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49 free US Presidential Elections trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
50 free US Presidential Elections trivia questions with answers. American elections are stranger than the civics textbook lets on. A candidate has won the presidency while losing the popular vote more than once, one election was settled by a special commission, and the voting age, the ballot itself and who is allowed to cast one have all changed by constitutional amendment. These 49 questions cover the whole subject: how the Electoral College works, the amendments that expanded voting rights, the closest and most lopsided results, famous campaign slogans and debates, third-party spoilers, recounts and the traditions around Election Day. It opens with warm-ups most people will get and builds to questions that even political junkies have to think about. Every answer has been checked against a reference source, shown under each question once you answer, so it works for a civics class, an election-night party or a general-knowledge quiz round on voting and politics.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who was the first President of the United States?
George Washington
George Washington was unanimously elected the first President in 1789 and served two terms until 1797; he is the only president to have won a vote from every elector, doing so in both 1789 and 1792.
Q 02How many electoral votes does a presidential candidate need to win the presidency?
270
A candidate needs 270 of the 538 electoral votes available, an absolute majority; anything less sends the choice to the House of Representatives.
Q 03Which president served two non-consecutive terms, making him both the 22nd and 24th president?
Grover Cleveland
Cleveland lost his 1888 re-election bid despite winning the popular vote, then returned to the White House four years later.
Q 04Who was the first Catholic to win a major party's presidential nomination?
Al Smith
Smith, the Democratic governor of New York, lost the 1928 election to Herbert Hoover in a landslide, with anti-Catholic sentiment a major factor in his defeat.
Q 05Which famous campaign slogan was used by Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952?
I Like Ike
"I Like Ike" became one of the most iconic campaign slogans in American history. Eisenhower's nickname was "Ike," and the catchy slogan helped propel him to a landslide victory in 1952.
Q 06What day of the week are US presidential elections always held on?
Tuesday
US presidential elections are held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, a tradition established by Congress in 1845 to accommodate the agrarian schedule of the time.
Q 07Which state is traditionally the first to hold its presidential primary?
New Hampshire
New Hampshire has held the first-in-the-nation presidential primary since 1920. Iowa traditionally held the first caucus, but New Hampshire's primary has been the first actual primary election.
Q 08Who was the Northern Democrats' nominee against Abraham Lincoln in 1860?
Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen A. Douglas was the Northern Democratic candidate in 1860. The Democratic Party split that year, with Southern Democrats nominating John C. Breckinridge. Lincoln won with less than 40% of the popular vote.
Q 09How often are US presidential elections held?
Every 4 years
US presidential elections are held every four years, as established by the Constitution. The cycle runs in years divisible by four (2020, 2024, 2028, etc.).
Q 10Which change to the US Constitution guaranteed women the right to vote nationwide?
19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, prohibited denying the right to vote based on sex. It was the culmination of decades of work by the women's suffrage movement.
Q 11The 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore was decided by a controversial recount in which state?
Florida
Bush carried Florida by just 537 votes out of nearly six million cast, and the Supreme Court's Bush v. Gore ruling on December 12, 2000 halted further recounting.
Q 12What is the body of 538 members who formally choose the president called?
The Electoral College
The Electoral College is a body of 538 electors established by the Constitution. Each state gets electors equal to its total Congressional representation (House + Senate seats).
Q 13Which candidate won 525 electoral votes, carrying 49 of 50 states?
Ronald Reagan in 1984
Q 21Which Republican won the presidency in 1888 despite losing the popular vote to the Democratic incumbent Grover Cleveland?
Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin Harrison won 233 electoral votes to Cleveland's 168 while Cleveland received about 90,000 more popular votes, making 1888 one of five elections in which the popular-vote winner lost.
Q 22Which candidate's 'Daisy' ad showed a girl counting petals before a nuclear blast?
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson's campaign aired 'Daisy' once, on September 7, 1964, implying that Barry Goldwater might start a nuclear war; the ad never named him.
Q 23In which year was the 22nd Amendment, limiting presidents to two elected terms, ratified?
1951
Ronald Reagan won 525 electoral votes in 1984, carrying every state except Minnesota, Walter Mondale's home state, plus Washington D.C.; it was the most electoral votes any candidate had ever won.
Q 14Who is the youngest person ever elected US president, winning office at the age of 43?
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy, elected in 1960; Theodore Roosevelt became president at 42, but through succession after McKinley's assassination, not by election.
Q 15"Yes We Can" was the campaign slogan of which presidential candidate?
Barack Obama
"Yes We Can" ("Si se puede" in Spanish) was Barack Obama's iconic 2008 campaign slogan, which became a rallying cry for his historic presidential bid.
Q 16Which two candidates met in the first televised US presidential debate, in a Chicago studio in 1960?
Kennedy and Nixon
Kennedy and Nixon, on September 26, 1960, at WBBM-TV; the senator's composed look against the vice president's pale, sweaty one showed television's power in politics.
Q 17Which candidate's 18.9% in 1992 was the best non-major-party showing since Theodore Roosevelt in 1912?
Ross Perot
Texas billionaire Ross Perot ran as an independent in 1992, winning 18.9% of the popular vote — though he didn't carry any states. His candidacy focused on the national debt and trade issues.
Q 18What are competitive states that either party could win in a presidential election called?
Swing states
Swing states (also called battleground states) are competitive states where neither party has overwhelming support. Examples include Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Georgia.
Q 19Which president was photographed holding a newspaper wrongly declaring Dewey had beaten him?
Harry S. Truman
The Chicago Daily Tribune printed 'DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN' in early editions on November 3, 1948; two days later Harry S. Truman posed with the paper at St. Louis Union Station, creating one of the most iconic images in election history.
Q 20Who was the first woman to be nominated for vice president by a major party?
Geraldine Ferraro
Geraldine Ferraro was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 1984, running alongside Walter Mondale. She was the first woman nominated for VP by a major party, 24 years before Sarah Palin.
The 22nd Amendment was ratified on February 27, 1951; Congress had proposed it in 1947 as a reaction to Franklin D. Roosevelt winning four consecutive elections.
Q 24In which election did the House decide the winner because no candidate had an electoral majority?
1824
In 1824 four major candidates split the electoral vote, and under the 12th Amendment the House chose John Quincy Adams even though Andrew Jackson had won the most popular and electoral votes.
Q 25Which president's campaign used the slogan "Make America Great Again"?
Donald Trump
"Make America Great Again" (MAGA) was Donald Trump's signature slogan in his 2016 presidential campaign. Interestingly, Ronald Reagan had used a similar phrase — "Let's Make America Great Again" — in his 1980 campaign.
Q 26What is the minimum age required to run for President of the United States?
35
Article II of the Constitution requires presidential candidates to be at least 35 years old, a natural-born citizen, and a resident of the US for at least 14 years.
Q 27Which vice president set a new record for Senate tie-breaking votes, reaching 33 by 2024?
Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris cast 33 tie-breaking votes, passing John C. Calhoun's 31 in December 2023, mostly while presiding over a 50-50 Senate; they included the votes that passed the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act.
Q 28In which year did the 26th Amendment lower the voting age from 21 to 18?
1971
The 26th Amendment was ratified in 1971, lowering the voting age to 18. The push was fueled by the Vietnam War era argument that if 18-year-olds could be drafted to fight, they should be able to vote.
Q 29Which Democrat lost to Dwight D. Eisenhower in both the 1952 and 1956 presidential elections?
Adlai Stevenson
Stevenson, the governor of Illinois, was beaten in landslides both times, but his eloquent speeches made him a hero of the party's liberal wing.
Q 30Who was the first sitting president to lose a re-election bid in the 20th century?
William Howard Taft
Taft finished third in 1912 with just eight electoral votes, still the worst showing by any incumbent, after Theodore Roosevelt's third-party run split the Republican vote.