History Main / LandslideElection

** One candidate self-sabotages, be it from personal baggage, scandal, criminal proceedings, or a huge gaffe, handing victory to the opposition.

* 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 WorldOfCardboardSpeech, but Tamaki goaded him into continuing due to her {{Pride}}. Only two people voted for Tamaki while everyone else voted for Masaharu.

** Mr. Garrison beats UsefulNotes/HillaryRodhamClinton with over 66% of the popular vote. Randy reacts [[Film/PlanetOfTheApes as if he saw the Statue of Liberty in the sand]] and one guy shoots himself.

* ''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.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'':
** "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]].
--->'''Randy:''' ''Now'' your vote didn't matter.
** Mr. Garrison beats UsefulNotes/HillaryRodhamClinton with over 66% of the popular vote. Randy reacts [[Film/PlanetOfTheApes as if he saw the Statue of Liberty in the sand]] and one guy shoots himself.

* In one episode of ''Series/MyFamily'', Susan runs for the local council elections as an independent candidate. HiralityEnsues as she realises that the issues she's campaigning for are the ''exact opposite'' of what the local electorate want (for example, she pledges to install extra speed bumps, but the first voter she talks to excitedly asks if she's going to remove the existing ones). This trope kicks in when, after it's declared that her opponent has won, Susan indignantly demands a recount. The adjudicator recounts her ballots right there and then... all ''one'' of them. Even her own family members didn't vote for her.

* ''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 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.

* 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.

** The usual aftermath is averted, however: while Bartlet is a compellingly charismatic leader who wins all his personal elections comfortably, his party never manages to profit from it, and he has to govern with a hostile congress throughout his term of office. Disappointed party members accusingly call him "The lonely landslide". Of course, if the Republicans didn't have power throughout the series, it would have undermined their status as the opposition, since audiences tend to root for the underdog.

* The ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Douche and Turd" featured an election for the position of "school mascot" between the title characters. The whole episode appeared to be a [[SubvertedTrope set-up]] for a DecidedByOneVote scenario, with AnAesop about the importance of voting. After Stan is ''finally'' persuaded to cast his vote, which he does for the Turd Sandwich, the Giant Douche wins the election, 1410 to 36. To [[FromBadToWorse make matters worse]], a messenger arrives just after the results are read to tell the characters that outside circumstances had [[SpoofAesop rendered the whole election unnecessary]], and ''neither'' candidate would take his place as mascot.

* 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 [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome pulls out all the votes in front of everybody and gracefully concedes defeat]]. And Cook promptly starts a riot.

** "The Dog Ate My Homework": Larke wins the title of the Midnight Ball Princess 82 votes against one. Leading to a SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}} once Bianca realizes not even Wilshire voted for her.

* Tanya von Degurechaff's ruling coalition breaks some dozen chapters into ''FanFic/AYoungWomansPoliticalRecord'' when the Germanian Nationalist Party leaves over her 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.

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.

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.

--> '''Wally:''' What if she runs me for President?

* 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]]''.

* 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 [[HeroToHisHometown (who is quite popular)]] announced his plans of ''[[KillAllHumans genocide]]''.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' has Rocko running against Ed Bighead for dogcatcher. Ed bolsters his image with comically large shoulders and launches 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.

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--> '''Wally''': What if she runs me for President?

* In the SchoolFestival arc of ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'', 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 Cafe" wins by an overwhelming majority.

* ''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.
* ''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.