How many people voted for Trump in 2020? A look back at past election results.
Clare MulroyThe 2024 presidential race is already well underway, with debates between President Joe Biden and Donald Trump set for June 27 and September.
The 2024 presidential election may seem like a 2020 rematch, but this year is anything but ordinary. Trump made history earlier this year when he became the first former president to be convicted of a crime after Manhattan jurors found him guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records. But he can still run for president, even if does receive jail time upon his July 11 sentencing.
As we look ahead to the 2024 election, here’s a breakdown of the 2020 presidential race results.
How many people voted for Trump in 2020?
Trump received about 74 million votes in the 2020 presidential election, according to the Federal Election Commission. That's almost 47% of the popular vote. He won 232 electoral votes – 270 are needed to win. His opponent and current president Joe Biden won 306 electoral votes.
The Electoral College is the presidential voting process established by the Constitution. Generally, the candidate who wins the most votes in a state gets that state’s electoral votes. Maine and Nebraska split up these votes. For example, Nebraska gave Trump four of its five electoral votes in 2020 and Biden one. How many electoral votes a state gets is based on how many members of Congress it has, which is based on population size.
In 2020, Trump won electoral votes from these states, according to USA TODAY’s election results tracker:
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arkansas
- Florida
- Idaho
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine (one out of four)
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska (four out of five)
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- West Virginia
- Wyoming
Trump falsely claimed the results of many states were incorrect after the votes were tallied, alleging fraud and demanding recounts by hand. The recounts affirmed Biden’s victory. Shortly after the election, Trump pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to change the outcome of the election.
Electoral College explained:How states vote in presidential elections
Who won the popular vote in 2020?
Biden won both the popular vote and the Electoral College in the 2020 election.
Winning the popular vote does not necessarily guarantee the presidency – there have been five presidents who have lost the popular vote but won the presidency thanks to the Electoral College. In 2016, for example, Trump won 304 electoral votes to Hillary Clinton’s 227 but lost the popular vote by almost 2.9 million votes.
Fact check:Biden did not receive 22 million phantom votes in 2020
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