In the presidential election, Democratic former senator Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire defeated Whig General Winfield Scott.

[3] Pierce won the popular vote by a margin of seven percent, and dominated the electoral college.

Pierce won on the 49th ballot of the 1852 Democratic National Convention, defeating 1848 nominee Lewis Cass, former Secretary of State James Buchanan, former Secretary of War William L. Marcy, and Senator Stephen A. Douglas from Illinois.

However, this election was also the last time a Democratic candidate would win a majority of the popular and electoral vote until Franklin D. Roosevelt did so in 1932.

[4] In the Senate, Democrats won minor gains, maintaining their commanding majority.