2020 United States presidential election

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## 2020 United States presidential election

President of the United States

**September 4 – November 3, 2020**

← 2016
*2024* →

## Overview

**Nominee**
**Joe Biden**
Donald Trump

**Political party**
Democratic
Republican

**State**
Delaware
Florida

**Running mate**
**Kamala Harris**
Mike Pence

**Electoral vote**
**306**
232

**Popular vote**
**81,268,924**
74,216,154

**Percentage**
**51.3%**
46.9%

**Nominee**
Jo Jorgensen

**Political party**
Libertarian

**State**
South Carolina

**Running mate**
Spike Cohen

**Electoral vote**
0

**Popular vote**
1,865,535

**Percentage**
1.2%

## Results

Blue denotes states won by Biden/Harris and red denotes those won by Trump/Pence

### Elected President

Donald Trump
Republican
Joe Biden
Democratic

The **2020 United States presidential election** was the 59th quadrennial presidential election, held in the days before and on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The Democratic ticket of former Vice President Joe Biden defeated incumbent Republican President Donald Trump. Trump became the first incumbent president since George H. W. Bush in 1992, and the eleventh in American history, to lose re-election. The election took place during the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic and saw many ballots cast by mail before Election Day, resulting in the most votes tallied in any presidential election. Trump received the most votes for any incumbent president in American history, and Biden received the most votes cast for any presidential candidate. Controversy ensued over the way voting was conducted due to the pandemic, and the Trump campaign unsuccessfully contested the election results in several key swing states, culminating in Trump holding a rally in Washington, D.C. and some of his supporters storming the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, during certification of the Electoral College votes.

## Party primaries and nominations

Only parties whose nominated candidate earned at least 1 electoral vote or 1.0% of the popular vote in the general election are included. Also, only candidates who received at least 1 delegate in their party's primary election are included.

## Results

More than 158 million votes were cast in the election. More than 100 million of them were cast before Election Day by early voting or mail ballot, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, with the earliest possible day to cast a ballot being September 4. The election saw the highest voter turnout as a percentage of eligible voters since 1900, with each of the two main tickets receiving more than 74 million votes, surpassing Barack Obama's record of 69.5 million votes from 2008. Biden became the sixth vice president to become president without succeeding to the office on the death or resignation of a previous president. Additionally, Trump's loss marked the third time an elected president lost the popular vote twice, joining John Quincy Adams and Benjamin Harrison. This was the first time since 1980, and the first for Republicans since 1892 that a party was voted out after a single four-year term. This was the second election in American history in which the incumbent president lost re-election despite winning a greater share of the popular vote than they did the previous election, after 1828.

Biden won 25 states, the District of Columbia, and one congressional district in Nebraska, totaling 306 electoral votes. Trump won 25 states and one congressional district in Maine, totaling 232 electoral votes. This result was exactly the reverse of Trump's victory in 2016 (excluding faithless electors), making it the first time two consecutive elections featured the same electoral vote distribution between candidates. Biden carried five states won by Trump in 2016: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. He also became the first Democrat since 2008 to carry Nebraska's 2nd congressional district.