Presidential elections in Connecticut

Number of elections	59
Voted Democratic	21
Voted Republican	23
Voted Whig	3
Voted Democratic-Republican	4
Voted Federalist	6
Voted other	2[a]
Voted for winning candidate	40
Voted for losing candidate	19

Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the United States.^[1] One of the original Thirteen Colonies, Connecticut has participated in all fifty-nine U.S. presidential elections since the American Revolution.^[2] In the early days of the United States, Connecticut was known for supporting the conservative Federalist Party.^[3] In the Second Party System, Connecticut leaned towards the anti-Jackson candidates.^[4] Following the Civil War, Connecticut was a swing state for a long time until 1896.^[5] Thereafter until 1932, Connecticut was a Republican stronghold. During this period, Connecticut Republican Party chairman J. Henry Roraback built up a political machine which was "efficient, conservative, penurious, and in absolute control".^[6]

During the Great Depression, Connecticut began to pivot in support of Democratic candidates. After that, although the Republican Party won Connecticut several times in the presidential election, its advantage was no longer as significant as it had previously been.^[7] Since 1992, the state has voted consistently for the Democratic candidates.^[8]

In 2020, Joe Biden became the first candidate in Connecticut history to win over one million votes in the state, scoring nearly 1.1 million votes.

Connecticut is a signatory of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, an interstate compact in which signatories award all of their electoral votes to the winner of the national-level popular vote in a presidential election, even if another candidate won an individual signatory's popular vote. As of 2023,^[update] it has not yet gone into force.^[9]

Presidential elections

1788–89 to 1820

As a part of New England, Connecticut was the stronghold of the Federalist Party. It voted for Federalist candidates in presidential elections from 1796 to 1816.^[3] Before 1820, its electors were appointed by state legislature.^[10]

1824

The election of 1824 was a complex realigning election following the collapse of the prevailing Democratic-Republican Party, resulting in four different candidates each claiming to carry the banner of the party, and competing for influence in different parts of the country. The election was the only one in history to be decided by the House of Representatives under the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution after no candidate secured a majority of the electoral vote.^[30] It was also the only presidential election in which the candidate who received a plurality of electoral votes (Andrew Jackson) did not become president, a source of great bitterness for Jackson and his supporters, who proclaimed the election of Adams a corrupt bargain.^[31]

1828 to 1856

1860

The election of 1860 was a complex realigning election in which the breakdown of the previous two-party alignment culminated in four parties each competing for influence in different parts of the country.^[56] The result of the election, with the victory of an ardent opponent of slavery, spurred the secession of eleven states and brought about the American Civil War.^[57]

1864 to present