The term is somewhat arbitrary, and its usage amongst political scientists does vary. Some believe that certain elections are realigning elections, others believe that they aren't. Here is presented a list of potential realigning elections, with disagreements noted:

Table of contents

1 Realigning Elections in history 2 Modern realigning elections (?) 3 Realigning elections in outside the United States

Realigning Elections in history

• U.S. presidential election, 1800 -- Thomas Jefferson
  • This election completed the turnover of power from the United States Federalist Party, embodied in Alexander Hamilton, to Thomas Jefferson and his United States Democratic-Republican Party. Power shifted from the more industrial New England to the Southern states and their agricultural interests. This exacerbated tensions over slavery.

• U.S. presidential election, 1824 -- John Quincy Adams
  • The reason this is often listed is that it redefined the party system in the United States. Jefferson's Democratic-Republicans split into two parties: the United States Democratic Party and the Whig party. The Democrats were led by Andrew Jackson (though the modern party traces its origins to Jefferson), while the Whigs were the oppostion to Andrew Jackson (who had won the most popular votes in the election). They were at first led by John Quincy Adams, though Henry Clay was also very significant.

• U.S. presidential election, 1860 -- Abraham Lincoln
  • This election marked the final downfall of the Whigs (who had sputtered throughout the 1850s) and the ascendence of the United States Republican Party. Abraham Lincoln beat out three other contenders as the South split its electoral votes away from other Democratic contenders, allowing Lincoln, who carried every Northern state, to triumph. Lincoln's election was the direct cause of the American Civil War. This represented the reverse of 1800, as electoral power flowed to the growing and industrializing North.

• U.S. presidential election, 1896 -- William McKinley
  • The status of this election is hotly disputed; many historians do not consider it a realigning election. Others, however, believe that McKinley's tactics in beating William Jennings Bryan (as developed by Mark Hanna)marked a sea change in the evolution of the modern presidency. McKinley raised a huge amount of money from business interests, outspending Bryan by 20 to 1. Bryan's message of populism, meanwhile, marked a new direction for the Democrats.

• U.S. presidential election, 1932 -- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
  • Of all the realigning elections, this one musters the most agreement from historians; it is the archetypal realigning election. FDR's New Deal policies represented an entirely new phenomenon in American politics, which sprang out of nowhere in response to the Great Depression which began in 1929 under Herbert Hoover. In many ways, Roosevelt's legacy still defines the Democratic Party; he forged an enduring coalition of labor unions, Jews, racial minorities, and Southerners. In both policies and politics, the election of 1932 took the country in an entirely different direction.

• U.S. presidential election, 1968 -- Richard Nixon
  • This election is often cited due to the innovative campaign strategy of Nixon. In running against Hubert Humphrey, he used what became known as the Southern strategy. He appealed to white voters in the South with a call for "state's rights", which they recognized as meaning that the federal government would no longer interfere on behalf of African American's civil rights as they had under Democratic presidents such as Lyndon Johnson (who passed the Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights Act of 1964). Just how conscious Nixon (or Republicans generally) were of this strategy is hotly contested. In addition, the realigning elections previously had tended to occur at 36-year intervals, lending support to this election's claim of realignment.
  • Many people do not consider 1968 a realigning election because control of Congress did not change; the Democrats would control the Senate until 1980 and the House until 1994. Also missing was a marked change in the partisan orientation of the electorate.

• U.S. presidential election, 1980 -- Ronald Reagan
  • In this election, Ronald Reagan won a sweeping victory over Democrat Jimmy Carter, who won only 6 states and 10% of the electoral vote. Republicans also took control of the Senate for the first time in over 25 years. Many people viewed Reagan's policies as sufficiently new to consider this a realigning election, and his iconic status within the Republican party would appear to confirm this.
  • On the other hand, detractors note that control of the House did not change. In addition, the Republicans lost the Senate again 6 years later, leading some to theorize that the Senators simply rode in on Reagan's coattails, and did not represent a true shift in the ideological preferences of their constituents. Also absent was a shift in partisan alignment from public opinion polls.

• U.S. midterm election, 1994
  • Republicans finally took back the House and Senate, controlling both chambers for the first time since 1952. In addition, that control has proved permanent thus far. Newt Gingrich and his Contract with America seemed like a sufficiently innovative technique to qualify, and the overwhelming nature of the Republican's victory (they gained 50-odd seats, in a chamber of only 435--the total gain in elections since has been in the single digits) would seem to make this a candidate.
  • Critics note that this, unlike the others, is a midterm election. They also note the reelection of Bill Clinton in 1996, and the even partisan split in opinion polls.