Distribution of votes in the 1924 US presidential election

The 1924 United States presidential election was a three way race contested between incumbent President Calvin Coolidge of the Republican Party, John W. Davis of the Democratic Party, and Robert M. La Follette of the Progressive Party. Coolidge was almost unanimously chosen as the Republican candidate due to the economy's strong performance during his tenure as vice president and subsequent presidency. In contrast to this the Democratic Party failed to agree on a candidate, and instead of choosing from the two frontrunners, compromised and nominated Davis instead. The Progressive Party was dissatisfied with both major party candidates, who they viewed as being too conservative, and put forward La Follette as a more liberal option for the electorate.

Results

President Coolidge convincingly won re-election, taking 54 percent of the popular vote, which gave him a majority in 35 states and almost 72 percent of the electoral college votes. Davis received just 28 percent of the popular vote, which was the lowest return of any Democratic presidential candidate in US history, and this gave him just over one quarter of the electoral votes. As a contrast to the two conservative candidates, La Follette was able to take almost 17 percent of the popular vote, and even won his home state of Wisconsin, making this one of the strongest performances by a third party candidate in US history.