"One of the largest electoral vote margins in history" was the claim by Donald Trump describing his election victory. And Michael Smerconish read that statement twice during his CNN show on Saturday, but without a word on its veracity.
True? Not even close. A quick look in a fact book shows that Barack Obama defeated John McCain in 2008 by an electoral vote margin of 192. In 1996, Bill Clinton posted a margin of 220 electoral votes over Bob Dole. In 1984, Ronald Reagan won over Walter Mondale by a margin of 512, and four years earlier ousted Jimmy Carter by 440 electoral votes. In 1972, Richard Nixon turned away a challenge by George McGovern by a margin of 471 electoral votes.
But the biggest margin was posted in 1936, when Franklin D. Roosevelt posted a total of 523 electoral votes to challenger Al Landon's 8, for a margin of 515. And that was before Alaska and Hawaii achieved statehood, which raised the electoral total. Later, the District of Columbia also got a few electoral votes, which brought the grand total to 538.
So what was Trump's margin of victory in the electoral college? A total of 306 to Hillary Clinton's 232, making a difference of 74. A good margin, certainly, but far from being one of the largest in history.
The President-elect can make whatever claims he likes, but it's up to responsible journalists to post fact, as well as report the fanciful claims of a politician.
Smerconish dropped the ball on this one.
No comments:
Post a Comment