Distribution of votes in the 1832 US presidential election

The twelfth US presidential election took place in 1832, and was contested between incumbent President Andrew Jackson of the Democratic Party and Henry Clay of the National Republican Party, while significant votes were also cast for John Floyd of the Nullifier Party, and William Wirt of the Anti-Masonic Party. Jackson and Clay had already been political rivals for quite some time, as Clay had run against Jackson in the 1824 presidential election, and was also responsible for Jackson not winning the election that year, despite him receiving the most votes. This was the first year where all major parties used presidential nominating conventions to put forward their candidate.

Results

President Jackson managed to receive more votes in the 1832 election than in the 1828 election, and finished with over 54 percent of the popular votes, which gave him almost 77 percent of the electoral votes. Henry Clay received the majority of the rest of the votes, although William Wirt did receive almost eight percent of the popular vote, which won him seven electoral votes. John Floyd, who had not actively campaigned, received the electoral votes of South Carolina.

A new challenger

Although the Anti-Masonic Party did make an impact in this election (the first major third party to do so), Jackson's dominance, and the National Republican Party's inability to challenge him, led to an eventual coalition between the Anti-Masonic and National Republican parties. Both parties would amalgamate to form the Whig Party, who would go on to be the Democratic Party's major rival until the emergence of the Republican Party in 1856.