Election of 1860: How Lincoln Could Have Lost the Election The election of 1860 brought a dramatic change in politics. The country had already been divided between the Northern states and the Southern states. There were disagreements over whether or not to expand territories and whether each state should join the Union. Furthermore, slavery was also a big problem. Not only was Lincoln not even on the ballot in nine Southern states, he won only 2 of the 996 counties in the entire South. Not only did Lincoln have no Southern support, he was also part of the Union and anti-slavery; his opinions could seriously have caused him to lose the race. Along with this, other things could have cost him victory at the end of the election, such as more votes from Southerners and if the Democratic Party had overtaken the Republican Party. Lincoln's candidates used several newspaper publications to convince voters not to vote for him. Many of them dealt with him and his anti-slavery feelings. Although Lincoln was a good man, he was not favored in the South as much as he was by Northerners. Abraham Lincoln was an abolitionist and wanted to improve America as a whole and unite the North and the South, which meant ending the great problem of slavery. The South was totally against the idea of ​​abolishing slavery and wanted no part of Lincoln's attitude towards equality among all men. He had virtually no support from the South. If more Southerners had voted, he would have lost the race definitively. Southerners used slaves to make most of their income and with Lincoln wanting them to free their slaves, which would cause them to lose profits; Southerners didn't want... middle of paper... people who gave them a reputation as an abolitionist party, which wasn't true. Lincoln's opponents and their slanderous newspapers were influencing citizens. With the talk of how slavery was an efficient way to do business, many men voted for Democrats or Republicans who did not oppose slavery. Since Lincoln was one of the few abolitionist candidates, he lost many votes. The people of the South and North were happy that Lincoln would definitely lose because he had almost no support from the South or any of the slave owners and those who were not against slavery. Even if more people in the North had been able to vote, all the people who didn't want to abolish slavery outnumbered them. The votes for Abraham Lincoln were plentiful, but if it had not been for the Electoral College he would have been defeated by a landslide.