at the time completely dropped her big lead over Trump, until after the first debate where she regained it. An Access Hollywood tape was released the same week of the second debate and had Clinton having a double digit lead nationwide. She continued to maintain her lead, until the week before the election where FBI Director James Comey sent a letter reopening the investigation into the Clinton Email Scandal. The only way a Trump victory could be seen as possible is if he flipped a traditional Democratic stronghold state which seemed highly unlikely as he was