Has a president ever won the popular vote and lost the election?

Answer 1

In addition to presidential candidates who won the popular vote but lost the election (Al Gore in 2000 and Samuel Tilden in 1876 come to mind), there have been two people for which the statement as written is literally true:

Andrew Jackson won a plurality (not a majority, but more votes than any other candidate) of both the popular and electoral vote in the presidential election of 1824. However, since there were four candidates in the race that year and none of them had a majority, the decision went to the House of Representatives, who chose John Quincy Adams instead. Jackson then went on to later became president in the election of 1828, with a clear majority of both the popular and electoral vote, so for him the statement is true in retrospect, but not at the time of the first election.

Grover Cleveland also won a plurality of the popular vote in 1888 after his first term as president, though in his case he lost the electoral vote to Benjamin Harrison. He then ran again in 1892 and again won a plurality of the popular vote, but this time garnered a clear majority of the electoral vote and became president for a second time. He's the only one for whom the statement was true at the time of the election itself.

Answer 2

Yes- Jackson in 1824, Tilden in 1876, Cleveland in 1888, Al Gore in 2000 and quite likely Nixon in 1960 won the popular vote but not the official election by the electoral college.

Answer 3

yes