The American Vote
2024 result
Second Party SystemCycle 17 / 60

1852

Franklin Pierce and the 1852 map.
Franklin Pierce (Democratic) defeated Winfield Scott (Whig), 50.8% to 43.9% of the popular vote.

The 1852 U.S. presidential election was won by Franklin Pierce (Democratic) with 254 of 296 electoral votes, defeating Winfield Scott (Whig). Electoral-vote margin: 212 (254 to 42). Popular-vote margin: 6.9 percentage points. Turnout was 69.5%. The cycle falls in the Second Party System era of American electoral history.

Pierce
254 EV
Scott
42 EV
0149 to win296
The map · 1852
27 states for Dem · 4 for Whig
ALAKAZARCACOFLGAIDILINIAKSKYLAMEMIMNMSMOMTNENVNMNYNCNDOHOKORPASCSDTNTXUTVAWAWVWIWY

Open the what-if calculator → — flip states and re-count. A toy, not history.

Narrative

Franklin Pierce and the 1852 map

Franklin Pierce won a landslide in the last election where the Whig Party was competitive. General Winfield Scott, the Whig nominee, suffered from the party's deep divisions over slavery. Pierce, a northern Democrat acceptable to the South, swept nearly the entire country. The Whig Party effectively collapsed after this defeat, replaced by new anti-slavery coalitions that would become the Republican Party. Pierce's support for the Kansas-Nebraska Act would inflame sectional tensions.

Key issue

Slavery compromise; Whig Party collapse; Mexican-American War veterans

Notable

Last election where the Whig Party competed nationally; party collapsed afterward

This summary was drafted with AI tools and has not yet been checked sentence by sentence. The vote table and the National Archives note on this page come from named sources; where they differ from the summary, rely on them. Tell us about an error.

State results · 1852

Electoral votes by state. State popular votes for 1852 are not yet published here.
1852 presidential election results by state: electoral votes
StateElectoral votesPopular vote
Alabama1
9 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Arkansas2
4 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
California3
4 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Connecticut4
6 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Delaware5
3 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Florida6
3 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Georgia7
10 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Illinois8
11 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Indiana9
13 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Iowa10
4 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Kentucky11
12 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Louisiana12
6 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Maine13
8 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Maryland14
8 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Massachusetts15
13 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Michigan16
6 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Mississippi17
7 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Missouri18
9 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
New Hampshire19
5 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
New Jersey20
7 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
New York21
35 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
North Carolina22
10 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Ohio23
23 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Pennsylvania24
27 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Rhode Island25
4 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
South Carolina26
8 EV
Electors were chosen by the legislature.
Tennessee27
12 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Texas28
4 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Vermont29
5 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Virginia30
15 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Wisconsin31
5 EV
State popular vote not yet sourced.

Notes on the figures

  1. Alabama State popular vote not yet sourced.
  2. Arkansas State popular vote not yet sourced.
  3. California State popular vote not yet sourced.
  4. Connecticut State popular vote not yet sourced.
  5. Delaware State popular vote not yet sourced.
  6. Florida State popular vote not yet sourced.
  7. Georgia State popular vote not yet sourced.
  8. Illinois State popular vote not yet sourced.
  9. Indiana State popular vote not yet sourced.
  10. Iowa State popular vote not yet sourced.
  11. Kentucky State popular vote not yet sourced.
  12. Louisiana State popular vote not yet sourced.
  13. Maine State popular vote not yet sourced.
  14. Maryland State popular vote not yet sourced.
  15. Massachusetts State popular vote not yet sourced.
  16. Michigan State popular vote not yet sourced.
  17. Mississippi State popular vote not yet sourced.
  18. Missouri State popular vote not yet sourced.
  19. New Hampshire State popular vote not yet sourced.
  20. New Jersey State popular vote not yet sourced.
  21. New York State popular vote not yet sourced.
  22. North Carolina State popular vote not yet sourced.
  23. Ohio State popular vote not yet sourced.
  24. Pennsylvania State popular vote not yet sourced.
  25. Rhode Island State popular vote not yet sourced.
  26. South Carolina The state legislature chose the electors; there was no popular vote.
  27. Tennessee State popular vote not yet sourced.
  28. Texas State popular vote not yet sourced.
  29. Vermont State popular vote not yet sourced.
  30. Virginia State popular vote not yet sourced.
  31. Wisconsin State popular vote not yet sourced.

SourceNo state popular-vote figures for 1852 are published here yet. How these figures were compiled

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Zachary Taylor · Whig

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