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| 5 | %% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks! |
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| 11 | [[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/GravityFalls https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/quentin_trembley_landslide.png]]]] |
| 12 | [[caption-width-right:350:Quentin Trembley won the 1837 election [[LiteralMetaphor in a landslide that killed the other candidates.]]]] |
| 13 | |
| 14 | -> ''"And the results are in: for "Sideshow" Bob Terwiliger, 100%, and for Joe Quimby, 1%. And we remind you there is a 1% margin of error."'' |
| 15 | -->-- '''Kent Brockman''', ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', "Sideshow Bob Roberts" |
| 16 | |
| 17 | Thanks to RuleOfDrama, fictional elections often come down to [[DecidedByOneVote a tiny handful of votes, or even just a single vote]]. This may result in a DarkHorseVictory or a victory by the [[UnderdogsNeverLose candidate commonly reckoned to be the "underdog"]]. Sometimes a [[SleazyPolitician crooked machine politician]] will be unseated, to the shock of everyone. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | Then again, sometimes one side [[CurbStompBattle just plain gets clobbered]]. When that happens, you have a landslide election. If it's ''really'' one-sided, one might even call it a "[[CurbStompBattle Curb Stomp Election]]". When these type of elections occur, they generally fall under a few basic types: |
| 20 | |
| 21 | * The election was held in [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny a state where the elections are just for show]], and only serve to confirm that the current [[EvilOverlord despot]] or [[TheConspiracy despots]] are [[VillainWithGoodPublicity supported by "the people"]]. |
| 22 | * In places with functioning multiparty democratic systems... |
| 23 | ** A party normally in strong contention nominates a more [[KnightTemplar radical]] or [[IncorruptiblePurePureness philosophically principled]] candidate, whose proposals are too far out of the mainstream to garner much public support. He is then thoroughly clobbered by a more [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids pragmatic]] opponent. Sometimes, however, this defeat is instrumental in securing a victory in some future election; the idealist candidate "rallies the troops", and gets them excited about politics again. |
| 24 | ** One candidate is so strong and so popular (sometimes because of a war effort) that the opposition has no chance whatsoever, even though said opposition would probably win against a generic candidate. Often, the main opposition will decline to run against the candidate, or even support it, leaving minor parties to try (and fail) to win. |
| 25 | ** The main opposition party disintegrates due to internal dissension and a general lack of organization and purpose. One party then wins all the major elections until a viable replacement for the opposition can form. |
| 26 | ** The party which has been governing for the past few years has been doing a ''spectacularly'' cruddy job, or at least many people ''believe'' that they have. In an election that most people think is long-overdue, the electorate decides to "Throw the Bums Out" in a big way. |
| 27 | ** A major party winds up getting split between two factions, allowing another party to come up the middle and win easily. May or may not overlap with the party disintegration variant, above. |
| 28 | ** No particular problem or political issue caused it, there's just a huge gap of [[TheCharmer charisma]], [[UnaccustomedAsIAmToPublicSpeaking oratorical ability]], and [[LackOfEmpathy ability to connect with voters]] separating the candidates. |
| 29 | ** One candidate self-sabotages, be it from [[RoleEndingMisdemeanor personal baggage, scandal, criminal proceedings, or a huge gaffe]], handing victory to the opposition. |
| 30 | [[TruthInTelevision Note that all of the above have occurred in U.S. elections at some point in history.]] |
| 31 | |
| 32 | In fiction, of course, a landslide election averts deciding by one vote, so it is most often used for [[PlayedForLaughs comedy]], rather than for [[PlayedForDrama drama]]. When used for drama, it can serve to illustrate [[VillainWithGoodPublicity how much the villain has made himself beloved by the public]] (perhaps thereby proving that DemocracyIsBad), or serve as a cathartic final victory for the good guys, proving that they have triumphed beyond doubt. This is probably a more realistic way to show that the heroes have "won" than having them win by a narrow margin, since an election won by a very narrow margin generally does not give the winner a "mandate" to do what he wants, and one may rest assured that a significant portion of the electorate will probably resent the fact that he took office. |
| 33 | |
| 34 | Because this deals with the results of elections, '''expect spoilers'''. |
| 35 | |
| 36 | Compare DownToTheLastPlay. |
| 37 | ---- |
| 38 | !!Examples: |
| 39 | |
| 40 | [[index]] |
| 41 | * LandslideElection/RealLife |
| 42 | [[/index]] |
| 43 | |
| 44 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 45 | |
| 46 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 47 | * Initially subverted in ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'', where Shirogane is projected to win roughly 90% of the vote during his reelection as StudentCouncilPresident, but deliberately helps Iino deal with her stage fright when they're both making their final cases to the student body and only wins by a margin of 40 votes. [[spoiler:Played straight the following year where Iino has 83% of the students vote in her favor thanks to a combination of the good showing she made against Shirogane in the prior campaign, having the support of the previous council, and a year's worth of CharacterDevelopment to back her up.]] |
| 48 | * That's how Medaka Kurokami becomes the student council president in ''Manga/MedakaBox'', winning with 98% of votes. Her campaign for reelection was nowhere that easy. |
| 49 | * When we first meet Haruka in ''Anime/MyHime'', she's the student council's disciplinary executive which appears to be a means by which she can foist her own ideas about "morals" and "values" onto the rest of the student body. Neither the Student Council President or Vice President (Shizuru and Reito) seemed inclined to stop her. As an omake and subsequent episodes show [[spoiler: Haruka originally ran against Shizuru for Student Council President, largely on the same platform that she's enforcing now. She lost by a landslide (817 votes for Shizuru vs. 12 votes for her) since the average student isn't particularly interested in a MoralGuardian hovering over them. Shizuru keeps Haruka around to do the unpleasant tasks for the Student Council so she can keep her hands clean. An early hint that Shizuru is not quite all sweetness and light.]] |
| 50 | * During ''Anime/OjamajoDoremi'' ''Series 1'', there was an episode that involved NiceGuy Masaharu running against AlphaBitch Tamaki. He was about to back out after delivering a NoMoreHoldingBackSpeech, but Tamaki goaded him into continuing due to her {{Pride}}. Only two people voted for Tamaki while everyone else voted for Masaharu. |
| 51 | * ''Manga/TeamMedicalDragon:'' During the second round of the Cardiology Department's professorship election, the other professors unanimously vote for [[spoiler:Katou]] despite the fact that Sofue had previously promised to support [[spoiler:Kirishima]]. |
| 52 | [[/folder]] |
| 53 | |
| 54 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 55 | * Exaggerated in ''ComicBook/MortadeloYFilemon'' story "El candidato". The Superintendent decides to run for president of Spain, and the result is a spectacular failure: his rival, Marcelino Cascajo, is elected with 38 million votes, while the Superintendent only gets one vote: his own. |
| 56 | ** Inverted at the end of ''¡Elecciones!'': turns out that there's a ridiculously big amount of parties in the running, and as a result each of them only gets one vote... except for a single candidate who manages to gather two votes and is subsequently named president. |
| 57 | * In ''ComicBook/{{PS238}}'' the class president election between American Eagle and US Patriot Act ends in a landslide election for... Tyler Marlocke, who wasn't even on the ballot. Everyone else in the class voted for him as a write-in candidate because they couldn't stand either of the official candidates. |
| 58 | * In ''ComicBook/TheSmurfs'' comic book story "King Smurf", the nameless Smurf wins the election by an overwhelming majority, with his opponent Brainy Smurf only getting two votes to prove how unpopular he was with his constant nagging and moralizing. |
| 59 | * ''ComicBook/{{Transmetropolitan}}'' has a landslide election in the Smiler vs. Beast election, with 48 of the 50 states going to [[spoiler:the Smiler]]. |
| 60 | [[/folder]] |
| 61 | |
| 62 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 63 | * In ''Fanfic/BruceHasAProblem'', there is a five-way race for Mayor of Gotham City, between Commissioner Gordon, current DA Garcetti, a slimy stooge for Gotham's mafia, Quincy Sharpe, a lunatic advocating for a draconian police state, the incumbent Mayor Garcia, who's been widely criticized for running on inertia since several decades before, and ''Two-Face'', a reformed supervillain who can't even vote. The mayoral debate is such an entertaining disaster that Garcetti, Sharpe and Garcia are all indelibly discredited, allowing Gordon an easy win. And even then, Two-Face's so popular even after dropping he still receives a considerable amount of votes. |
| 64 | * ''Fanfic/CheatingDeathThoseThatLived'': For the 1st Quarter Quell, the districts are ordered to vote for their tributes and they have there months to do so. District 8's tributes are so hated that the District knows exactly who to vote for and wraps up their voting within one day. District 2 also tries to organize a completely unanimous vote for their most formidable two tributes, but Rook votes for two wimpy pre-teen kids just to annoy his hated mentor Olga. |
| 65 | * In ''Fanfic/HuntersOfJustice'', Henry Brown became the mayor of Metropolis by a landslide thanks primarily to the fact that [[spoiler:he's a time displaced Tyrannosaurs rex [[UpliftedAnimal gifted with sapience]] [[RuleOfCool running for office]]. Most of the other politicians were too afraid to run against him for fear of being eaten]]. |
| 66 | * In ''Fanfic/MegaManDefenderOfTheHumanRace'', Mitchell Deacon wins his seat as governor by a landslide, and it's predicted former governor George Cochran will easily win his bid for President. |
| 67 | * ''Fanfic/AMoonAndWorldApart'': The Directors of the Lunar Republic are elected, with candidates having to be confirmed as qualified for the position to be allowed to run. ''Nopony'' has ever tried to run against Luna for the Head Director/Director of State position, and as she explains to her sister in chapter 28, this means that even when she does the minimum amount of work for her campaign or outright doesn't try to run at all, she always wins in a landslide or gets the job back by default. |
| 68 | * ''Webcomic/ScarletLady'' has the Weather Girl competition in "Stormy Weather". Alec taunts Aurore by commenting on how she lost by "half a million votes... or was it a million?" As it turns out, though, [[spoiler:the station deliberately rigged things so Mireille would win, and only produced merchandise for her]]. |
| 69 | * When King Cyprian of Venturia announces that he's going to secede from Atlantis in ''Fanfic/WithThisRing'', it causes a crisis, with King Orin of Atlantis alleging that he's not the rightful king and has no authority to do it. The protagonist persuades both parties that it would be worth putting it to a referendum (because even if it's not binding, King Orin is likely to respect the will of the people), and secession gets approximately ''98%'' of the vote. |
| 70 | * Tanya von Degurechaff's ruling coalition breaks some dozen chapters into ''Fanfic/AYoungWomansPoliticalRecord'' when the Germanian Nationalist Party leaves over her [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Beetle People's Car]] government enterprise. Seeing as this comes after a glorious victory against [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_the_Ruhr the Francois forces occupying the Rhine]], getting the Allied Nations to repeal the Treaty of Triano and getting started on Imperial Reunification with the Osterrian plebicite, not to mention her reputation as a great leader and charismatic hero, Tanya and her Germanian Workers' Party gets over seventy percent of the vote in the emergency elections even when she put no effort into campaigning. |
| 71 | [[/folder]] |
| 72 | |
| 73 | [[folder:Film -- Live-Action]] |
| 74 | * In ''Film/IMarriedAWitch'', Wallace Wooley, who has married Jennifer the witch (he thinks she's joking), is a candidate for governor. Jennifer uses her magic to make ''every voter in the state'' vote for him. A horrified Wally realizes that Jennifer really is a witch. |
| 75 | -->'''Wally:''' What if she runs me for President? |
| 76 | * ''Film/{{Juarez}}'': The French, who have invaded and occupied Mexico, rig a plebiscite that purports to show over 90% support for Archduke Maximilian coming to Mexico to be emperor. Maximilian, who is an idiot, believes it. |
| 77 | * In the film version of ''Literature/TheLastHurrah'', [[LoveableRogue Frank Skeffington]] expects to win re-election handily, and we are given little reason at first to suppose that he won't win by a landslide. In the end, the vote ''is'' a landslide victory -- for Skeffington's opponent, [[BrainlessBeauty Kevin McCluskey]]. The change in mood at Skeffington's headquarters as the returns come in is a highlight of the film. |
| 78 | * It's not mentioned onscreen, but [[AllThereInTheManual in the backstory]] for ''Franchise/StarWars Film/ThePhantomMenace'', Padme was elected Queen by an overwhelming margin. |
| 79 | [[/folder]] |
| 80 | |
| 81 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 82 | * In ''[[Literature/TrailOfGlory 1828: The Arkansas War]]'' it's mentioned that no-one ever runs against the Arkansas Confederacy's founder Patrrick Driscol in the elections for the chieftaincy of the Arkansas chiefdom. This bothers Driscol to no end, since he is a fervent democrat and republican who hates everything that smacks of autocracy and at one point he punches out a man who jokingly refers to him as "The Laird of Arkansas". |
| 83 | * The [[AntiHumanAlliance Antibat Party]] in Creator/{{Kurd Lasswitz}}'s ''Auf zwei Planeten'' is resoundingly defeated in the Martian parliamentary election at the climax. This is definitely a case of "one candidate self-sabotages" since party leader Oß [[AHeroToHisHometown (who was quite popular beforehand)]] announced his plans of ''[[KillAllHumans genocide]]''. |
| 84 | * ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'': Eugene Ellis becomes school president in a landslide, all because he promises the students better toilet paper in the bathrooms. |
| 85 | * Happens in one of the ''Literature/DonCamillo'' short stories, when Peppone has to face re-election as mayor. It's in fact expected for him to lose this way, as the opposing candidate from the Christian Democracy party is supported by a massive propaganda effort, while Peppone doesn't have the same support from the regional section of the Communist party. Then, on the eve of the election, Peppone asks the citizens of his small town to vote according on how well they think he did his job. He apparently did such a good job that even don Camillo, the ''town priest'', votes for him, allowing him to win by a great margin. |
| 86 | * A landslide is predicted at the end of ''Don Quixote, U.S.A.'', when the narrator has assumed the identity of a Caribbean insurgent, overthrown the dictator, and announced free elections. He refers to [[UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson Johnson]]'s election and says he'd be happy with sixty percent of the votes; his right-hand man says they'd have to run a crooked election to get '''less''' than ninety percent. The actual election results are never shown, but the narrator is still president years later. (''Film/{{Bananas}}'' was partly inspired by this book, though obviously with a rather different ending.) |
| 87 | * Exaggerated in the ''Literature/FrannyKStein'' book ''The Frandidate'', where Franny's Frandidate suit makes everyone in school find her so appealing that they don't even bother with an election and inaugurate Franny as class president on the spot. |
| 88 | * ''Literature/TheGreatGreeneHeist'': When Keith tries to replace the ballots for Gaby with ones for him before being caught, he's discouraged by how many there are. |
| 89 | --> ''[H]e hadn't counted on so many students voting for Gaby. (And by "so many," he meant "everyone.")'' |
| 90 | * In the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' series: |
| 91 | ** After the people of the newly liberated system of San Martin learn that the last commander of their pre-occupation Navy was among the people Honor liberated from Hades, Commodore Ramirez pretty much gets drafted into running for President. At that point, all but one of the original candidates promptly withdraw. The one candidate to stay in the election did so to keep Ramirez from running unopposed as a matter of principle, and conceded the election after receiving less than 10% of the vote. |
| 92 | ** President Eloise Pritchart, who had been tapped to head the interim government of the restored Republic of Haven by Thomas Theisman, won her first election by a ''thirty-point margin''. While less dramatic than the San Martin example above, her margin certainly underscores how beloved she is by her people and essentially puts the kibosh on anyone attempting to question her legitimacy as President. |
| 93 | * In the ''Literature/JoeSteele'' version of the 1932 election, Herbert Hoover takes Delaware, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine; Joe Steele (an Americanized version of Stalin) takes the rest of the country. In his subsequent terms, the landslides get even bigger (a drunken comment by one of his cronies while celebrating one of these elections suggests they're at least partially rigged). |
| 94 | * ''Literature/KentuckyFriedPolitics'': |
| 95 | ** The Colonel (R-KY) easily wins re-election with 364 electoral votes and 39.6 million ballots cast over Jack Kennedy (D-MA). |
| 96 | ** The 1976 presidential race has Walter Mondale (D-MN) win not just the Electoral College but the popular vote with 39 states (including Washington DC) and 48.3 million voters with 58.1% of the electorate while Ronald Reagan (R-CA) only won 11 states that amounted to just 33 million and 39.7% of eligible voters. |
| 97 | ** The 1984 US presidential election has incumbent president Jeremiah Denton (R-AL) grab 518 electoral college votes, compared to Mike Gravel (D-MA)'s 19, with 1 faithless elector. |
| 98 | ** Thanks to the after-effects of [[spoiler:Lee Iaccoca's assassination]], [[spoiler:Larry Dinger (R-IA)]] overwhelmingly wins the White House and sweeps John Glenn (D-OH), with almost all states voting Republican. |
| 99 | ** Jesse Jackson (D-SC) wins the 2004 election against Bernie Goetz (R-CO) by a wider margin than in 2000 thanks to a successful campaign that flipped six traditional Republican states which include Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, Iowa and Kansas. |
| 100 | ** The Donkey Tidal Wave of 1986 and the Red Wave of 1996 both result in the Democrats and the Republicans respectively taking control of Congress and the White House due to important events that dramatically affect American politics (the Great Potomac Scandals and [[spoiler:the Assassination of Lee Iacocca]]). |
| 101 | ** Incumbent President Kelsey Grammer (R-CA) wins renomination in the 2016 primaries nearly unanimously, not losing a ''single'' primary and only losing 27 non-bound delegates. And in the election proper, he wins twice as many states as his opponent Gary Locke (D-WA) and earns more than 100 more electoral votes. |
| 102 | ** Both of the main 2020 primary contestants turn into cases of this. On the Republican side, Rand Paul only takes Indiana and Maryland while splitting North Carolina with Harley Brown, who takes every other state. On the Democratic side, Charlotte Pritt takes 43 states, with the others divided among the other candidates. |
| 103 | * In the ''Literature/NewJediOrder'' novel ''Destiny's Way'', one of the B-plots involves the New Republic Senate trying to pull itself together after the loss of its capital, Coruscant. The first major step is replacing the Chief of State, who was killed in the attack. The initial voting comes out with four candidates of note: Cal Omas ([[ReasonableAuthorityFigure good]]), Fyor Rodan ([[EvilChancellor bad]]), Ta'laam Ranth ([[SleazyPolitician pragmatic]]), and Pwoe ([[LesCollaborateurs really bad]]; he's noteworthy mostly for having previously declared himself Chief of State, calling the election illegal, and ''[[EpicFail receiving three votes in total]]''). The three main candidates are pretty much even through the first portion of the book, with Ranth quickly falling back and planning to cut a deal with whoever pulls ahead to make a coalition government. Then the [[LoveableRogue Smuggler's Alliance]] steps in and strategically undercuts Rodan's support, mostly by revealing proof of his supporters' corruption and abuses of power, or blackmailing those supporters with the same. Once Omas jumps ahead of the other two, various individual Senators begin breaking ranks and coming over, hoping for favors once he's in the top seat, and Ranth withdraws in his favor -- leading Omas to win by ''85%'' of the vote. |
| 104 | * ''Literature/TheRuinsOfAnAmericanPartySystem'': In 1932, Floyd Olsen becomes the first Progressive elected as President when he wins 39 out of 48 states, with the remainder being split among the various other candidates. And even this gets outmatched in 1936, when Olson's Vice-President Fiorello [=LaGuardia=] wins all but four states. |
| 105 | * At the end of ''Storm of Swords'', the third book of ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', the Night's Watch needs to vote for a new Lord Commander. They've spent nine days with about nine or so candidates and none even coming close to the necessary two-thirds of the votes. King Stannis demanded on the tenth day that the Night's Watch ''would'' choose a commander, or they wouldn't eat. Earlier that day, Sam convinced the two leading candidates to support [[spoiler: Jon Snow]], and his friend Edd offered [[spoiler: Jon]]'s name for consideration that night. On the tenth night of the voting, a ''very'' surprised [[spoiler: Jon Snow]] wins. By a ''lot''. |
| 106 | * ''[[Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat The Stainless Steel Rat for President]]'': When [[GuileHero Jim DiGriz]] runs for president against the incumbent [[TheGeneralissimo Generalissimo]] Zapilote in a [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny rigged election]], he makes such a nuisance of himself that Zapilote publicly claims to have won every vote but two -- [=DiGriz=] and his running mate. This backfires, as it's such an obvious farce that [=DiGriz=] has grounds to contest the results and advance his own schemes. |
| 107 | * Harry Turtledove ''Literature/Timeline191'' series (in which the Confederacy won the Civil War) has at least two examples of this. The Socialist party came to power in the US in 1920, but after getting the blame for the Great Depression, get curbstomped by the Democratic candidate in 1932. Similarly, in the Confederacy, the Freedom Party (a stand-in for the Nazi Party, which never existed in this universe) combine people's frustration with the Whigs, their own Depression issues, a healthy dose of racism, and some violence to overwhelmingly win in 1933. |
| 108 | [[/folder]] |
| 109 | |
| 110 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 111 | * The election of David Palmer between Seasons 1 and 2 of ''Series/TwentyFour'' saw him win with 60% of the popular vote for reasons similar to those for the similarly decisive victory of UsefulNotes/BarackObama in the real 2008 election: an excellent campaign together with an uninspired opponent. |
| 112 | ** Though the exact results aren't revealed, Allison Taylor is said to have scored a similarly decisive victory prior to Season 7, due to a combination of being the first female nominee for president, and incumbent president Noah Daniels deliberately running a poor campaign due to his disillusionment with the office. |
| 113 | * In British drama series ''Series/TheAmazingMrsPritchard'', about an "ordinary" woman with no political experience who starts a new political party, the titular character ends up winning the General Election with 54% of the votes and 378 seats, with the Conservatives and Labour reduced to less than 270 seats between them. |
| 114 | * An episode of ''Series/BarneyMiller'' took place on election day. Inspector Luger is a strong proponent of a good friend of his who is running for office, even though the only thing that anybody else can remember about the candidate is that he was accused of being involved with bribery and corruption in the sanitation department (the Inspector's awkward attempts to defend the candidate on the grounds that "[[ImplausibleDeniability they couldn't prove any of that]]" only seem to confirm the truth of the accusations). Not surprisingly, the candidate loses by a margin of more than 5 to 1. |
| 115 | * ''Series/{{Blackadder}} the Third'' featured a by-election in "Dunny-on-the-Wold", a rotten borough (a real thing: a constituency in which, due to lack of any regular redistricting process and restrictive voter requirements, the number of constituents or actual voters was very low. This case was an extreme example with only one registered voter for the entire town [[note]]This is not far from TruthInTelevision; in the 19th century, two [=MPs=] were elected from Old Sarum by a total of 11 voters.[[/note]]) Baldrick was elected [[VoteEarlyVoteOften by 16,472 votes, with zero votes cast in opposition]]. Not surprisingly, the election was fixed: Blackadder took the place of the only eligible voter (who [[CutHimselfShaving "accidentally brutally cut his head off while combing his hair"]]) ''and'' the returning officer (who [[CutHimselfShaving "accidentally brutally stabbed himself in the stomach while shaving"]]). |
| 116 | * On ''Series/DanForMayor'' by election day Dan is expected to lose by a landslide with the polls showing him at less than 5% support. His main concern at that point is to actually come in second place so he can claim that he was a 'runner-up candidate'. The subversion comes right before the results are made official when the front-runner concedes the election since she has just been offered a position in the federal government. Dan does not want the job anymore but the only other candidate left is Wheelo The Clown. |
| 117 | * Seemingly played in one episode of the short-lived sitcom ''Series/DownHome''. Protagonist Kate runs against her ex-boyfriend in a mayoral election. After particularly revolting mud slinging from both sides, the election occurs and the previous mayor comes to Kate to inform her she's won the election two-to-one. |
| 118 | -->'''Kate:''' Wow, I thought that after that debate, people would be too disgusted to vote.\ |
| 119 | '''Mayor:''' Well, when I said "two-to-one"...\ |
| 120 | ''Pulls three ballots out of his pocket.'' |
| 121 | * ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': In season four [[LivingShip Moya]] and Pilot get tired of the conflicting orders being given by the rest of the cast and insist they elect a captain. Of the eight current occupants ([[EnemyMine Scorpius]] being a prisoner who doesn't get to vote), four of them vote for D'Argo. The editing makes it clear D'Argo voted for himself along with Crichton, Aeryn and Chiana. The other four all voted for different people, meaning none of their choices had a chance. |
| 122 | * ''Series/Fallout2024''; Vault 33 holds an election for Overseer in Episode 5, and former Overseer Betty Pearson wins with 98% of the vote (even one of her opponents voted for her). [[spoiler:Norman's snooping reveals the whole things is rigged- every single Overseer elected in Vaults 32 and 33 for the last two hundred years has been from Vault 31, and Betty is no exception. TheReveal in the finale is that the three Vaults are part of a social experiment by former Vault-Tec executive Bud Askins (himself the Overseer of Vault 31) to breed the perfect middle management class for Vault-Tec's vision of a post apocalyptic, corporate utopia, so residents are socially conditioned to vote for former Vault 31 dwellers to keep the experiment going]]. |
| 123 | * By season three of ''Series/{{Gotham}}'', Penguin has become such a VillainWithGoodPublicity that when he runs for Mayor of Gotham, he's able to absolutely crush incumbent Aubry James. ''Legitimately''. |
| 124 | * In the first season of ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', Mr. Lindermann uses Micah's technopathic ability to manipulate the electronic voting machines and fix Nathan Petrelli's election to Congress into a landslide victory. |
| 125 | * In the ''Series/{{Lewis}}'' episode "Wild Justice" the leadership election for the head of an Oxford college initially has four candidates: Caroline Hope, a modernist reformer; Joanne Pinnock, a more moderate reformer; Jeremy Swain, a moderate; and Stephen Blackmore, a traditionalist who is shown to have bigoted views. It's initially predicted to be a close race, but after Swain is murdered and Pinnock is forced to withdraw after the death of her son, all of their support goes to Hope, who easily crushes Blackmore in the ensuing vote. It's also indicated that Blackmore would likely have gotten his backside kicked even harder if not for the college's outgoing head covering up a scandal involving his illegally selling alcohol to students. |
| 126 | * One episode of ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' had a three-way race for class president between Kimberly, Tommy, and Bulk. Tommy bowed out to support Kimberly, while Bulk's weak campaign was while he was on that "find out the Power Ranger's identities" kick. Kimberly won, with Bulk only getting one vote, as his best friend Skull voted for her. |
| 127 | * ''Series/{{Monk}}'' had an episode where Natalie ran for school superintendent on a platform of saving her local school, against a rival of Monk's who wanted to close it down to save money. After two attempts are made on Natalie's life it's implied that the sympathy vote will likely bring her a big win, though Natalie herself is worried that she'll probably [[DecidedByOneVote lose by a single vote]] because Monk ran out of the polling booth before casting his vote after realizing who the criminal of the week really was. In the end, neither of these outcomes happen; Natalie actually ''loses'' by a landslide, thanks to the voters' desire to shave a few dollars off their tax bills outweighing any sympathy they may have had for her. |
| 128 | * The "Election Night Special" sketch on ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' featured a possible example; Silly candidate "Tarquin Fin-tim-lin-bin-whin-bim-lim-bus-stop-F'tang-F'tang-Olé-Biscuitbarrel" defeated Sensible Candidate Alan Jones, 58% to 42% -- quite a big swing considering that the Sensible Party previously held the seat. Both men thoroughly crushed the "Slightly Silly" independent, Kevin Phillips-Bong, who received ''zero'' votes. |
| 129 | * In one episode of ''Series/MyFamily'', Susan runs for the local council elections as an independent candidate. HilarityEnsues as it turns out that the issues she's campaigning for are the ''exact opposite'' of what the local electorate want (for example, she pledges to install more speed bumps, but the first voter she talks to excitedly asks whether she's going to remove all the speed bumps). On election day, when her opponent is declared the winner, Susan indignantly demands a recount, so the adjudicator recounts her ballots right there and then... all ''one'' of them. Even her own family members didn't vote for her! |
| 130 | * The ''Series/{{Skins}}'' election for student president; Naomi is the intelligent, politically inclined, idealistic, injustice-hating candidate who thinks she might be able to use the position to make a difference -- up against Cook, whose slogan is "vote for me -- I don't give a fuck either", and UpperClassTwit Crispin. Since all the students know that the election is largely a show for something that'll look good on the school's OFSTED report, they buy into Cook's anarchic philosophies instead. The teachers attempt to rig the result by stuffing the ballots for Cook into Harriet's bra, and declaring Naomi the winner. Naomi overheard their whole plan though, and since this is injustice-hating Naomi we're talking about she pulls out all the votes in front of everybody and gracefully concedes defeat. Then Cook promptly starts a riot. |
| 131 | * ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': Implied to be the case in the special election for Bajoran first minister in the third season. Kira notes that Shakaar is effectively running unopposed, with only niche, regional candidates running against him. |
| 132 | * The 2002 presidential election on ''Series/TheWestWing'' was originally predicted to be close, but instead turned into a landslide after President Bartlet ''[[CurbStompBattle eviscerated]]'' Governor Richie in the debate. Bartlet won 38 states, including states Democrats could never hope to win (the Dakotas, Louisiana, Kentucky, etc.) |
| 133 | [[/folder]] |
| 134 | |
| 135 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 136 | * In the SchoolFestival arc of ''VideoGame/Persona4'', the class votes on what they want their activity to be. The player is given several options to vote for, but [[ButThouMust it doesn't matter which one you pick]], because "Group Date Café" wins by an overwhelming majority. |
| 137 | * This is a possible outcome in the ''VideoGame/{{Tropico}}'' games, generally depending on how high your approval rating is. Should you win an election this way, Penultimo will say "The election is a landslide! The metaphorical kind, not the kind that accidentally reduces the size of the workforce!" |
| 138 | * In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsIntoReverie'', two of these happen for the Student Council Presidencies of two separate schools. In both cases it was accidental - Ash didn't even know there was an election going on, or that he was on the ballot, and Renne explicitly wasn't running, but after exposing the corruption of the previous leading candidate, she was elected as a write-in candidate. |
| 139 | [[/folder]] |
| 140 | |
| 141 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 142 | * ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'': In "[[Recap/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehogS01E63SonicIsRunning Sonic is Running]]", Momma Robotnik forces Dr. Robotnik to run for president of Mobius, and Sonic runs against him. The episode ends with Sonic winning the election with 90,000,000 votes, while Robotnik only gets one vote (his own). Not even Scratch, Grounder, or Momma voted for him, since the former forgot to vote at all and the latter was so disgusted by her son's campaign that she actually voted for Sonic or Henry Walrus. |
| 143 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfSuperMarioBros3'' episode "Princess Toadstool for President", Princess Toadstool wins an election over King Koopa with over 6 million votes. Koopa's lone vote was his own, meaning [[EvenEvilHasStandards not even his children or his minions voted for him!]] |
| 144 | * ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'' were once given an assignment for History class in which they were required to run for class president. The school only gives them one vote (can you blame them?), but they briefly misinterpret the report to mean they lost by one vote. |
| 145 | * Two examples in ''WesternAnimation/BeverlyHillsTeens'': |
| 146 | ** "The Dog Ate My Homework": Larke wins the title of the Midnight Ball Princess 82 votes against one. Bianca realizes not even Wilshire voted for her. |
| 147 | ** In "Poll Climbers", Shanelle wins with 95% of the votes once Bianca's scheming is revealed. |
| 148 | * An episode of ''WesternAnimation/BlinkyBill'' featured an election for club president that Danny Dingo won by 47 votes to 2, even though there were only six club members. |
| 149 | * The ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' episode "For the Ed, By the Ed" had Eddy going against Plank (a literal board of wood) for the title King of the Cul-de-sac. Plank wins the election easily: out of eight votes, only Eddy voted for himself, Rolf [[TakeAThirdOption wrote himself in]], Ed voted for a half-eaten cookie, and the majority of five votes voted for Plank because no one likes Eddy. Even Double D couldn't bring himself to vote for Eddy after the way he acted. (And sure enough, Eddy had also tried stuffing the ballot, but Double D anticipated this and put out a decoy box.) |
| 150 | -->'''Ed:''' Yeah! Way to lose, Eddy! |
| 151 | * In one ''WesternAnimation/FairlyOddParents'' episode, Timmy runs for Class President against popular kids Tad and Chad, who bribe everyone to vote for them with (among other things) cake. When Timmy shows up on the day of the vote, he finds that their cakes made everyone else sick and he's the only one eligible to vote. He therefore wins after casting the only vote for himself. |
| 152 | * On the ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero'' episode "Cobra's Candidate," a mayoral candidate just discovered by his constituents to be working with [[NebulousEvilOrganization Cobra]] loses by a margin of ''2 to 2.1 million'', with his only two votes suggested to have come from his wife and mother. They turn out be from [[SingleMindedTwins Tomax and Xamot]], who promptly rip up their election stubs out of frustration. |
| 153 | * In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' Quentin Trembley, the 8th & 1/2 President of the United States, won by a landslide -- as in [[LiteralMetaphor all the other candidates were literally buried by a landslide]]. |
| 154 | ** In [[Recap/GravityFallsS2E14TheStanchurianCandidate "The Stanchurian Candidate"]] the town overwhelmingly votes for Grunkle Stan for mayor by burying him in birdseed [[ItMakesSenseInContext (like everything else in Gravity Falls, its election processes are extremely weird)]]. [[spoiler:[[ShaggyDogStory And then the election is invalidated because Stan never submitted the proper paperwork;]] in fact, only one person did, making [[RecurringExtra Tyler Cutebiker]] the new mayor [[DisqualificationInducedVictory by default]].]] |
| 155 | * ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In the season 5 episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E19CrusadersOfTheLostMark Crusaders of the Lost Mark]]", Pipsqueak runs for class president against Diamond Tiara. Diamond's campaign is based on getting a huge statue of herself at the school; she resorts to blackmail and bribery to try to get votes. Pipsqueak's goal is to get new playground equipment to replace what was damaged or destroyed during Twilight's fight with Tirek in the season 4 finale, and runs a fair campaign (with the help of the Crusaders), which leads to him getting every vote but Diamond Tiara's (she votes for herself, naturally). Even ''[[BetaBitch Silver Spoon]]'' doesn't vote for her. |
| 156 | * An episode of |
| 157 | ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' has Rocko running against Ed Bighead for dogcatcher. Ed bolsters his image with comically large shoulders and launches [[AttackOfThePoliticalAd a giant smear campaign against Rocko]], blaming him for everything from the fall of Rome to the sinking of the Titanic. Ed ends up getting 256,724 votes while Rocko gets only two -- Rocko himself and Filburt -- Heffer breaks down and admits ''even he'' couldn't vote against Ed after his campaign. Fortunately, LaserGuidedKarma comes back to bite Ed in the butt when an amendment was passed that resulted in him [[PyrrhicVictory being reduced to a glorified pooper scooper]]. |
| 158 | * A similar joke was used in a ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'' short, where Bullwinkle is running for club president. He's the first on the clubhouse on voting day when Boris calls to tell him he won by a landslide... because a landslide has buried the clubhouse, making Bullwinkle the only one able to vote. Too bad he voted for Rocky. |
| 159 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' saw Sideshow Bob (a convicted felon) defeat incumbent Mayor "Diamond" Joe Quimby (also a convicted felon) in a shocking landslide, with Bob getting at least 99% of the vote. It subsequently turns out that Bob rigged the election by fraudulently adding votes from dead people onto his list, [[AndYourLittleDogToo even the Simpsons' dead cat, Snowball]]. However, it's implied (and confirmed via WordOfGod) that [[DickDastardlyStopsToCheat Bob would actually have won the election anyway]] due the voters being fed up with Quimby, whose performance was further sabotaged by the Simpsons unwittingly giving him super-drowsy cough medicine before an all-important debate, but in true Nixon style Bob just ''had'' to ensure victory in the dirtiest manner possible. |
| 160 | ** The episode "E Pluribus Wiggum" also saw [[TheDitz Ralph Wiggum]] win the first Presidential Primary in the United States by a massive landslide. The voters, fed up and angry, deliberately chose to vote for the biggest moron they could find. |
| 161 | ** "Lisa's Substitute", where a new class president would be elected was this. Only because two people in the entire class voted, resulting in "one for Martin, two for Martin!" |
| 162 | --> '''Bart''': If only [[DecidedByOneVote me, Millhouse and Louis would have voted...]] |
| 163 | ** In "Last Exit to Springfield", the workers' union votes Homer as president on a charismatic day and later agrees to a strike with a unanimous-sounding "Aye" to a wimpy voice registering a lone "Nay" both times. (The second time, Homer asks who keeps saying that, the crowd focuses on an appropriately scrawny man, and he directs their attention to a muscular fellow in a chair and manages to sway them to, "It was him... get him!") |
| 164 | ** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E23MuchApuAboutNothing Much Apu About Nothing]]" has Proposition 24 (which would force all illegal immigrants in Springfield to be deported) pass with 95% of the votes, despite campaigning against it by Homer. |
| 165 | * ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': |
| 166 | ** "Douche and Turd" had [[AnimalWrongsGroup PETA]] force South Park Elementary to change its school mascot from a cow to something else, since they disapprove of animals being exploited in such a way. The two frontrunners of the ensuing election are the titular Giant Douche and Turd Sandwich, with Stan refusing to vote since he doesn't like either candidate. Everyone in town is appalled by this and tries to teach him about the importance of voting (of course, it turns out most of them only want him to vote [[OpinionMyopia because they assume he will automatically vote for]] ''[[OpinionMyopia their]]'' [[OpinionMyopia candidate if he does]]). One person even tells him that ''every'' election essentially boils down to having to pick between a douche and a turd anyway, so he might as well get used to it. Then [[Music/SeanCombs Puff Daddy]] shows up with a ''literal'' "Vote or Die" campaign, and tries to kill him for not voting. Stan finally breaks and votes for Turd Sandwich, and the whole thing is set up like it's going to be a DecidedByOneVote scenario. Except when the votes are counted, Giant Douche wins by a landslide of 1410 to 36. Stan complains that after all that, his vote didn't even matter in the end. His parents tell him that no, [[AnAesop even if his candidate didn't win, every vote still matters and the important thing is that he voted at all]]. Then Mr. Garrison comes in announcing that all the PETA members had been found dead (Puff Daddy killed them earlier for throwing blood on his fur coat), so [[ShaggyDogStory the school can keep using a cow as its mascot after all]]. |
| 167 | --->'''Randy:''' ''Now'' your vote didn't matter. |
| 168 | ** Mr. Garrison beats UsefulNotes/HillaryRodhamClinton with over 66% of the popular vote. Randy reacts [[Film/PlanetOfTheApes1968 as if he saw the Statue of Liberty in the sand]] and one guy shoots himself. |
| 169 | * A ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' promotional marathon has Patrick and Larry run against each other for president, with viewers at home picking who would win. Patrick won 100% of the whole country. |
| 170 | [[/folder]] |
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