Since Wisconsin's admission to the Union in May 1848, it has participated in 44 U.S. presidential elections. In 1924, Robert M. La Follette became the only third-party presidential candidate to win in Wisconsin, taking 53.96% of the popular vote. Since 1988, Wisconsin has leaned towards the Democratic Party in presidential elections, although Republican Donald Trump won the state by a margin of 0.77 percentage points. Wisconsin is tied with Michigan and Pennsylvania for the longest active streak of voting for the winning candidate, last voting for a losing candidate in 2004.
In the 2020 presidential election, Democrat Joe Biden won Wisconsin, defeating Trump by 0.62 percentage points. During the 2021 United States Electoral College vote count, 36 members of the House of Representatives objected to the certification of Wisconsin's electoral votes because of unsubstantiated claims of election fraud, but the objection failed because it was not joined by a senator.
In the 2024 presidential election, Republican candidate Donald Trump won Wisconsin by 0.87 percentage points over Kamala Harris.
The election of 1860 was a complex realigning election in which the breakdown of the previous two-party alignment culminated in four parties each competing for influence in different parts of the country. The result of the election, with the victory of an ardent opponent of slavery, spurred the secession of eleven states and brought about the American Civil War.