Romney-Obama Results Close But Electoral College Decides?

History Lessons May Predict The Results For 2012 Presidential Winner

It's going to be close, both President Obama and Mitt Romney predicts a win for themselves. But would you want to bet on the outcome, or maybe just flip a coin to determine the winner today.

And that's assuming there's going to be a winner. Everyone should have their lawyers ready for what may be the inevitable legal battles that are sure to be seen in coming hours.

Historically here have been some very close races for the Presidency, won in the Electoral College but losing the popular vote, and even more races won by large margins in the College but small percentages in the popular voting.

The closest Electoral College vote was in 1876 when Rutherford Hayes (R) defeats Samuel Tilden (D) by 1 Electoral Vote, but loses the popular vote to Tilden by 3%.

In 2000 George W. Bush (R) defeats Al Gore (D) by 5 Electoral Votes but loses the popular vote by .5%.

Here's a list (in order of the winning margin of Electoral Votes) demonstrating how the popular vote can be very close even with a large difference in the College vote:

In 1960 John F. Kennedy (D) defeats Richard Nixon (R) by a large margin of 84 Electoral Votes and won the popular vote by only .2%. In 1844 James Polk (D) defeats Henry Clay (Whig) by 65 Electoral Votes and won the popular vote by 1.4%.

In 1880 James Garfield (R) defeats Winfield Hancock (D) by 59 Electoral Votes and won the popular vote by .1%. In 1888 Benjamin Harrison (D) defeats Grover Cleveland (R) by 37 Electoral Votes but the popular vote by .8%.

In 1884 Grover Cleveland (D) defeats James Blaine (R) by 37 Electoral Votes and wins the popular vote by .7%. In 1848 Zachary Taylor (Whig) defeats Lewis Cass (D) by 36 Electoral Votes and wins the popular vote by 4.8%.

In 2004 George W. Bush (R) defeats John Kerry (D) by 35 Electoral Votes and wins the popular vote by 2.4%. In 1916 Woodrow Wilson (D) defeats Charles Hughes (R) by 23 Electoral Votes and wins the popular vote by 3.1%.

-data courtesy Ryan Borek