# US History/2016 Vote

The 2016 election was an election to decide who would replace Barack Obama as president.

## Candidates
### Primaries
#### GOP

The GOP Primaries lasted from February 1st to June 7th, 2016.
Following an early polling lead in the run up to the primaries by Jeb Bush, he withdrew on February 20th, 2016. Following Jeb Bush's withdrawal, four major Republican candidates remained in the race: Businessman Donald Trump, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Ohio Governor John Kasich, and Florida Senator Marco Rubio.
Donald Trump's key platform promise in the race was construction of a "giant wall" on the United States-Mexico border. During the 2016 primary, much of Donald Trump's early support came from voters who believed the untrue claims that President Obama was a Muslim or born outside the United States. Trump also did well with blue-collar voters in the Rustbelt and Frostbelt, while Cruz did fairly well in the Rocky Mountain and Southern states. Many Christian evangelicals supported Cruz in the primary, but enough supported Trump to give him the nomination.
Winning only Ohio, Kasich suspended his campaign on May 4th, 2016 when he was the only remaining major Republican challenger to Donald Trump.

#### Democratic

The Democratic Primaries lasted from February 1st to June 24, 2016.
The main candidates in the Democratic Primaries were Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Hillary Clinton was the spouse of former President Bill Clinton and had also served as a Senator from New York and Secretary of State. Bernie Sanders was a Senator from Vermont, and had been a socialist or independent for most of his political career. Clinton ran as a moderate, while Sanders ran as a leftist, promising expanded healthcare, student loan relief, and regulation of institutions of the Top 1% such as large banks. Clinton won more votes in the primary, but a significant number of voters backed Sanders. In particular, Sanders received the overwhelming support of younger voters.

### Major Candidates

The candidates after the primaries were:
* Hillary Clinton, Democrat
* Donald Trump, Republican

##### Third Party Candidates

The two most notable third party candidates were
* Gary Johnson, of the Libertarian Party
* Jill Stein, of the Green Party

## Controversies

The 2016 election was noted for a large amount of misinformation being spread during the election, labeled as Fake News.
Hillary Clinton made a statement in September of 2016, in which she called many of Trump's supporters as being deplorable, attracting criticism. Especially controversial was her use of a private email server for work purposes while serving as Secretary of State. Months after clearing Clinton of criminal conduct in the case, and less than two weeks before the election in late October Republican FBI director James B. Comey sent a letter to Congress which brought the issue back into the public view. Analysts would later debate if this action cost Hillary Clinton the Election.
Donald Trump made several controversial statements. His comment "I like people who weren't captured", regarding John McCain, who was captured while fighting in the Vietnam War was controversial. On October 7th, 2016 the Access Hollywood tapes were leaked, a 2005 recording of Trump where inappropriate comments were made.

## Results

Voting took place on November 8, 2016.
Hillary Clinton got 65,853,516 votes, or 48.5% of the people who voted. She scored 232 electoral votes. Donald Trump got 62,984,825 votes, or 46.4% of the people who voted. He scored 306 electoral votes, giving him the amount of electoral votes needed to become president-elect. Trump narrowly won several states in the Rustbelt that had previously voted for Obama: Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania
This election was somewhat unusual in that Hillary Clinton received the most popular votes but Trump received the most electoral votes. This was the fifth time in United States history that happened, but the second time in the previous 16 years, having also occurred in 2000.

### Reaction

The election results were widely seen as surprising, with many predictions made prior to the election giving a Clinton victory a 70%-99% chance of occurring. There was open speculation about if the Electoral College would elect a different person to the position of president. While a historic number of Electoral College votes did defect, most were from Clinton to a minor candidate. People began to question if the protections the Electoral College is supposed to offer was worth the disenfranchising trade offs caused by the system.

## References

* ↑ "EXCLUSIVE: TIME Guide to Official 2016 Republican Nomination Calendar". Time. https://time.com/4059030/republican-primary-calendar-2016-nomination-convention/.
* ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/jeb-bush-suspends-2016-campaign/2016/02/20/d3a7315a-d721-11e5-be55-2cc3c1e4b76b_story.html
* ↑ https://www.cnn.com/2015/09/18/politics/trump-obama-muslim-birther/index.html
* ↑ https://www.economist.com/democracy-in-america/2016/05/04/john-kasich-leaves-the-republican-battle-with-his-reputation-intact
* ↑ https://graphics.wsj.com/elections/2016/how-clinton-won/
* ↑ https://www.npr.org/2016/05/29/479957426/libertarian-party-nominates-former-gov-gary-johnson
* ↑ https://www.npr.org/2016/08/07/489029975/jill-stein-wins-green-party-nomination-courting-disaffected-sanders-supporters
* ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/04/03/a-new-study-suggests-fake-news-might-have-won-donald-trump-the-2016-election/
* ↑ https://www.npr.org/2016/09/10/493427601/hillary-clintons-basket-of-deplorables-in-full-context-of-this-ugly-campaign
* ↑ Zurcher, Anthony (6 November 2016). "Clinton emails - what's it all about?". BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-31806907. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
* ↑ Lichtblau, Eric; Schmidt, Michael S.; Apuzzo, Matt (28 October 2016). "F.B.I. Chief James Comey Is in Political Crossfire Again Over Emails". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/29/us/politics/fbi-clinton-emails-james-comey.html. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
* ↑ Cohn, Nate (14 June 2018). "Did Comey Cost Clinton the Election? Why We’ll Never Know". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/14/upshot/did-comey-cost-clinton-the-election-why-well-never-know.html. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
* ↑ Silver, Nate (3 May 2017). "The Comey Letter Probably Cost Clinton The Election". FiveThirtyEight. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-comey-letter-probably-cost-clinton-the-election/. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
* ↑ https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/07/18/424169549/trump-lashes-out-at-mccain-i-like-people-who-werent-captured
* ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-recorded-having-extremely-lewd-conversation-about-women-in-2005/2016/10/07/3b9ce776-8cb4-11e6-bf8a-3d26847eeed4_story.html
* ↑ https://www.npr.org/2016/10/07/497087141/donald-trump-caught-on-tape-making-vulgar-remarks-about-women
* 1 2 "Election Results 2016". CNN. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
* ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/10/technology/the-data-said-clinton-would-win-why-you-shouldnt-have-believed-it.html
* ↑ Beinart, Peter (21 November 2016). "The Electoral College Was Meant to Stop Men Like Trump From Being President". The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/the-electoral-college-was-meant-to-stop-men-like-trump-from-being-president/508310/. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
* ↑ Schmidt, Kiersten; Andrews, Wilson (19 December 2016). "A Historic Number of Electors Defected, and Most Were Supposed to Vote for Clinton". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/19/us/elections/electoral-college-results.html. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
* ↑ "These 3 Common Arguments For Preserving the Electoral College Are All Wrong". Time. https://time.com/4571626/electoral-college-wrong-arguments/. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
← Obama · Trump →