United States presidential election, 2052 (Smith, Cunningham)

The  2052 United States presidential election  took place on Tuesday, November 4, 2052. It will be the 67th quadrennial presidential election. Voters selected presidential electors who voted on December 14, 2052, [2]  to select a new president and vice president. The election will occur simultaneously alongside elections for the House of Representatives, Senate, and various state and local-level elections.

Joe Cunningham had a rough start to his presidency following the 2048 elections. Protests and rivolts broke out around the country for reforming the electoral system. Although the economy remained strong, the US entered war with Iran in 2050, which resulted in an embarrassing defeat to the Americans. Climate change also had a comeback, and experts were warning of an economic collapse.

Joe Cunningham had a strong challenges for the Democratic renomination from former California governor Josh Harder and Minnesota Senator Ilhan Omar. Up until the convention, Cunningham and Harder were neck-in-neck. Cunningham won the nomination with a slight majority on the second ballot. Since his former Vice President Keisha Lance Bottoms was extremely unpopular due to the Georgia election scandal in 2048, Cunningham decided to switch his running mate to Colorado Senator Joe Neguse.

After his controversial defeat in 1948, Jason Smith became extremely popular. However, in 1950 Smith suffered a severe scandal of racial discrimination within his team that put him back in the polls. By 1951, the Republican party was split again between its moderate wing led by former Vice President Dan Crenshaw and nationalist-populist wing led by Smith.

Smith was the early frontrunner but by January 2052, it seemed as if the Republicans would choose moderate Republican Pennsylvania Senator Guy Reschenthaler as their candidate. Reschenthaler won the early Iowa Caucuses and New Hampshire Primary, but Smith caught up to him in delegates with a big win on Super Tuesday. Smith narrowly won enough delegates to become the Republican candidate on June 23rd. The election marked the first presidential rematch since Eisenhower and Stevenson in 1956.

By 2051, many people were sick of both major parties. Therefore, the year marked the start of the National Change Party which ran on a platform for abolishing the Electoral College and the Two-Party system. They nominated Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel for President and former Illinois governor Lauren Underwood for vice president.

Cunningham campaigned on the strong economy and defended the scandals within his administration, while Smith hosted massive rallies and criticized the establishment just as in 2048. Spiegel’s campaign was almost entirely virtual with numerous ads on Instagram, Twitter, and Snapсhat. Early polls placed Smith at 51%, Cunningham at 48%, and Spiegel at 1% but by October Spiegel’s numbers increased to 4% while Smith was at 49% and Cunningham at 47%.

On October 18th a massive rebel takeover of a US embassy happened in Turkey with over ten Americans killed. This launched the final blow on Cunningham’s administration as Cunningham failed to deliver a strong response. A week before the election, Smith was polling at 51%, Cunningham at 44%, and Spiegel at 5%.

Jason Smith won the election receiving 300 electoral votes and 48.1% of the popular vote. He was able to flip the states of Georgia and North Carolina and won despite receiving over 6 million less votes than in 2048. Cunningham finished second receiving 238 electoral votes and 42.8% of the popular vote. This was the worst showing for an incumbent president seeking re-election since Jimmy Carter in 1980. Evan Spiegel finished third receiving 9.6% of the popular vote, a better showing for the National Change party than many have predicted.