The number of votes cast for a winning candidate if the number is not more than one half of the total votes counted in the election. Such a result may commonly occur if there are more than two candidates running in the given election. The term is distinguished from majority only by the percentage of the vote received by the winning candidate. A plurality is achieved with less than 50% and a majority is achieved with more than 50%.
An example of a plurality result: In 1992, William Clinton won the state of Nevada with a plurality of the 506,318 votes cast for President: 189,148 votes (37.36%). George H.W. Bush received 175,828 votes (34.73%) and H. Ross Perot received 132,580 votes (26.19%) (See Nevada 1992 Summary Results).