New York Times Presidential Endorsements

New York Times Presidential Endorsements are made every four years by the most prestigious newspaper in the United States (and perhaps the world) to give its readers the name of the candidate that the paper's editors believe is best suited to fit the needs of the nation. The first endorsement was in 1860 for Abraham Lincoln and the most recent one was for Barack Obama in 2012. Its first six endorsements were for Republicans, and it was not until 1884 that it backed its first Democrat, Grover Cleveland. Since then it has endorsed the Democratic candidate 26 times, the Republican six times, the last being Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956, and a third-party candidate once, in 1896.

Endorsements by the New York Times since 1860

From the New York Times of October 27, 2012; see the site at >

Year	Endorsed	Opponent(s)	Winner
1860	Abraham Lincoln, Republican	Stephen A. Douglas, Democrat; John C. Brekinridge, Southern Democrat; John Bell, Constitutional Union Party	Lincoln
1864	Abraham Lincoln, Republican	George B. McClellan, Democrat	Lincoln
1868	Ulysses S. Grant, Republican	Horatio Seymour, Democrat	Grant
1872	Ulysses S. Grant, Republican	Horace Greeley, Democrat	Grant
1876	Rutherford B. Hayes, Republican	Samuel Tilden, Democrat	Hayes
1880	James Garfield, Republican	Winfield S. Hancock, Democrat	Garfield
1884	Grover Cleveland, Democrat	James G. Blaine, Republican	Cleveland
1888	Grover Cleveland, Democrat	Benjamin Harrison, Republican	Harrison
1892	Grover Cleveland, Democrat	Benjamin Harrison, Republican; James Weaver, People's Party	Cleveland
1896	John M. Palmer, National Democratic Party	William Jennings Bryan, Democrat; William McKinley, Republican	McKinley
1900	William McKinley, Republican	William Jennings Bryan, Democrat	McKinley
1904	Alton B. Parker, Democrat	Theodore Roosevelt, Republican	Roosevelt
1908	William Howard Taft, Republican	William Jennings Bryan, Democrat	Taft
1912	Woodrow Wilson, Democrat	William Howard Taft, Republican; Theodore Roosevelt, Bull Moose Party	Wilson
1916	Woodrow Wilson, Democrat	Charles Evans Hughes, Republican	Wilson
1920	James M. Cox, Democrat	Warren G. Harding, Republican	Harding