1948 United States presidential election — 41st quadrennial U.S. presidential election
Truman's upset victory over heavily favored Dewey in 1948 secured a fifth consecutive Democratic presidential win and confirmed Democratic Party majority status.
Key Facts
- Truman electoral votes
- 303
- Dewey electoral votes
- 189
- Truman popular vote share
- 49.6 %
- Dewey popular vote share
- 45.1 %
- Thurmond states carried
- 4 (Deep South states)
- Election date
- November 2, 1948
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Truman, who had assumed the presidency after Roosevelt's 1945 death, faced low approval ratings and a fractured Democratic Party. Southern delegates bolted to form the Dixiecrat ticket under Strom Thurmond, while Henry Wallace led a Progressive Party challenge. Republican nominee Thomas Dewey, the 1944 GOP standard-bearer, ran a cautious campaign widely expected to succeed given nearly universal polling and pundit predictions favoring him.
On November 2, 1948, American voters chose between Truman and running mate Alben Barkley, Dewey and Earl Warren, Thurmond and Fielding Wright, and Wallace's Progressive ticket. Defying all major predictions, Truman carried 303 electoral votes and 49.6% of the popular vote by energizing labor unions, Catholic and Jewish voters, and Midwestern farmers, while Thurmond won only four Deep South states.
Truman's victory marked the fifth consecutive Democratic presidential win and the longest such streak for either party since 1880. Democrats simultaneously recaptured both houses of Congress, lost in 1946, reinforcing their majority-party status. The election also proved the last before the 22nd Amendment established presidential term limits in 1951, and the last in which no incumbent faced future disqualification from running again.
Political Outcome
Democratic incumbent Harry S. Truman defeated Republican Thomas E. Dewey with 303 electoral votes to 189, winning 49.6% of the popular vote in one of the greatest upsets in American electoral history.
Republicans controlled both houses of Congress; Truman held the presidency without a full electoral mandate
Democrats recaptured both houses of Congress and Truman won a full presidential term, confirming Democratic majority-party status