2020 Presidential Election
The 2020 United States presidential election was the 59th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and incumbent U.S. senator from California Kamala Harris defeated the Republican ticket of incumbent president Donald Trump and vice president Mike Pence.
Trump became the first U.S. president since George H. W. Bush in 1992 and the eleventh incumbent in the country's history to lose a bid for a second term, and Biden won the largest percentage of the popular vote of any challenger since 1932. The election saw the highest voter turnout since 1900, with each of the two main tickets receiving more votes than in any prior presidential election.
Trump secured the Republican nomination without serious opposition, while Biden secured the Democratic nomination over his closest rival, Senator Bernie Sanders, in a competitive primary that featured the largest field of candidates for any political party in the modern era of American politics. Biden's running mate, Senator Harris from California, was the first African-American, first Asian-American, and third female vice presidential nominee on a major party ticket.
Central issues of the election included the public health and economic impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic; civil unrest in reaction to the killing of George Floyd and others; the U.S. Supreme Court following the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett; and the future of the Affordable Care Act.
The election saw a record number of ballots cast early and by mail due to the ongoing pandemic. As a result of the large number of mail-in ballots, some swing states saw delays in vote counting and reporting; this led to major news outlets delaying their projection of Biden and Harris as the winners until the morning of November 7. Before, during, and after Election Day, Trump and numerous Republicans attempted to subvert the election and overturn the results, falsely alleging widespread voter fraud and trying to influence the vote counting process in swing states. Attorney General William Barr and officials in each of the 50 states found no evidence of widespread fraud or irregularities in the election. Federal agencies overseeing election security said it was the most secure in American history.
Source: Wikipedia
2020 Election Results
| Candidate | Party | Electoral Votes | Popular Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ✓ | Joseph R. Biden | Democratic | 306 | 81,268,867 | |
| Donald J. Trump (I) | Republican | 232 | 74,216,747 | ||
| Jo Jorgensen | Libertarian | 0 | 1,865,720 |
2020 Election Facts
- Issues of the Day: COVID-19 pandemic, racial tensions, deeply polarized electorate
- Kamala Harris first woman elected to be vice-president
- Biden and Trump each received more votes than any prior presidential candidates
- Trump only president to be renominated after being impeached and the only president to be impeached twice
- Biden won Maine but Trump earned an electoral vote by winning the popular vote in the 2nd Congressional District. The reverse happened in Nebraska. This marked the first time that both states have split their electoral votes in the same election since moving to a congressional district method.
Margin of Victory Map
This map is shaded by how large the popular vote difference was between the two nominees. It is a way to view the relative competitiveness of each state. These maps are also available as a timeline for each election from 1972-2020.
