Question

What did the outcome of the 1948 presidential election reveal?

Answer 1

Hint: On November 2, 1948, American presidential election was held, in which Democratic President Harry S. Truman defeated Republican Thomas E. Dewey. It was the fifth consecutive victory for the Democratic Party in a presidential election.

Complete answer:
United States presidential election of 1948, on Nov 2, 1948, American presidential election was held, in which Democratic President Harry S. Truman defeated Republican Thomas E. Dewey.
Most historians consider the United States presidential election of 1948 as the greatest election upset in American history.

More or less every prediction (with or without public opinion polls) indicated that the Republican Thomas E. Dewey would defeat the incumbent President Harry S. Truman. But surprisingly Truman won the election with 303 electoral votes and it was the fifth consecutive victory for the Democratic Party in a presidential election.

As an outcome of the 1948 congressional election, the Democrats regained authority of both houses of Congress, which they had lost in 1946. Thus, Truman’s election affirmed the Democratic Party’s status as the majority party of the nation, a status they would hold on to until 1952.

Note: In the 1948 election, the main states were Ohio, California, and Illinois. Truman gained all three of these states by a gap of less than one percentage point, for a mixed total of 78 electoral votes. Had Dewey secured all the three states, he would have won the election by a shift of 29,000 votes.