Trump trumps Bush

Rafael Treibich and Martin Van der Linden

No 17-00014, Vanderbilt University Department of Economics Working Papers from Vanderbilt University Department of Economics

Abstract: In the United States, the legitimacy of presidents who do not obtain a majority of the popular vote is often questioned. Debates on electoral legitimacy tend to revolve around the relative importance of the Electoral College and the popular vote. We develop a theory of electoral legitimacy judgments when legitimacy depends on these two factors. Under natural restrictions on these judgments, the legitimacy of some candidates can be unambiguously compared. In particular, we show that D. Trump's election was more legitimate than G.W. Bush's 2000 election. We also show that Trump's election remains one of the most contentious in history.

JEL-codes: D7 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-10-25
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-pol
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