2016 United States presidential election

President of the United States

**November 8, 2016**

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## Overview

**Nominee**
**Donald Trump**
Hillary Clinton

**Political party**
Republican
Democratic

**State**
New York
New York

**Running mate**
**Mike Pence**
Tim Kaine

**Electoral vote**
**304**
227

**Popular vote**
62,984,828
**65,853,514**

**Percentage**
46.1%
**48.2%**

**Nominee**
Gary Johnson
Jill Stein

**Political party**
Libertarian
Green

**State**
New Mexico
Massachusetts

**Running mate**
Bill Weld
Ajamu Baraka

**Electoral vote**
0
0

**Popular vote**
4,489,341
1,457,218

**Percentage**
3.3%
1.1%

## Results

Red denotes states won by Trump/Pence, blue denotes those won by Clinton/Kaine, and other colors denote faithless electoral votes cast for Colin Powell, Faith Spotted Eagle, Ron Paul, John Kasich, and Bernie Sanders

### Elected President

Barack Obama
Democratic
Donald Trump
Republican

The **2016 United States presidential election** was the 58th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump defeated the Democratic ticket of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in what was considered one of the biggest political upsets and most contentious elections in American history. Trump became the first person elected president with no prior political or military experience. It was also the fifth and most recent presidential election in which the winning candidate lost the popular vote. Former Governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson and environmental activist Jill Stein of the Libertarian and Green Parties, respectively, also participated.

## Results

The news media and election experts were surprised at Trump's winning the Electoral College. The final polls showed a lead by Clinton and in the end she did win the popular vote. Trump himself expected, based on polling, to lose the election, and rented a small hotel ballroom to make a brief concession speech, later remarking: "I said if we're going to lose I don't want a big ballroom." Trump performed surprisingly well in all battleground states, especially Florida, Iowa, Ohio, and North Carolina. Even Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, states that had been predicted to vote Democratic, were won by Trump. The Associated Press called Pennsylvania for Trump at 1:35AM EST, putting Trump at 267 electoral votes. By 2:01AM EST, they called both Maine's and Nebraska's 2nd congressional districts for Trump, putting him at 269 electoral votes, making it impossible for Clinton to reach 270. One minute after this, Clinton's campaign chair, John Podesta, told her victory party in New York the election was too close to call. At 2:29AM, the Associated Press called Wisconsin, and the election, for Trump, giving him 279 electoral votes. By 2:37AM, Clinton had called Trump to concede the election. Clinton was unable to make a public concession that night, as she had no concession speech written.

Six states plus a portion of Maine that Obama won in 2012 switched to Trump. By losing New York, Trump became the fourth victorious candidate to lose his home state, which also occurred in 1844, 1916, and 1968. This was the first election since 1988 in which the Republican nominee won the states of Michigan and Pennsylvania, and the first since 1984 in which they won Wisconsin. It was the first time since 1988 that the Republicans won Maine's 2nd congressional district and the first time since George W. Bush's victory in New Hampshire in 2000 that they won any electoral votes in the Northeast.

With ballot access to the entire national electorate, Johnson received nearly 4.5 million votes (3.27%), the highest nationwide vote share for a third-party candidate since Ross Perot in 1996, while Stein received almost 1.45 million votes (1.06%), the most for a Green nominee since Ralph Nader in 2000.

2016 also saw seven faithless electors in the Electoral College. For the first time since 1808, multiple faithless electors voted against their pledged qualified presidential candidate (not including 1872, because of the death of Horace Greeley). They included five Democrats in Washington and Hawaii, and two Republicans in Texas.