On re-election:
- No president with four letters in their last name served more than one term: James Polk 1845, Howard Taft 1909, Gerald Ford 1974, and George Bush 1989. George W. Bush has four.
- No president whose last name began with the letter B was re-elected: Buchanan 1857, and Bush 1989.
- The three presidents who failed the first time around to win the popular vote did not return to the White House. In 1828, John Quincy Adams lost to Andrew Jackson. In 1880, Rutherford Hayes, derided as "Rutherfraud'' for his court-mandated victory, did not run for re-election. In 1888, his fellow Ohioan, Benjamin Harrison, won the Electoral College, but not the popular vote. In 1892, Harrison lost both to the Democratic nominee, Grover Cleveland.
Also, note the 20-year curse:
Beginning in 1840, and in each consecutive twenty-year presidential administration through 1960, the incumbent President has died in office. The "Twenty Year Curse" was supposedly cast upon the presidency at the hands of an unknown Indian Chief.
1840 - William Henry Harrison......pneumonia
1860 - Abraham Lincoln......assassination
1880 - James Garfield......assassination
1900 - William McKinley.......assassination
1920 - Warren Harding........heart failure
1940 - Franklin Roosevelt.......cerebral hemorrhage
1960 - John Kennedy.....assassinated
1980 - President Reagan...Although he did not die in office, he was shot and nearly killed by an assassin.
The President was also diagnosed by some as having developed Alzheimer's disease while in office.
Feel free to draw your own conclusions about our current President's prospects based on these historical trends