Presidents often claim mandates − especially when they want to expand their power or are on the defensive

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Julia R. Azari, Marquette University

(THE CONVERSATION) Shortly after the 2024 election was called in Donald Trump’s favor, he declared that voters had given him “an unprecedented and powerful mandate.”

As the popular vote margin shrinks, however, this claim seems less plausible. But it puts Trump squarely within the historical tradition of how presidents – and those around them – have claimed electoral mandates.

These claims don’t necessarily tell anything meaningful about the election results. More often, they reflect dynamics of presidential power and other political forces.

Scholars of American politics have expressed skepticismabout mandates. Does a mandate mean that the election carried a special message? How do we know what voters were thinking as they cast ballots? Are some elections mandates and others not? If so, how do we know? What’s the popular vote cutoff – is it a majority or more? Who decides? One scholar has flatly declared, “There’s no such thing as a mandate.”

The possible objections to the entire idea of an electoral mandate are endless. But the idea remains attractive to politicians and commentators. It was with this in mind that I conducted...