A voting map of the United States for the Presidential election of 2000 showing that 30 states voted for G W Bush, a Republican (mostly southern and western states) and 20 states voted for Gore, a Democrat (northern and Pacific coast states). The electoral vote was 271 for Bush (50.5 percent) and 266 for Gore (49.5 percent). Popular vote was 50,455,156 for Bush (47.9 percent) and 50,992,335 for Gore (48.4 percent). Image courtesy of the National Atlas of the United States The presidential election of 2000 is an example of how a candidate can receive the greatest share of the popular vote, but lose the election to an opponent. Use the above map to explain why George W. Bush (shown in yellow) won this election, instead of Al Gore (shown in blue).