How many elections have lost the popular vote but won by the electoral vote

There have been five elections in U.S. history in which the successful presidential candidate did not receive a plurality of the popular vote:

• 1824 (John Quincy Adams)
• 1876 (Rutherford B. Hayes)
• 1888 (Benjamin Harrison)
• 2000 (George W. Bush)
• 2016 (Donald Trump)

In each of these elections, the winner lost the popular vote but won the electoral college, which is the body that officially elects the president. The electoral college is made up of 538 electors, and each state has a certain number of electors based on its population. To win the presidency, a candidate must win a majority of the electoral votes (270).

In all of the elections listed above, the winner won the electoral college by a narrow margin. For example, in 2000, George W. Bush won the electoral college by a vote of 271 to 266, but he lost the popular vote to Al Gore by over 500,000 votes.

The electoral college system has been criticized for being undemocratic, as it allows a candidate to win the presidency without winning the popular vote. However, the electoral college is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, and it is unlikely to be abolished anytime soon.