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2016 United States presidential election

The 2016 United States presidential election was the 58th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Republican ticket, businessman Donald Trump and Indiana governor Mike Pence defeated the Democratic ticket of former secretary of state and First Lady of the United States Hillary Clinton and the junior senator from Virginia, Tim Kaine, in what was considered one of the biggest political upsets in American history. [3] It was also the sixth presidential election in which both major party candidates were registered in the same home state; the others have been in 1860, 1904, 1920, 1940, and 1944.

For related races, see 2016 United States elections.


538 members of the Electoral College
270 electoral votes needed to win

60.1%[1] Increase 1.5 pp

Incumbent Democratic president Barack Obama was ineligible to pursue a third term due to the term limits established by the Twenty-second Amendment to the US Constitution. Clinton secured the nomination over U.S. senator Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary and became the first female presidential nominee of a major American political party. Trump emerged as his party's front-runner amidst a wide field of candidates in the Republican primary, defeating U.S. senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, governors John Kasich and Jeb Bush, among other candidates. 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[4] garnered extensive free media coverage due to Trump's inflammatory comments.[5][6] Clinton emphasized her extensive political experience, denounced Trump and many of his supporters as a "basket of deplorables", bigots and extremists, and advocated the expansion of president Barack Obama's policies; racial, LGBT, and women's rights; and inclusive capitalism.[7]


The tone of the general election campaign was widely characterized as divisive, negative, and troubling.[8][9][10] Trump faced controversy over his views on race and immigration, incidents of violence against protestors at his rallies,[11][12][13] and numerous sexual misconduct allegations including the Access Hollywood tape. Clinton's popularity and public image were tarnished by concerns about her ethics and trustworthiness,[14] and a controversy and subsequent FBI investigation regarding her improper use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state, which received more media coverage than any other topic during the campaign.[15][16] Clinton led in almost every nationwide and swing-state poll, with some predictive models giving Clinton over a 90 percent chance of winning.[17][18]


On Election Day, Trump over-performed his polls, winning several key swing states, while losing the popular vote by 2.87 million votes.[19] Trump received the majority in the Electoral College and won upset victories in the Rust Belt region. The pivotal victory in this region, which Trump won by less than 80,000 votes in the three states, was considered the catalyst that won him the Electoral College vote. Trump's surprise victories were perceived to have been assisted by Clinton's lack of campaigning in the region, and the influence of Sanders–Trump voters who refused to back her after Bernie Sanders dropped out.[20][21][22] Ultimately, Trump received 304 electoral votes and Clinton 227, as two faithless electors defected from Trump and five from Clinton. Trump was the first president with neither prior public service nor military experience. It was the fifth and most recent presidential election in which the winning candidate lost the popular vote.[2][23]


With ballot access to the entire national electorate, Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson received nearly 4.5 million votes (3.27%), the highest nationwide vote share for a third-party candidate since Ross Perot in 1996,[24] while Green Party nominee Jill Stein received almost 1.45 million votes (1.06%). Independent candidate Evan McMullin received 21.4% of the vote in his home state of Utah, the highest share of the vote for a non-major party candidate in any state since 1992.[25]


On January 6, 2017, the United States Intelligence Community concluded that the Russian government had interfered in the 2016 elections[26][27] in order to "undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency."[28] A Special Counsel investigation of alleged collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign began in May 2017[29][30] and ended in March 2019. The investigation concluded that Russian interference to favor Trump's candidacy occurred "in sweeping and systematic fashion", but it "did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government."[31][32]

, 29th Governor of New Mexico. Vice-presidential nominee: Bill Weld, 68th Governor of Massachusetts

Gary Johnson

Candidates in bold were on ballots representing 270 electoral votes, without needing write-in states.

All other candidates were on the ballots of fewer than 25 states, but had write-in access greater than 270.

"Because you'd be in jail": Off-the-cuff quip by Donald Trump during the second presidential debate, in rebuttal to Clinton stating it was "awfully good someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country."

[333]

"Big-league": A word used by Donald Trump most notably during the , misheard by many as bigly, when he said, "I'm going to cut taxes big-league, and you're going to raise taxes big-league."[334][335]

first presidential debate

"": A chant used at many Trump campaign rallies, and Donald Trump's corresponding promise of the Mexican Border Wall.[334]

Build the wall

"": A phrase Donald Trump invoked late in the campaign to describe what needs to be done to fix problems in the federal government. Trump acknowledged that the phrase was suggested to him, and he was initially skeptical about using it.[336]

Drain the swamp

"": A remark made by Trump during a 2005 behind-the-scenes interview with presenter Billy Bush on NBCUniversal's Access Hollywood, which was released during the campaign. The remark was part of a conversation in which Trump boasted that "when you're a star, they let you do it."

Grab 'em by the pussy

"I like people who weren't captured": Donald Trump's criticism of Senator , who was held as a prisoner of war by North Vietnam during the Vietnam War.[337][338]

John McCain

"Lock her up": A chant first used at the to claim that Hillary Clinton was guilty of a crime. The chant was later used at many Trump campaign rallies and even against other female politicians critical of Trump, such as Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.[339][340]

Republican convention

"": Donald Trump's campaign slogan.

Make America Great Again

"Mexico will pay for it": Trump's campaign promise that if elected he will build , with Mexico financing the project.[341][342]

a wall on the border between the US and Mexico

: These include "Crooked Hillary", "Little Marco", "Low-energy Jeb", and "Lyin' Ted."

Nicknames used by Trump to deride his opponents

"Russia, if you're listening": Used by Donald Trump to invite Russia to "find the 30,000 emails that are missing" (from Hillary Clinton) during a .[343]

July 2016 news conference

"": Donald Trump's response to Hillary Clinton after her saying that her proposed rise in Social Security contributions would also include Trump's Social Security contributions, "assuming he can't figure out how to get out of it."[334] Later reappropriated by supporters of Clinton[344][345][346] and liberal feminists.[347][348][349]

Such a nasty woman

"They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people": Donald Trump's controversial description of those crossing the during the June 2015 launch of his campaign.[350]

Mexico–United States border

"What the hell do you have to lose?": Said by Donald Trump to inner-city African Americans at rallies starting on August 19, 2016.[352]

[351]

By Trump and Republicans:


By Clinton and Democrats:

Florida

Iowa

Michigan

Ohio

Pennsylvania

Wisconsin

One Clinton elector in Colorado attempted to vote for John Kasich. The single vote was ruled invalid by Colorado state law, the elector was dismissed, and an alternative elector was sworn in who voted for Clinton.[618][615]

[617]

One Clinton elector in Minnesota voted for Bernie Sanders as president and as vice president; his votes were discarded and he was replaced by an alternate who voted for Clinton.[618]

Tulsi Gabbard

One Clinton elector in Maine voted for Bernie Sanders; this vote was invalidated as "improper" and the elector subsequently voted for Clinton.

[618]

Four Clinton electors in Washington did not vote for Clinton (three votes went to , and one to Faith Spotted Eagle).[619]

Colin Powell

One Trump elector in Georgia resigned before the vote rather than vote for Trump and was replaced by an alternate.

[620]

Two Trump electors in Texas did not vote for Trump (one vote went to John Kasich, one to Ron Paul); one elector did not vote for Pence and instead voted for for vice-president; a third resigned before the vote rather than vote for Trump and was replaced by an alternate.[619]

Carly Fiorina

One Clinton elector in Hawaii voted for Bernie Sanders.

[621]

History of the United States (2008–present)

Inauguration of Donald Trump

another upset in the history of United States presidential elections

1948 United States presidential election

2016 United States gubernatorial elections

2016 United States House of Representatives elections

2016 United States Senate elections

Berman, Ari (November–December 2017). . Mother Jones. Archived from the original on September 23, 2018.

"Rigged: How Voter Suppression Threw Wisconsin to Trump"

Lauck, Jon K. "Trump and The Midwest: The 2016 Presidential Election and The Avenues of Midwestern Historiography" Studies in Midwestern History (2017) vol 3#1

online

Ott, Brian L. (2017). . Critical Studies in Media Communication. 34 (1): 59–68. doi:10.1080/15295036.2016.1266686.

"The age of Twitter: Donald J. Trump and the politics of debasement"

Patterson, Thomas E. (July 11, 2016). . Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. Archived from the original on October 2, 2018.

"News Coverage of the 2016 Presidential Primaries: Horse Race Reporting Has Consequences"

Ross, Andrew S.; Rivers, Damian J. (April 2017). "Digital cultures of political participation: Internet memes and the discursive delegitimization of the 2016 U.S Presidential candidates". Discourse, Context & Media. 16: 1–11. :10.1016/j.dcm.2017.01.001.

doi

Rozell, Mark J., ed. (2017). God at the Grassroots 2016: The Christian Right in American Politics. Lanham, MD: . 978-1538108918

Rowman & Littlefield

Sabato, Larry; Kondik, Kyle; Shelley, Geoffrey, eds. (2017). Trumped: The 2016 Election That Broke All the Rules. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.  978-1-4422-7940-7.

ISBN

Schaffner, Brian; Clark, John A., eds. (2017). Making Sense of the 2016 Elections: A CQ Press Guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: CQ Press.  978-1-5063-8418-4.

ISBN

Visser, Beth A.; Book, Angela S.; Volk, Anthony A. (2017). . Personality and Individual Differences. 106: 281–286. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2016.10.053.

"Is Hillary dishonest and Donald narcissistic? A HEXACO analysis of the presidential candidates' public personas"

West, Darrell M. (2017). Air Wars: Television Advertising and Social Media in Election Campaigns, 1952–2016. Thousand Oaks, CA: CQ Press.  9781506329833.

ISBN

from USA.gov, the official United States Federal Government web portal

Presidential election process

at Curlie

2016 United States presidential election

at the Federal Election Commission (FEC)

2016 Presidential Form 2 Filers

on YouTube

Hillary Clinton's Concession Speech