What constitutes a landslide victory?

[Demrepdan]

Allow me to throw in my two cents. From what I've read, in political science books and history text books, a landslide victory is, as stated earlier, 60%. Although many consider a majority of 55% to be a "solid win" or a "safe seat".  I suppose in a Presidential election, you must throw in the popular vote AND the electoral vote majority. Since the Presidential election is, of course, not decided by popular vote, you would think you would just go by the electoral votes only, however I still feel popular vote plays an important part in the election.

[Demrepdan]

To put in my bit I personally consider a landslide as >66% of the vote. (two-thirds majority)

Well, I won't argue with you that 66% would indeed be a landslide victory. However, how often does that ever happen? For a candidate to receive 66% of the vote is an extreme rarity. I couldn't  imagine something like that happening, unless it occurs in a small election such as a Congressional district or a Mayoral race, or something of that nature.  I couldn't even imagine a Governor or Senator winning that large of a majority, unless he or she were VERY popular. And I'm certain that this kind of result would never take place during a Presidential election. That would be crazy. You wanna know what a TRUE landslide victory is? It is when the candidate wins 100% of the vote (i.e. when the candidate runs unopposed.)

[Demrepdan]

In a Presidential Election, I would probably consider 55% of the popular vote a landslide victory, because you are dealing with a LARGE amount of people, and the candidate should be great full that 5% more than half wanted him to be elected.

As far as the electoral college, anything from 350 or more can be considered a landslide in my opinion. Accordingly, if the candidate receives at least 350 Electoral Votes, and at least 55% of the popular vote, it is a "clear landslide".

I've stated this previously on this thread, that in a smaller election, such as a Gubernatorial, Congressional, or Senatorial election, if the candidate receives 55% of the vote, then he or she has a "safe seat" or "solid win", but not really a landslide. At the state level, 60% or more is a landslide, in my opinion. Many political science books back this up as well.