Worst Elections

[H. Ross Peron]

Which free elections do you believe were the worst in terms of candidates and/or parties running?

Its hard to beat the 1932 German Presidential Election IMO: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_presidential_election,_1932

Among US Presidential Elections I would say 1884, 1920, 1984, 1988, and 2004 had a fairly unappetizing range of candidates.

[TNF]

Presidential elections in the United States have been pretty uniformly terrible since the 1930s.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Johnson/Goldwater springs to mind. 

[ElectionsGuy]

Presidential Elections 1896-1916 and 1932-1948, as well as 1968, 2004, and 2012 are the worst I can think of for the US.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

The worst American election has to be 1856 ... The only candidate with an ounce of morality (Fremont) was a bit of a nut, and the other tickets are amongst the most outrageous to have ever ran for office.

I want to mention the by-election I voted for today, although it was moronic and in no way at all influential/important. It was dominated by the Rotherham sex scandal, and all the candidates had to outdo each other in "tough actions" rehetoric. One promised to bring in the damn FBI, another wanted a long-abolished North Ireland regiment in ... The Tory at one point actually uttered the phrase "I have lots of Muslim friends"

[Mr. Smith]

Let's see, okay here we go, I'm restricting myself only to the Presidential level

First all the ones I find terrible



All 1824-1856 elections except 1848 and 1828 (1824,1832, 1836, 1840, 1844, 1852)

1876
1880
1888

All 1916-1928 elections (1916, 1920, 1924, 1928)

All elections after 1968 except 1976 and 2008 because all of them have:

A) Had a weak-sauce Democratic candidate without the guts and/or charisma to really sell the message, or the Democratic candidate is pretty much a centrist tool.

B) High use of the Southern Strategy from the GOP, who have nominated only farther and farther right as things progress

C) So much polarization.

Anyway this means (1972, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2012)

That's 22 elections to choose from....not sure I could narrow it down much further given that such election inherently have disgusting things in them no matter which side.

[SWE]

I'd go with Hayes vs. Tilden for worst American Presidential election

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

We've had plenty of bad ones. 1924 is probably the worst of the last century since it had the most right-wing Democrat.

[Deus Naturae]

1896/1900, 1932 (with hindsight), 1968, and 2008 all come to mind.

[RR1997]

2012, just because it was so boring, and everyone knew who was going to win.

[IceSpear]

2012, just because it was so boring, and everyone knew who was going to win.

Didn't most Republicans think Romney was going to win in a landslide?

[RR1997]

2012, just because it was so boring, and everyone knew who was going to win.

Didn't most Republicans think Romney was going to win in a landslide?

Well most NORMAL people (the people who weren't wishful thinking kooks) knew that Obama was going to win. He led in almost all the polls except for the ones conducted around the time of the first debate. 2012 was really boring becuase of this.

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

2012, because the major party candidates were so similar.

[Lurker]

2012, just because it was so boring, and everyone knew who was going to win.

Didn't most Republicans think Romney was going to win in a landslide?

Well most NORMAL people (the people who weren't wishful thinking kooks) knew that Obama was going to win. He led in almost all the polls except for the ones conducted around the time of the first debate. 2012 was really boring becuase of this.

Romney voters doesnt count as "normal people"? The majority of them thought he was going to win (as did virtually all prominent Republican pundits and "experts"). The Romney campaign itself believed that the polls were skewed, hilariously.

[I Will Not Be Wrong]

1972, 2012