 | |
| Number of elections | 44 |
|---|---|
| Voted Democratic | 20 |
| Voted Republican | 22 |
| Voted other | 2[a] |
| Voted for winning candidate | 35 |
| Voted for losing candidate | 9 |
Since beingadmitted to the Union on September 9, 1850,California has participated in 43 presidential elections. Abellwether from1888 to1996, voting for the losing candidates only three times in that span, California has become a reliable state forDemocratic presidential candidates since1992.
Bold indicates the presidential candidate who won the national election.
Year | Winner | Runner-up | Other | Sources | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Votes | % | ||||||||
| 1852 | Franklin Pierce | Democratic | 40,721 | 53.02% | 4 | Winfield Scott | Whig | 35,972 | 46.83% | – | 117 | 0.15% | – | 4 | [1] | ||
| 1856 | James Buchanan | Democratic | 53,342 | 48.38% | 4 | Millard Fillmore | Know Nothing | 36,195 | 32.83% | – | 20,718 | 18.79% | – | 4 | [2][b] | ||
| 1860 | Abraham Lincoln | Republican | 38,733 | 32.30% | 4 | Stephen A. Douglas | Democratic | 37,999 | 31.70% | – | 43,095 | 35.96% | – | 4 | [3][c] | ||
| 1864 | Abraham Lincoln | National Union | 62,053 | 58.60% | 5 | George B. McClellan | Democratic | 43,837 | 41.40% | – | – | – | – | 5 | [4] | ||
| 1868 | Ulysses S. Grant | Republican | 54,588 | 50.20% | 5 | Horatio Seymour | Democratic | 54,068 | 49.80% | – | – | – | – | 5 | [5] | ||
| 1872 | Ulysses S. Grant | Republican | 54,007 | 56.38% | 6 | Horace Greeley | Liberal Republican | 40,717 | 42.51% | – | 1,061 | 1.11% | – | 6 | [6] | ||
| 1876 | Rutherford B. Hayes | Republican | 79,258 | 50.88% | 6 | Samuel J. Tilden | Democratic | 76,460 | 49.08% | – | 66 | 0.04% | – | 6 | [7] | ||
| 1880 | Winfield Scott Hancock | Democratic | 80,426 | 48.98% | 5 | James A. Garfield | Republican | 80,282 | 48.89% | 1 | 3,510 | 2.14% | – | 6 | [8] | ||
| 1884 | James G. Blaine | Republican | 102,369 | 51.97% | 8 | Grover Cleveland | Democratic | 89,288 | 45.33% | – | 5,331 | 2.71% | – | 8 | [9] | ||
| 1888 | Benjamin Harrison | Republican | 124,816 | 49.66% | 8 | Grover Cleveland | Democratic | 117,729 | 46.84% | – | 8,794 | 3.49% | – | 8 | [10] | ||
| 1892 | Grover Cleveland | Democratic | 118,174 | 43.83% | 8 | Benjamin Harrison | Republican | 118,027 | 43.78% | 1 | 33,408 | 12.39% | – | 9 | [11][d] | ||
| 1896 | William McKinley | Republican | 146,688 | 49.16% | 8 | William Jennings Bryan | Democratic | 144,766 | 48.51% | 1 | 6,965 | 2.33% | – | 9 | [12] | ||
| 1900 | William McKinley | Republican | 164,755 | 54.50% | 9 | William Jennings Bryan | Democratic | 124,985 | 41.34% | – | 13,264 | 4.38% | – | 9 | [13] | ||
| 1904 | Theodore Roosevelt | Republican | 205,226 | 61.84% | 10 | Alton B. Parker | Democratic | 89,404 | 26.94% | – | 37,248 | 11.22% | – | 10 | [14][e] | ||
| 1908 | William Howard Taft | Republican | 214,398 | 55.46% | 10 | William Jennings Bryan | Democratic | 127,492 | 32.98% | – | 44,707 | 11.56% | – | 10 | [15][f] | ||
| 1912 | Theodore Roosevelt | Progressive | 283,610 | 41.83% | 11 | Woodrow Wilson | Democratic | 283,436 | 41.81% | 2 | 110,898 | 16.36% | – | 13 | [16][g] | ||
| 1916 | Woodrow Wilson | Democratic | 466,289 | 46.65% | 13 | Charles Evans Hughes | Republican | 462,516 | 46.27% | – | 70,798 | 7.08% | – | 13 | [17] | ||
| 1920 | Warren G. Harding | Republican | 624,992 | 66.20% | 13 | James M. Cox | Democratic | 229,191 | 24.28% | – | 89,867 | 9.52% | – | 13 | [18][h] | ||
| 1924 | Calvin Coolidge | Republican | 733,250 | 57.20% | 13 | Robert M. La Follette | Socialist | 424,649 | 33.13% | – | 124,001 | 9.67% | – | 13 | [19][i] | ||
| 1928 | Herbert Hoover | Republican | 1,162,323 | 64.69% | 13 | Al Smith | Democratic | 614,365 | 34.19% | – | 19,968 | 1.11% | – | 13 | [20] | ||
| 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Democratic | 1,324,157 | 58.39% | 22 | Herbert Hoover | Republican | 847,902 | 37.39% | – | 95,907 | 4.22% | – | 22 | [21] | ||
| 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Democratic | 1,766,836 | 66.95% | 22 | Alf Landon | Republican | 836,431 | 31.70% | – | 35,615 | 1.35% | – | 22 | [22] | ||
| 1940 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Democratic | 1,877,618 | 57.44% | 22 | Wendell Willkie | Republican | 1,351,419 | 41.34% | – | 39,754 | 1.22% | – | 22 | [23] | ||
| 1944 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Democratic | 1,988,564 | 56.48% | 25 | Thomas E. Dewey | Republican | 1,512,965 | 42.97% | – | 19,346 | 0.55% | – | 25 | [24] | ||
| 1948 | Harry S. Truman | Democratic | 1,913,134 | 47.57% | 25 | Thomas E. Dewey | Republican | 1,895,269 | 47.13% | – | 213,135 | 5.29% | – | 25 | [25] | ||
| 1952 | Dwight D. Eisenhower | Republican | 3,035,587 | 56.83% | 32 | Adlai Stevenson II | Democratic | 2,257,646 | 42.27% | – | 48,370 | 0.90% | – | 32 | [26] | ||
| 1956 | Dwight D. Eisenhower | Republican | 3,027,668 | 55.39% | 32 | Adlai Stevenson II | Democratic | 2,420,135 | 44.27% | – | 18,552 | 0.34% | – | 32 | [27] | ||
| 1960 | Richard Nixon | Republican | 3,259,722 | 50.10% | 32 | John F. Kennedy | Democratic | 3,224,099 | 49.55% | – | 22,757 | 0.35% | – | 32 | [28] | ||
| 1964 | Lyndon B. Johnson | Democratic | 4,171,877 | 59.11% | 40 | Barry Goldwater | Republican | 2,879,108 | 40.79% | – | 6,601 | 0.09% | – | 40 | [29] | ||
| 1968 | Richard Nixon | Republican | 3,467,664 | 47.82% | 40 | Hubert Humphrey | Democratic | 3,244,318 | 44.74% | – | 539,605 | 7.44% | – | 40 | [30][j] | ||
| 1972 | Richard Nixon | Republican | 4,602,096 | 55.00% | 45 | George McGovern | Democratic | 3,475,847 | 41.54% | – | 289,919 | 3.47% | – | 45 | [31] | ||
| 1976 | Gerald Ford | Republican | 3,882,244 | 49.35% | 45 | Jimmy Carter | Democratic | 3,742,284 | 47.57% | – | 242,589 | 3.08% | – | 45 | [32] | ||
| 1980 | Ronald Reagan | Republican | 4,524,858 | 52.69% | 45 | Jimmy Carter | Democratic | 3,083,661 | 35.91% | – | 978,544 | 11.40% | – | 45 | [33][k] | ||
| 1984 | Ronald Reagan | Republican | 5,467,009 | 57.51% | 47 | Walter Mondale | Democratic | 3,922,519 | 41.27% | – | 115,895 | 1.22% | – | 47 | [34] | ||
| 1988 | George H. W. Bush | Republican | 5,054,917 | 51.13% | 47 | Michael Dukakis | Democratic | 4,702,233 | 47.56% | – | 129,914 | 1.32% | – | 47 | [35] | ||
| 1992 | Bill Clinton | Democratic | 5,121,325 | 46.01% | 54 | George H. W. Bush | Republican | 3,630,574 | 32.61% | – | 2,379,822 | 21.38% | – | 54 | [36][l] | ||
| 1996 | Bill Clinton | Democratic | 5,119,835 | 51.10% | 54 | Bob Dole | Republican | 3,828,380 | 38.21% | – | 1,071,269 | 10.68% | – | 54 | [37][m] | ||
| 2000 | Al Gore | Democratic | 5,861,203 | 53.45% | 54 | George W. Bush | Republican | 4,567,429 | 41.65% | – | 537,224 | 4.91% | – | 54 | [38] | ||
| 2004 | John Kerry | Democratic | 6,745,485 | 54.31% | 55 | George W. Bush | Republican | 5,509,826 | 44.36% | – | 166,548 | 1.34% | – | 55 | [39] | ||
| 2008 | Barack Obama | Democratic | 8,274,473 | 61.01% | 55 | John McCain | Republican | 5,011,781 | 36.95% | – | 296,829 | 2.19% | – | 55 | [40] | ||
| 2012 | Barack Obama | Democratic | 7,854,285 | 60.24% | 55 | Mitt Romney | Republican | 4,839,958 | 37.12% | – | 361,572 | 2.77% | – | 55 | [41] | ||
| 2016 | Hillary Clinton | Democratic | 8,753,788 | 61.73% | 55 | Donald Trump | Republican | 4,483,810 | 31.62% | – | 1,005,843 | 7.06% | – | 55 | [42] | ||
| 2020 | Joe Biden | Democratic | 11,110,250 | 63.48% | 55 | Donald Trump | Republican | 6,006,429 | 34.32% | – | 384,192 | 2.20% | – | 55 | [43] | ||
| 2024 | Kamala Harris | Democratic | 9,276,179 | 58.47% | 54 | Donald Trump | Republican | 6,081,697 | 38.33% | – | 507,599 | 3.20% | – | 54 | [44] | ||
Year | Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Votes | % | Sources | ||||||
| Winner | Runner-up | Other | |||||||||||||||
