The last time a losing presidential candidate led by this much was in 1876

Rutherford B. Hayes, the last president who lost the popular vote as widely as Trump did.
(Image credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Hillary Clinton now leads President-elect Donald Trump by more than 1.72 million popular votes. That gives Clinton a 1.3 percentage point lead, with millions of votes still to be counted. While it's certainly not unprecedented for a candidate to win the popular vote but lose the election, The New York Times reports that a losing candidate hasn't claimed a lead this big since the 1876 presidential race between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel J. Tilden.

That election was "one of the most disputed presidential elections in American history," 270 to Win writes. Tilden claimed the popular vote, winning by a margin of more than 264,000 votes. But he ultimately lost the election by just one electoral vote — and that's where matters got contentious.

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