2016 United States Presidential Election (Cancer Comes Late)

The **2016 United States presidential election** was the 58th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Democratic ticket of Incumbent Vice President Joe Biden and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar defeated the Republican ticket of Businessman Donald Trump and Indiana Governor Mike Pence.

Per the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, then-incumbent president Barack Obama was ineligible to seek a third term. Biden would go on to narrowly defeat his main opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the primaries, and named Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar as his running mate, making the latter the second female running mate in the party's history, and the third overall on a major American party ticket. Trump emerged as his party's front-runner amidst a wide field of candidates in the Republican primary, defeating Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Marco Rubio, and Ohio Governor John Kasich, among other candidates. The Libertarian Party nominated former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, and the Green Party nominated Jill Stein. Trump's right-wing populist nationalist campaign, which promised to "Make America Great Again" and opposed political correctness, illegal immigration, and many United States free-trade agreements garnered controversy towards Trump. Biden described Trump as a radical, and his lack of experience in politics would make him a liability as President.

The tone of the general election campaign was widely characterized as divisive and negative. Trump faced controversy over his views on race and immigration, incidents of violence against protestors at his rallies, and numerous sexual misconduct allegations including the Access Hollywood tape. The first debate took place on Monday, September 26, at New York's Hofstra University, moderated by Lester Holt of NBC. It was originally scheduled to take place at Wright State University, but the venue was changed due to security and financial concerns. Biden was generally held to have won the first debate, with a significant minority of commentators calling it a draw. One exchange that was particularly noted was when Trump did not directly denounce the white supremacist and neo-fascist group Proud Boys, which explicitly engages in political violence, instead responding that they should "stand back and stand by". On the next day, Trump told reporters the group should "stand down" while also claiming that he was not aware of what the group was. The debate was described as "chaotic and nearly incoherent" because of Trump's repeated interruptions, causing the CPD to consider adjustments to the format of the remaining debates.

Biden led in almost every nationwide and swing-state poll, with some predictive models giving Biden over a 90 percent chance of winning. Despite Trump over-performing his polls, along with winning several key swing states, he lost the popular vote by 5.1 million votes, and Biden won the election after the swing state of Pennsylvania was called for him at 11:43 P.M. on Tuesday night. Before, during, and after Election Day, Trump and numerous other 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 Loretta Lynch and officials in each of the 50 states found no evidence of widespread fraud or irregularities in the election. The Trump campaign attempted lawsuits, but nothing major came out of them. Biden and Klobuchar would be sworn into office as the 45th President and 48th Vice President respectively on January 20, 2017. The main issues of this election were the economy, Biden's age going into the election, Immigration, the Affordable Care Act, and civil rights.

## Primaries:

### Democratic Primaries:

Despite his son Beau growing ill, and Vice President Joe Biden considering not running in 2016, Beau eventually grew better and Biden decided to run. He would go on to defeat his main rivals, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders to win the nomination. After winning the nomination, he named Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar as his running mate.

 Joe Biden

### Republican Primaries:

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush seemed like a front runner throughout most of the primaries, but his campaign had disintegrated by 2016. From their, frontrunners included Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, and the eventual winner, businessman Donald Trump of New York, who chose Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his running mate.

 Donald Trump

## Campaign/Issues Unique to the Election:

### Democratic Campaign:

Biden attacked Trump as a radical, and a sexist slob and stressed that Trump's lack of experience in politics would make him a liability in the nation's highest office. He also endorsed expansion of President Obama's policies; racial, LGBT, and women's rights; and inclusive capitalism.

### Republican Campaign:

Trump went on the trail of Biden being too old and "sleepy" to be President. Trump's right-wing populist nationalist campaign, which promised to "Make America Great Again" and opposed political correctness, illegal immigration, and many United States free-trade agreements, garnered extensive free media coverage due to Trump's inflammatory comments.

### The Economy:

Biden had campaigned off of the success of the economy under Obama, believing he could continue it's success. Trump meanwhile wanted to reduce federal taxes and increase federal spending, both of which would significantly increase federal budget deficits. Trump also wanted to implement trade protectionism via tariffs, primarily on imports from China.

### Biden's Age:

Joe Biden was 74 when he won the nomination for his party, and he'd be 75 if he won, making him by far the oldest President elected and sworn in. Trump described Biden as too old and sleepy to rule the greatest nation in the world, whereas Biden countered saying Trump wasn't much younger at 70 years old.

### Immigration:

During the terms of Obama, illegal immigration from Latin American and Central Americans countries had increased rampantly, with Obama allowing some to assimilate into American culture. Trump proposed the idea of a wall on the Mexican border, and attacked Biden saying the immigrants they allowed in could be criminals, and that supporting open borders was dangerous. In the first debate, Biden responded saying "Mr. Trump, I'm in no way in support of complete open borders, what I am in support of is treating those in search of new life in America, as human beings."

### The Affordable Care Act:

The Affordable Care Act which saw Obamacare's creation, had always been a source of controversy since the act's passage in 2010. Trump promised to repeal Obamacare and allow private healthcare full competition, whereas Biden attacked Trump saying eliminating the program would remove the option of healthcare for people already in the program.

### Civil Rights:

Trump's campaign mainly saw support from the deep south and states in the rocky mountains, both of which were highly conservative. Biden attacked Trump and said he wanted to remove the progress of many minorities made under Obama, and promised to expand the civil rights passed for LGBTQ+ people, African Americans, Latin Americans, and other minorities.

## Results and Aftermath:

Many media networks predicted Biden to win in a landslide election, and while Biden did eventually win, Trump won a surprising amount of swing states, making a closer election than the media predicted, with Trump even declaring the media as "fake news." Trump managed to flip the states of Ohio, Iowa, and Florida, while Biden managed to flip North Carolina.

After the election, Trump, and some other Republicans and conspiracy theorists accused election fraud on the side of the Democrats, and they even filed lawsuits, but none went far at all. Trump eventually conceded on Christmas Eve of 2016, and urged his supporters to end riots in red states that had occurred since Biden's election. Biden and Klobuchar were sworn in January 20, 2017, with Klobuchar becoming the first female Vice President in American history.