A history of

Presidential Cycling

The Party Pendulum · 1789 – Present
How to read this
Time runs downward from today to the founding. The weaving curve traces each president's ideology from DW-NOMINATE: left = liberal, right = conservative, center line = 0. Each node is colored by party:
Federalist Dem.-Republican Whig Nat. Union Democrat Republican
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Same party kept the White House with a new candidate
Won an open election with no incumbent running — over the two-party era (1828–present)
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The White House changed party
The opposition won instead of the incumbent party keeping it — the mirror of the stat at left
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Longest single-party run
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◀ Liberal / Left
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Right / Conservative ▶