Ranking of the most interesting elections

[buritobr]

There were many threads about most interesting/boring elections according to personal tastes. I tried to make a ranking of the presidential election using score. I used 6 criteria.

A
The winner was already known on Monday evening +0
The winner was not known on Monday evening +2

B
The incumbent was reelected +0
The incumbent failed to win the reelection +1
Open seat election +2

C
The correlation of vote by state to the previous election >0.9 +0
The correlation of vote by state to the previous election <0.9,>0.8 +1
The correlation of vote by state to the previous election <0.8 +2

D
Popular vote for D+R>95% +0
Popular vote for D+R>90%,<95% +1
Popular vote for D+R<90% +2

E
No change of the ruling party in both houses of the congress +0
Change of the ruling party in one house of the congress +1
Change of the ruling party in both houses of the congress +2

F
Turnout <55% +0
Turnout >55%,<60% +1
Turnout >60% +2


I considered only the post WWII elections.

1948
A: 2
B: 0
C: 2
D: 1
E: 2
F: 0
Total: 7


1952
A: 0
B: 2
C: 2
D: 0
E: 0
F: 2
Total: 6

1956
A: 0
B: 0
C: 1
D: 0
E: 0
F: 1
Total: 2

1960
A: 2
B: 2
C: 2
D: 0
E: 0
F: 2
Total: 8

1964
A: 0
B: 0
C: 2
D: 0
E: 0
F: 2
Total: 4

1968
A: 2
B: 2
C: 2
D: 2
E: 0
F: 2
Total: 10

1972
A: 0
B: 0
C: 2
D: 0
E: 0
F: 1
Total: 3

1976
A: 2
B: 1
C: 2
D: 0
E: 0
F: 0
Total: 5

1980
A: 2
B: 1
C: 1
D: 1
E: 1
F: 0
Total: 6

1984
A: 0
B: 0
C: 1
D: 0
E: 0
F: 0
Total: 1

1988
A: 0
B: 2
C: 0
D: 0
E: 0
F: 0
Total: 1

1992
A: 0
B: 1
C: 1
D: 2
E: 0
F: 1
Total: 5

1996
A: 0
B: 0
C: 0
D: 2
E: 0
F: 0
Total: 2

2000
A: 2
B: 2
C: 0
D: 0
E: 1
F: 0
Total: 5

2004
A: 2
B: 0
C: 0
D: 0
E: 0
F: 1
Total: 3

2008
A: 0
B: 2
C: 0
D: 0
E: 0
F: 1
Total: 3

2012
A: 2
B: 0
C: 0
D: 0
E: 0
F: 0
Total: 2


The winner is 1968: result not predictable in the eve, open seat election, big changes in the electoral map, strong minor candidate, high turnout. It didn't get 100% of the score because the ruling party of both houses in the congress remained the same.

The worst one is 1984: predictable result, reelection, no important minor candidates, no change of the ruling parties in the Congress, low turnout. It didn't receive zero only because there were some important changes in the electoral map.

1956 was not so bad because the turnout was not low. 1996 was not so bad because of Perot and Nader.

[Del Tachi]

1984 should get some points for Ferraro being the first female to be on a major party ticket

Also, all of your criteria only focus on the outcome of the election.  There are no criteria that evaluate events that actually happened over the course of the campaign, which can be pretty interesting. 

But, I agree that 1968 was definitely the most interesting (and probably most realigning) election post-WWII

[OSR stands with Israel]

Well 1980 wasn't more interesting then 2000 so this criteria is wrong

[Kingpoleon]

Well 1980 wasn't more interesting then 2000 so this criteria is wrong

I'd say that's debatable.