2016 United States presidential election
58th quadrennial U.S. presidential election / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The 2016 United States presidential election was the 58th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Republican ticket of 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 United States senator from Virginia Tim Kaine, in what was considered one of the biggest upsets in American political history.[3]
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538 members of the Electoral College 270 electoral votes needed to win | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 60.1%[1]  1.5 pp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Presidential election results map. Red denotes states won by Trump/Pence (R) and blue denotes those won by Clinton/Kaine (D). Numbers indicate electoral votes cast by each state and the District of Columbia. On election night, Trump won 306 electors and Clinton 232. However, because of seven faithless electors (five Democratic and two Republican), Trump received just 304 votes to Clinton's 227. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 2016 U.S. presidential election | |||
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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, and Ohio governor John Kasich, 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.
On January 6, 2017, the United States Intelligence Community concluded that the Russian government had interfered in the 2016 elections[23][24] in order to "undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency."[25] A Special Counsel investigation of alleged collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign began in May 2017[26][27] 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."[28][29]