Former President Donald Trump is now also President-Elect Donald Trump after the Republican nominee secured the necessary votes to retake the White House on Tuesday. But this win was unlike his 2016 win.
In 2016, the president-elect won the electoral votes needed to secure the White House but lost the popular vote to then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. But now, it appears that Trump will not only win the Electoral College but also beat Vice President Kamala Harris in the popular vote, a feat Republicans have struggled to do in recent elections.
And the way numbers were shaping up on Wednesday morning, it wasn't even that close. At 9:30 a.m. EST, Trump had 71 million votes to Kamala Harris' 66 million.
While the final results from every precinct and state have not yet been submitted, it appears likely that Trump will hold onto his win in the popular vote, making him the first Republican to do so in 20 years.
The former president had discussed the difficulty Republicans faced in winning the popular vote in the days leading up to the election.
At one of his final rallies in Virginia, Trump said that voters needed to turn out on Tuesday because he wants to win “everything” in this election, not just the electoral college. Still, Trump noted this would be a tough task, thanks to Democratic strength in certain states.
“When you have New York, Illinois, and California, you have automatically, it’s like ridiculous, automatically goes to a Democrat, it’s tough to win the popular vote because they’re three big states,” he said.
Now, thanks to strong performances in states that he underperformed during the last election, like Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, the former president.
Trump is doing even better in largely Democratic voting states like Virginia, which President Biden won by 10% in 2020, and Harris is only winning by 5%, with 99% of precincts reporting their results.
The same can be said in Illinois, where 93% of precincts are reporting, and the former president is losing to Harris by 8%, instead of the 17% margin the state had when Trump lost to Biden in 2020.
Other states that saw their margins slim include New York, Colorado, and Minnesota, though it is important to note that votes are still being tallied.
Trump’s performance on Tuesday was a massive sway from what prediction markets had thought would happen. Axios reported that he never had a greater than 43% chance of winning the popular vote. In mid-August, his chances of doing so were under 20%.
While votes are still being tallied, Trump now has a 99% chance of securing the Electoral College and popular vote.