Barack Obama · Deep dive

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2majorities won

Of the five elections verified here, the only winner to clear half twice.

Who can he move, and how many? For someone who stands for election the countable answer is votes, and he stood twice. He cleared a majority of all votes cast both times — in the five elections this dive verified from the FEC files, nobody else managed that more than once. He also won the second one on 3.6 million fewer votes than the first, and the reason is not that fewer people voted.

Six of six — the base set is complete

Every subject at this tier is asked the same six questions, fixed before the subject is chosen so the set cannot be picked to suit an argument. The others written for this record are Private Money, The Output, Affiliations, The Legal Record and Standing. With this one the base set is complete, so the overlay dives — the ones specific to what this subject has been — are unblocked. None of them could have been started before now.

The same question is answered for Donald Trump, from the same publications and with the same decomposition.

Back to the full record.

69.5m

votes in 2008

The most he received. 65.9m in 2012

52.93%

his best share

Highest of the five elections since 2008

majorities won

The only winner in this window to do it twice

−3.58m

change in his own vote

2008 to 2012, while turnout fell 2.23m

elections below a majority

Two runs, both above half of all votes cast

Two elections, eight measures

Re-elected on 3.6 million fewer votes

Every measure the FEC publishes for the two elections, side by side, with the change between them.

Measure	2008	2012	Change
Votes for him	69,498,516	65,915,795	−3,582,721
Share of all votes cast	52.93%	51.06%	-1.87 pts
Opponent	John McCain	Mitt Romney	—
Votes for the opponent	59,948,323	60,933,504	+985,181
Electoral votes	365	332	-33
States and DC carried	29 of 51	27 of 51	-2
Total turnout	131,313,820	129,085,410	−2,228,410
Turnout, share of voting-age population	58.23%	54.87%	-3.36 pts

Nebraska split: he took one electoral vote there while losing the state, so the electoral column and the states-won column disagree by design.

Reading it

Between the two wins his own vote fell by 3,582,721 — he is the rare case of a president re-elected on fewer votes than he won the first time. Electoral votes fell 365 to 332 and states carried fell 29 to 27. Turnout as a share of the voting-age population fell too, 58.23% to 54.87%, on the publication’s own Census-based figure. Every one of those five measures moved down, and the result was the same both times.

Counted as of 2026-08-09. This dive belongs to the record it sits inside. Turnout and the mechanics of voting as subjects in their own right are owned by Mail Voting and Voter Rolls.