United States Presidential Election of 1872

Grant re-elected 286 to 66 in a race his opponent died before the college met.

Overview

Facing a split between Democrats and Liberal Republicans united behind Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, Grant won easily, 286 electoral votes to 66 carried by Greeley, who died in November before electors voted, scattering those votes among four men. Grant took 55.6 percent of the popular vote. The Liberal Republican revolt signaled reform discontent within Grant's own party, and the depression and scandals of the second term confirmed the reformers' warnings, feeding the crisis of 1876.