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South Carolina has taken part in all U.S. presidential elections ever held, with the exception of the 1864 election when the Palmetto State was a part of the Confederate States of America. In these 58 elections, South Carolina has allocated all of its electoral votes to the nationwide winner on 33 occasions, giving a success rate of 57 percent (one of the lowest in the country). South Carolina, as with other southern states, was a Democratic stronghold throughout most of the nineteenth century, before turning Republican in the 1960s; South Carolina has voted for the Republican Party's nominee in all elections since 1980, and in 14 of the 15 most recent elections. In the 2020 election, South Carolina was a comfortable victory for Donald Trump, although his margin of victory was lower than his 14 point victory there in the 2016 election.

South Carolinians in the White House

Only one U.S. president, Andrew Jackson, was born in South Carolina, however, he was born there during the colonial era and the exact location remains unknown. It is known that Jackson was born in the Waxhaws region along the border of North and South Carolina; some historians have suggested that Jackson was born on the northern side of the border, and that he only claimed to be from the south to garner political support, however most historians have accepted Jackson's claim that he was born south of the border. Charles C. Pinckney is the only other South Carolinian to have headed a major party ticket, although he lost in both the 1804 and 1808 elections, while Strom Thurmond was the only third-party candidate from South Carolina to win electoral votes.

Electoral votes

As with most of the original thirteen colonies, South Carolina's influence on presidential elections has generally decreased throughout U.S. history. In early elections, South Carolina's allocation of electoral votes increased from seven in 1789, to eleven votes between 1812 and 1840. This number then fell going into the Civil War and Reconstruction era, before plateauing at eight or nine votes since 1884. South Carolina holds the distinction of being the final state to introduce a popular voting system to choose the statewide winner, making the switch after it was readmitted to the union in 1868; the winners in all presidential elections held in South Carolina between 1789 and 1860 were decided by the state legislature.