A Landslide? A Mandate?

There is certainly a flurry of activity during the opening weeks of Donald Trump’s second term. Nearly 60 executive orders were signed as of February 7, 2025. In fact, Trump signed more executive orders in his first 10 days than any recent president has in their first 100 days. Since the election, President-elect Donald Trump has claimed voters gave him a broad mandate for change. That is a bold statement. It is very early in the four-year term and, in historical terms, too early to determine the impact. Furthermore, recent elections in America have repeatedly flipped between the two major parties. Dissatisfaction with the status quo has been the theme of every recent election in the United States, and 2024 was no different. 

Was Donald Trump’s election victory a landslide? Are the election results considered a mandate? Let’s look. He received 49.8% of the popular vote, defeating Harris by 1.47%. He won the electoral college vote by 312 to 226. These totals show a clear victory. Yet is it a landslide or a electoral mandate? 

To some degree, the answer to the landslide and mandate questions depends on where you get your news. As reported by Straight Arrow News, the media outlets with a left-leaning bias, such as The New York Times, referred to Trump’s victory as 'the landslide’ that wasn’t.” MSNBC noted Trump“won every battleground state and the popular vote but not by a landslide.” Meanwhile, right-leaning outlets like National Review reported “Landslide or not, Trump won a mandate.” Breitbart reported,“Trump’s landslide victory moved 48 states to the right.”

For comparative purposes, let’s look at past presidential elections. According to History.com, in our nation’s history, 6 of 47 presidents won their election by a landslide margin. Here is a look at the seven presidents who won landslide presidential elections in U.S. history.

Lyndon Johnson - Barry Goldwater 1964 - Johnson cruised to a convincing landslide victory, winning 486 electoral votes to Goldwater’s 52, an electoral margin of victory of 80.6 percentage points.

Abraham Lincoln - McClennan 1864 - Lincoln won 212 electoral votes to McClellan’s 12, a margin of victory of 81.6 percentage points.

Ronald Reagan - Jimmy Carter 1980 - Reagan ended up trouncing the beleaguered Jimmy Carter by 81.8 percentage points in electoral votes 489 to 49.

Thomas Jefferson - Pinckney 1804 - Jefferson ran on his record and coasted to a landslide victory, taking 162 electoral votes to Pinckney’s 14, a margin of victory of 84 percentage points.

Richard Nixon - George McGovern - Richard Nixon won a commanding 520 electoral votes to McGovern’s 17 (a margin of 93.5 percentage points).

Ronald Reagan - Walter Mondale 1984 - Reagan improved on his impressive 1980 showing, absolutely crushing Mondale 525 electoral votes to 13. In 1984, Reagan took every state except Minnesota and the District of Columbia for an electoral margin of victory of 95.2 percentage points.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt - Alf Landon 1936 - FDR’s largest margin of victory—the greatest landslide in American presidential history—came in 1936 when he won the electoral college vote count by 97 percentage points. Note: Even his smallest margin of victory in the electoral college was still 62.8 percentage points in 1944.

Regarding the popular vote, only four times in recorded history has the U.S. president been elected with more than 60% of the popular vote. Warren Harding received 60.3% of the popular vote in 1920; Franklin Roosevelt received 60.2 % in 1936; Lyndon Johnson received 61.1% in 1964; and Richard Nixon receives 60.7% in 1972. Compared to these margins, despite the message from political pundits, the 2024 election does not qualify as a landslide.

This still leaves questions about the claim of a mandate. Beyond the votes totals themselves, many Americans disagree with the president, according to Pew Research Center data reported in The Hill. 

The recent Pew Research survey found 64 percent saying undocumented immigrants “should have a way to stay in the country legally, if certain requirements are met.” Just 35 percent endorse Trump’s view that “undocumented immigrants should not be allowed to stay in the country legally." Furthermore, unlike Trump, 70 percent of voters see racism as a serious problem in this country, and only 22 percent want less government involvement in making sure certain children are vaccinated. Fifty-seven percent want stricter gun laws, only 34 percent want to eliminate the Department of Education and 72 percent favor expanding use of wind energy.  Other findings by the Pew Research Center show that only 32 percent support Trump’s plan to use economic coercion or military force to retake ownership of the Panama Canal and even fewer — 19 percent — favor using those tools to take control of Greenland. Fifty-seven percent oppose pardons for Jan. 6 rioters, just 29 percent want increased tariffs on imports. And finally, 60 percent think it is a bad idea for Trump to rely on policy advice from billionaires. Of course, poll results can fluctuate over time. At the same time, it is interesting to note that while Trump proclaims a mandate for undertaking mass deportations, in late 2024, 55 percent told Fox News pollsters, "most immigrants who are living in the United States illegally [should] be offered a chance to apply for legal status.”

Of course, a significant majority of voters favor actions by President Trump to dramatically reduce illegal immigration and reduce inflation. Nonetheless, given these data, while it looks like the 2024 presidential election was a clear message from voters, but it may not qualify as an across-the-board mandate. 

It's also worth noting that the answer to the mandate question may not be known until the results of the 2026 mid-term Congressional elections are in. If the Republican Party can hold on to a majority in both houses, it strengthens the position that the 2024 election was indeed a mandate. If one or both houses flip in 2026, that may be an indication that a voter mandate does not exist.

In any case, the 2024 election shows that voters expect action. And the flurry of activity in Washington DC reinforces the statement, “elections matter.”