Presidents Who Didn’t Win a Second Term

On Jan. 20, 2025, Donald Trump was sworn into office, succeeding Joseph R. Biden. The two commanders-in-chief had one thing in common: they had both lost reelection bids. While Biden had defeated Trump four years earlier, he would also leave office after a single term.

According to the Washington Post, of the 45 commanders-in-chief who served before Biden, 10 ran again for the nation’s highest office but could not secure a second term.

Three others served one term by choice. Although he originally sought a second term, Biden’s campaign collapsed before his party’s nominating convention. Trump is only the second president to serve non-consecutive terms after Grover Cleveland was elected in 1885 and 1893.

Here’s a look at the nation’s one-term leaders who were unable to leverage their incumbent advantage.  

Key Takeaways

• Ten former U.S. presidents ran for reelection were unable to win second terms, including Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, and Joe Biden.
• Some presidents were unable to make serious inroads with voters of the other party; others, like George H.W. Bush, experienced broad approval while in office only to see their approval plummet before a follow-up election.
• Several chief executives either never sought a second term or failed to win the nomination of their party.
• Joe Biden initially sought reelection but dropped out after a disastrous debate performance.
• Donald Trump lost his first reelection bid but regained the presidency four years later.

John Adams

Term: 1797-1801

The nation’s second president was also its first one-termer. He became George Washington’s successor based on his laudable career as a lawyer and diplomat. But a series of controversies, including his support of the Alien and Sedition Acts—which many saw as a violation of First Amendment rights—eroded his popularity.

He lost to Thomas Jefferson in a particularly acrimonious election in 1800. However, the two founding fathers struck up a correspondence in their later years. And, in one of the nation’s remarkable coincidences, both men died within hours of each other, 50 years to the day after the Declaration of Independence was signed.

John Quincy Adams

Term: 1825-1829

Like his father in 1800, John Quincy Adams failed to repeat his presidential victory four years after making it to the White House. Adams was in some ways a highly consequential statesman, formulating the Monroe Doctrine, which aimed to bolster U.S. influence over the Western hemisphere. Among its core tenets was a willingness to intervene against European powers in any efforts to squash independence movements in Latin America.

However, the sixth president was plagued by accusations of corruption and became a casualty of a shifting political climate. His National Republican party had lost clout during his presidency, and the fact that most states had since shifted to a popular vote of electors, rather than state legislatures, worked in rival Andrew Jackson’s favor.

Martin Van Buren

Term: 1837-1841

A former secretary of state, Martin Van Buren became the first president who had never been a British subject. The eighth president failed to garner a second term, something that may have had more to do with his predecessor’s policies than his own.

Years earlier, President Andrew Jackson had folded the Second Bank of the United States, which some saw as a stabilizing force for the economy. When the financial markets took a downward during Van Buren’s first year in office, his White House biography notes, there was little way of controlling inflation. Meanwhile, an expansion westward that was fueled by easy credit meant that many settlers lost their property during the financial panic of 1837 and five years of ensuing depression. Van Buren, who railed against central banks, could do little to stop the economic mess, and he was defeated in 1840 by William Henry Harrison, who died just 32 days into his term.

Benjamin Harrison

Term: 1889-1893

Long before Bill Clinton’s campaign adopted the informal motto, “It’s the economy, stupid,” the health of the country’s markets often determined the fate of its leaders. That was certainly true of Benjamin Harrison, who presided over a disastrous economic situation during his one term. 

Harrison simultaneously advanced protectionist policies (passing the McKinley Tariff Act of 1890) and appeased reformers by breaking up monopolies (signing the Sherman Antitrust Act). Unfortunately for Harrison, the country’s woes continued throughout his time in office, with labor strikes making headlines leading up to the election of 1892.

When his wife, Caroline, fell gravely ill, the Republican was unable to campaign extensively; this further diminished his chances. Harrison lost his reelection bid to Grover Cleveland, who acquired nearly twice as many electoral votes despite receiving only about 400,000 more popular votes than Harrison.

William Taft

Term: 1909-1913

Though the legal profession was more his passion than the world of politics, William Taft became the 27th President of the United States, serving between 1909 and 1913. It was the friendship of his predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt, that helped Taft win the election in 1908. However, his relationship with Roosevelt soured while in office, with his mentor believing Taft fell short of delivering the progressive agenda he had hoped for. 

Roosevelt ran as a third-party candidate in the 1912 election, drawing votes away from Taft; in the end, both were defeated by Woodrow Wilson. But that didn’t end the Ohioan’s life in the public arena. He went on to become chief justice of the United States in 1921, making him the only person to serve as both president and as a member of the country’s highest court.

Herbert Hoover

Term: 1929-1933

A former secretary of commerce, Herbert Hoover’s promise to continue the economic achievements of the previous decade helped him win the presidency in 1928. His party’s pledge (“A chicken for every pot and a car in every backyard”) spoke to a deep-seated optimism about the direction of the economy and of the country.

All that changed when the stock market crashed immediately after Hoover entered office, leading to the Great Depression. Hoover’s inability to stem the economic and financial losses proved disastrous. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act that he signed into law raised the price of important goods, and his initial unwillingness to let the government interfere with the markets was widely seen as prolonging the economic malaise. With trust in his leadership eroding, he was defeated in the 1932 election by Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Gerald Ford

Term: 1974-1977

Gerald Ford occupied the White House from 1974 to 1977, but was never elected on a presidential ticket. He became vice president under the 25th Amendment when President Richard Nixon’s Vice President, Spiro Agnew, resigned in disgrace. As Agnew’s replacement in the order of presidential succession, he ascended to the presidency when the Watergate scandal forced Nixon to resign.

While in office, Ford pardoned Nixon of all crimes committed while president, an enormously unpopular decision. His chances of reelection were further undermined by low economic growth and inflation—a combination known as “stagflation.” He went on to lose the 1976 election, garnering 240 electoral votes compared to the 297 that Jimmy Carter attained.

Jimmy Carter

Term: 1977-1981

The man who beat Ford in the 1976 presidential campaign didn’t fare any better. During his presidency from 1977 to 1981, Jimmy Carter’s administration was beset by a torrent of calamities. The nation’s continued stagflation was compounded by an energy crisis that caused skyrocketing gas prices and shortages at the pump. At one point, the so-called “misery index”—the unemployment rate plus inflation—reached a previously unthinkable 21.98%.

The former peanut farmer had his share of foreign policy troubles as well. (His important role in brokering a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt notwithstanding.) There was the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan—which reignited Cold War tensions—as well as the unsuccessful rescue of U.S. hostages in Iran near the end of his term. Carter candidly spoke about the eroding of confidence in the future in what came to be known as his “malaise speech,” which may have sealed his fate. He was roundly defeated by Ronald Reagan in the 1980 election, winning just six states and the District of Columbia.

However, Carter has had an unusually active post-presidential career, during which he has promoted peace efforts and diplomacy around the world. He was awarded the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”

George H.W. Bush

Term: 1989-1993

A little over a year into George H.W. Bush’s term, reelection looked almost inevitable. He was given credit for successfully managing foreign affairs after the collapse of the Soviet Union. And he helped amass a vast coalition of countries that liberated Kuwait from an Iraqi invasion. By February of 1991, Bush enjoyed a sky-high approval rating of 89%.

Unfortunately for the 41st president, it was all downhill from there. His raising of taxes, despite a famous 1988 campaign pledge to do no such thing, eroded trust among conservative voters. An ill-timed recession late in his presidency—combined with poor debate performances against Democratic challenger Bill Clinton and third-party candidate Ross Perot—proved too damaging to overcome. Clinton would go on to garner 370 electoral votes in the 1992 election, compared to just 168 for Bush.

Joe Biden

When Joe Biden was elected in 2020, he had the highest popular vote total of any presidential candidate to date. A bungled pandemic response, along with public outrage following the murder of George Floyd, allowed him to handily defeat Donald Trump.

Once in office, Biden struggled to accomplish some of his promises. A proposed $15 minimum wage was permanently shelved, and a plan for partial student loan forgiveness was stuck in legal limbo. Meanwhile, consumer prices spiked due to supply chain shortages, causing inflation to peak at over 9%.

But Biden’s biggest liability was his advanced age: On the day he took the oath of office, he was already the oldest president in history. Even before his election, skeptics from both parties had asked if Biden’s cognitive faculties had diminished, pointing to a worsening stutter and a meandering attention span.

Although party loyalists attempted to downplay his decline, an incoherent appearance at the presidential debates spelled the end of Biden’s reelection campaign. Shortly before the Democratic Party convention, Joe Biden dropped out of the race, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to run in his stead. With only 107 days remaining, Harris was unable to gain traction among voters, causing Donald Trump to win a second term in office.

Donald Trump

Term: 2017-2021, reelected in 2025.

Donald Trump was—and still is—perhaps the most polarizing president in the modern era. The brash real estate tycoon was beloved by Republican voters, at one point achieving a 95% approval rating within his party in the year of his first reelection bid. Many on the right continue to see Trump as a political hero, nominating three conservative justices to the Supreme Court, pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accord, and passing a major tax cut that many saw as widening the wealth gap.

For those very reasons—and his perceived uneven response to the COVID-19 pandemic—he never polled particularly well with Democrats or independents. He was the first president to be impeached twice. He had an overall Gallup approval rating of 46% in the month before the 2020 election. After he lost his reelection bid by 74 electoral votes, many assumed that Trump’s political career was finished.

Trump maintained that Biden’s win was the result of election fraud, although subsequent state audits, as well as dozens of failed lawsuits over the election results, proved otherwise. Though he was again acquitted after his second impeachment—this time for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the Capitol building—critics contend that his unsubstantiated claims incited the participants. After leaving office, Trump faced dozens of felony counts and multiple court cases, and became the first-ever prominent presidential candidate with a felony conviction.

Nonetheless, Trump announced a third run for the White House in 2022, accusing the Biden administration of rampant corruption and self-dealing. Repeated scandals involving the Biden family, along with surging levels of inflation and illegal immigration helped propel Trump back to the presidency in 2024. He is only the second president to serve non-consecutive terms after Grover Cleveland was elected in 1885 and 1893.

How Many U.S. Presidents Were Not Able to Win a Second Term?

Ten presidents served one term or less without being reelected. These include John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren, Benjamin Harrison, William Taft, Herbert Hoover, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and George H.W. Bush. In addition, Joe Biden sought a second term but dropped out before his party’s nominating convention. Three others did not seek a second term. While Donald Trump lost his first reelection bid in 2020, he returned to the White House in 2025.

Which One-Term President Lost Reelection by the Widest Margin?

Jimmy Carter lost his reelection bid by the widest margin in history. Carter won just six states and the District of Columbia, giving him 49 electoral votes. Republican Ronald Reagan cruised to victory with a staggering 489 electoral votes. 

Which One-Term President Achieved the Highest Approval Rating While in Office?

The 41st president may have experienced the steepest downward slide of any commander-in-chief. On the heels of victory in the first Gulf War, in February 1991, George H.W. Bush enjoyed a Gallup approval rating of 89%. Just over a year later, a sputtering economy and rising inner-city crime caused that number to drop down to 29%.  He lost his reelection effort to Bill Clinton in 1992.

Did Any U.S. President Serve One Term by Choice?

Several presidents never sought reelection. James Polk, James Buchanan, and Rutherford B. Hayes all made assurances that they would only serve for one term—a promise that they kept. That may have worked out for the best in the case of Polk, who left office exhausted and died three months after the end of his term.

Lyndon Johnson, who took over after John F. Kennedy’s assassination—and was elected in 1964—shocked the nation by declining to run again four years later. Calvin Coolidge and Harry Truman—who similarly stepped into the Oval Office after a president died—also decided to serve only one term.

In the 19th Century, there were multiple cases of men who stepped into the presidency after a death but never ran at the top of a ticket. Millard Fillmore, who became chief executive when Zachary Taylor died in office, was one such example. Both Andrew Johnson, who came to power after Abraham Lincoln’s shooting, and Chester A. Arthur, who became commander-in-chief after James A. Garfield’s assassination, never received their party’s nomination.

The Bottom Line

Examining the history of U.S. presidents limited to a single term reveals a diverse range of leaders navigating complex challenges. From John Adams to Joe Biden, these figures faced controversies, economic fluctuations, and changing political landscapes. Notably, some, like George H.W. Bush, initially enjoyed high approval ratings but encountered unexpected hurdles, while others, such as Jimmy Carter, dealt with a series of crises. Even experienced leaders can find themselves on the unfavorable side of the political spectrum.