2016 POTUS Election

United States presidential election, 2016

← 2012 November 8, 2016 2020 →
538 members of the Electoral College 270 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout	54.7% (estimated) 0.2 pp
Nominee Donald Trump Hillary Clinton Party Republican Democratic Home state New York New York Running mate Mike Pence Tim Kaine Electoral vote 304 227 States carried 30 + ME-02 20 + DC Popular vote 62,984,825 65,853,516 Percentage 7001461000000000000♠46.1% 7001482000000000000♠48.2%
Presidential election results map. Red denotes states won by Trump/Pence, blue denotes those won by Clinton/Kaine. Numbers indicate electoral votes allotted to the winner of each state. Faithless votes: Colin Powell 3, John Kasich 1, Ron Paul 1, Bernie Sanders 1, Faith Spotted Eagle 1
President before election Barack Obama Democratic Elected President Donald Trump Republican

Barack Obama
Democratic

Donald Trump
Republican

The United States presidential election of 2016 was the 58th quadrennial American presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. In a stunning surprise victory, the Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana Governor Mike Pence defeated the Democratic ticket of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Senator from Virginia Tim Kaine. Trump took office as the 45th President, and Pence as the 48th Vice President, on January 20, 2017. Concurrent with the presidential election, Senate, House, and many gubernatorial and state and local elections were also held on November 8.

Voters selected members of the Electoral College in each state, in most cases by "winner-takes-all" plurality; those state electors in turn voted for a new president and vice president on December 19, 2016. While Clinton received about 2.9 million more votes nationwide, a margin of 2.1%, Trump won 30 states worth a total of 306 electors, or 57% of the 538 available. He won the four perennial swing states of Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, and Iowa, (only North Carolina was won by Romney in 2012) as well as the three "blue wall" stronghold states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, which had not been won by a Republican presidential candidate in decades. Leading up to the election, a Trump victory was considered unlikely by almost all media forecasts.