United States presidential election, 2016

Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 8, 2016. The Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana governor Mike Pence defeated the Democratic ticket of former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Virginia junior senator Tim Kaine, in what was considered one of the biggest political upsets in American history. It was the fifth and most recent presidential election in which the winning candidate lost the popular vote.

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 U.S. 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. Initially considered a novelty candidate, Trump emerged as the Republican front-runner, defeating several notable opponents, including U.S. senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, as well as governors John Kasich and Jeb Bush. 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, garnered extensive free media coverage due to Trump's inflammatory comments. Clinton emphasized her extensive political experience, denounced Trump and half of his supporters as a " basket of deplorables", bigots, and extremists, and advocated the expansion of Obama's policies; racial, LGBT, and women's rights; and inclusive capitalism.

The tone of the election campaign was widely characterized as divisive, negative, and troubling. Trump faced controversy over his views on race and immigration, incidents of violence against protesters at his rallies, 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, 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. Clinton led in almost every nationwide and swing-state poll, with some predictive models giving her over a 90 percent chance of victory.

On election day, Trump over-performed his polls, winning several key swing states for a majority in the Electoral College while losing the nationwide popular vote by 2.87 million votes. Trump flipped six states that had voted Democratic in 2012: Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, as well as Maine's 2nd congressional district. He gained a combined 46 electoral votes from his pivotal upset victories in the Democratic leaning Rust Belt states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, which he carried by fewer than 80,000 votes in the three states combined. Trump's surprise victories were perceived to have been assisted by Clinton's lack of campaigning in Wisconsin, the rightward shift of the white working class, and the influence of Sanders–Trump voters who chose to back Donald Trump after Bernie Sanders dropped out of the primaries. 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.

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, 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.

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

Background

President Barack Obama, a Democrat and former U.S. senator from Illinois, was ineligible to seek reelection to a third term due to the restrictions of the American presidential term limits established by the Twenty-second Amendment.

Both the Democratic and Republican parties, as well as third parties such as the Green and Libertarian parties, held a series of presidential primary elections and caucuses that took place between February and June 2016, staggered among the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. This nominating process was also an indirect election, where voters cast ballots for a slate of delegates to a political party's nominating convention, who in turn elected their party's presidential nominee. Speculation about the 2016 campaign began almost immediately following the 2012 campaign, with '' New York'' magazine declaring that the race had begun in an article published on November 8, two days after the 2012 election. On the same day, ''Politico'' released an article predicting that the 2016 general election would be between Clinton and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, while an article in ''The New York Times'' named New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Senator Cory Booker from New Jersey as potential candidates.

Nominations

Republican Party

Primaries

With seventeen major candidates entering the race, starting with Ted Cruz on March 23, 2015, this was the largest presidential primary field for any political party in American history, before being overtaken by the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries.

Prior to the Iowa caucuses on February 1, 2016, Perry, Walker, Jindal, Graham, and Pataki withdrew due to low polling numbers. Despite leading many polls in Iowa, Trump came in second to Cruz, after which Huckabee, Paul, and Santorum withdrew due to poor performances at the ballot box. Following a sizable victory for Trump in the New Hampshire primary, Christie, Fiorina, and Gilmore abandoned the race. Bush followed suit after scoring fourth place to Trump, Rubio, and Cruz in South Carolina. On March 1, the first of four " Super Tuesday" primaries, Rubio won his first contest in Minnesota, Cruz won Alaska, Oklahoma, and his home state of Texas, and Trump won the other seven states that voted. Failing to gain traction, Carson suspended his campaign a few days later. On March 15, the second "Super Tuesday", Kasich won his only contest in his home state of Ohio, and Trump won five primaries including Florida. Rubio suspended his campaign after losing his home state.

Between March 16 and May 3, only three candidates remained in the race: Trump, Cruz, and Kasich. Cruz won the most delegates in four Western contests and in Wisconsin, keeping a credible path to denying Trump the nomination on the first ballot with 1,237 delegates. Trump then augmented his lead by scoring landslide victories in New York and five Northeastern states in April, followed by a decisive victory in Indiana on May 3, securing all 57 of the state's delegates. Without any further chances of forcing a contested convention, both Cruz and Kasich suspended their campaigns. Trump remained the only active candidate and was declared the presumptive Republican nominee by Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus on the evening of May 3.

A 2018 study found that media coverage of Trump led to increased public support for him during the primaries. The study showed that Trump received nearly $2 billion in free media, more than double any other candidate. Political scientist John M. Sides argued that Trump's polling surge was "almost certainly" due to frequent media coverage of his campaign. Sides concluded "Trump is surging in the polls because the news media has consistently focused on him since he announced his candidacy on June 16". Prior to clinching the Republican nomination, Trump received little support from establishment Republicans.

Nominees

Candidates

Major candidates were determined by the various media based on common consensus. The following were invited to sanctioned televised debates based on their poll ratings.

Trump received 14,010,177 total votes in the primary. Trump, Cruz, Rubio and Kasich each won at least one primary, with Trump receiving the highest number of votes and Ted Cruz receiving the second highest.

Vice presidential selection

Trump turned his attention towards selecting a running mate after he became the presumptive nominee on May 4. In mid-June, Eli Stokols and Burgess Everett of ''Politico'' reported that the Trump campaign was considering New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich from Georgia, Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, and Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin. A June 30 report from ''The Washington Post'' also included Senators Bob Corker from Tennessee, Richard Burr from North Carolina, Tom Cotton from Arkansas, Joni Ernst from Iowa, and Indiana governor Mike Pence as individuals still being considered for the ticket. Trump also said he was considering two military generals for the position, including retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn.

It was on July 12 reported that Trump had narrowed his list of possible running mates down to three: Christie, Gingrich, and Pence. Two days later, several major media outlets reported that Trump had selected Pence as his running mate. Trump confirmed these reports in a message Twitter on July 15, and formally made the announcement the following day in New York. On July 19, the second night of the 2016 Republican National Convention, Pence won the Republican vice presidential nomination by acclamation.

Democratic Party

Primaries

Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who also served in the U.S. Senate and was the first lady of the United States, became the first Democrat in the field to formally launch a major candidacy for the presidency with an announcement on April 12, 2015, via a video message. While nationwide opinion polls in 2015 indicated that Clinton was the front-runner for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, she faced strong challenges from independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who became the second major candidate when he formally announced on April 30, that he was running for the Democratic nomination. September 2015 polling numbers indicated a narrowing gap between Clinton and Sanders. On May 30, former governor of Maryland Martin O'Malley was the third major candidate to enter the Democratic primary race, followed by former independent governor and Republican senator of Rhode Island Lincoln Chafee on June 3, former Virginia senator Jim Webb on July 2, and former Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig on September 6.

On October 20, Webb announced his withdrawal from the primaries, and explored a potential independent run. The next day, Vice President Joe Biden decided not to run, ending months of speculation, stating, "While I will not be a candidate, I will not be silent". On October 23, Chafee withdrew, stating that he hoped for "an end to the endless wars and the beginning of a new era for the United States and humanity". On November 2, after failing to qualify for the second DNC-sanctioned debate after adoption of a rule change negated polls which before might have necessitated his inclusion in the debate, Lessig withdrew as well, narrowing the field to Clinton, O'Malley, and Sanders.

On February 1, 2016, Clinton won the Iowa caucuses by a margin of 0.2 points over Sanders. After winning no delegates in Iowa, O'Malley withdrew from the presidential race that day. On February 9, Sanders bounced back to win the New Hampshire primary with 60% of the vote. In the remaining two February contests, Clinton won the Nevada caucuses with 53% of the vote and scored a decisive victory in the South Carolina primary with 73% of the vote. On March 1, eleven states participated in the first of four " Super Tuesday" primaries. Clinton won Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia and 504 pledged delegates, while Sanders won Colorado, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and his home state of Vermont and 340 delegates. The following weekend, Sanders won victories in Kansas, Nebraska, and Maine with 15- to 30-point margins, while Clinton won the Louisiana primary with 71% of the vote. On March 8, despite never having a lead in the Michigan primary, Sanders won by a small margin of 1.5 points and outperforming polls by over 19 points, while Clinton won 83% of the vote in Mississippi. On March 15, the second "Super Tuesday", Clinton won in Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio. Between March 22 and April 9, Sanders won six caucuses in Idaho, Utah, Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, and Wyoming, as well as the Wisconsin primary, while Clinton won the Arizona primary. On April 19, Clinton won the New York primary with 58% of the vote. On April 26, in the third "Super Tuesday" dubbed the "Acela primary", she won contests in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, while Sanders won in Rhode Island. Over the course of May, Sanders accomplished another surprise win in the Indiana primary and also won in West Virginia and Oregon, while Clinton won the Guam caucus and Kentucky primary (and also non-binding primaries in Nebraska and Washington).

On June 4–5, Clinton won two victories in the Virgin Islands caucus and Puerto Rico primary. Two days later, the Associated Press and NBC News reported that Clinton had become the presumptive nominee after reaching the required number of delegates, including pledged delegates and superdelegates, to secure the nomination, becoming the first woman to ever clinch the presidential nomination of a major U.S. political party. On June 7, Clinton secured a majority of pledged delegates after winning primaries in California, New Jersey, New Mexico, and South Dakota, while Sanders won only Montana and North Dakota. Clinton also won the final primary in the District of Columbia on June 14. At the conclusion of the primary process, Clinton had won 2,204 pledged delegates (54% of the total) awarded by the primary elections and caucuses, while Sanders had won 1,847 (46%). Out of the 714 unpledged delegates or "superdelegates" who were set to vote in the convention in July, Clinton received endorsements from 560 (78%), while Sanders received 47 (7%).

Although Sanders had not formally dropped out of the race, he announced on June 16, that his main goal in the coming months would be to work with Clinton to defeat Trump in the general election. On July 8, appointees from the Clinton campaign, the Sanders campaign, and the Democratic National Committee negotiated a draft of the party's platform. On July 12, Sanders formally endorsed Clinton at a rally in New Hampshire in which he appeared with her. Sanders then went on to headline 39 campaign rallies on behalf of Clinton in 13 key states.

Nominees

Candidates

The following candidates were frequently interviewed by major broadcast networks and cable news channels or were listed in publicly published national polls. Lessig was invited to one forum, but withdrew when rules were changed which prevented him from participating in officially sanctioned debates.

Clinton received 16,849,779 votes in the primary.

Vice presidential selection

In April 2016, the Clinton campaign began to compile a list of 15 to 20 individuals to vet for the position of running mate, even though Sanders continued to challenge Clinton in the Democratic primaries. In mid-June, ''The Wall Street Journal'' reported that Clinton's shortlist included Representative Xavier Becerra from California, Senator Cory Booker from New Jersey, Senator Sherrod Brown from Ohio, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro from Texas, Mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti from California, Senator Tim Kaine from Virginia, Labor Secretary Tom Perez from Maryland, Representative Tim Ryan from Ohio, and Senator Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts. Subsequent reports stated that Clinton was also considering Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, retired Admiral James Stavridis, and Governor John Hickenlooper of Colorado. In discussing her potential vice presidential choice, Clinton said the most important attribute she looked for was the ability and experience to immediately step into the role of president.

On July 22, Clinton announced that she had chosen Senator Tim Kaine from Virginia as her running mate. The delegates at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, which took place July 25–28, formally nominated the Democratic ticket.

Minor parties and independents

Third party and independent candidates who obtained more than 100,000 votes nationally or on ballot in at least 15 states are listed separately.

Libertarian Party

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

:''Notable endorsements: Scott Rigell, Tom Campbell, James L. Buckley, Jesse Ventura, John Stossel''

:''Additional party endorsements: Independence Party of New York''

* John McAfee, Founder and CEO of McAfee, Inc.

:''Notable endorsements: Adam Kokesh, John Moore, L. Neil Smith''

* Austin Petersen, Owner and founder of ''The Libertarian Republic''

Ballot access to all 538 electoral votes

Nominees

= Withdrawn candidates

=

Green Party

* Jill Stein, physician from Lexington, Massachusetts. Vice-presidential nominee: Ajamu Baraka, activist from Washington, D.C.

Ballot access to 480 electoral votes (''522 with write-in''):
map
* As write-in: ''Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina''
* No ballot access: Nevada, South Dakota, Oklahoma

Nominees

Constitution Party

* Darrell Castle, attorney from Memphis, Tennessee. Vice-presidential nominee: Scott Bradley, businessman from Utah.

Ballot access to 207 electoral votes (''451 with write-in''):
map
* As write-in: ''Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia''
* No ballot access: California, District of Columbia, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oklahoma

Nominees

Independent

* Evan McMullin, chief policy director for the House Republican Conference. Vice-presidential nominee: Mindy Finn, president of Empowered Women.
:''Additional party endorsement: Independence Party of Minnesota, South Carolina Independence Party''

Ballot access to 84 electoral votes (''451 with write-in''):
map
* As write-in: ''Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin''
* No ballot access: District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wyoming

In some states, Evan McMullin's running mate was listed as Nathan Johnson on the ballot rather than Mindy Finn, although Nathan Johnson was intended to only be a placeholder until an actual running mate was chosen.

Party for Socialism and Liberation

Other nominations

General election campaign

Beliefs and policies of candidates

Hillary Clinton focused her candidacy on several themes, including raising middle class incomes, expanding women's rights, instituting campaign finance reform, and improving the Affordable Care Act. In March 2016, she laid out a detailed economic plan basing her economic philosophy on inclusive capitalism, which proposed a "clawback" that rescinds tax cuts and other benefits for companies that move jobs overseas; with provision of incentives for companies that share profits with employees, communities and the environment, rather than focusing on short-term profits to increase stock value and rewarding shareholders; as well as increasing collective bargaining rights; and placing an "exit tax" on companies that move their headquarters out of the U.S. in order to pay a lower tax rate overseas. Clinton promoted equal pay for equal work to address current alleged shortfalls in how much women are paid to do the same jobs men do, promoted explicitly focus on family issues and support of universal preschool, expressed support for the right to same-sex marriage, and proposed allowing undocumented immigrants to have a path to citizenship stating that it "s at its heart a family issue".

Donald Trump's campaign drew heavily on his personal image, enhanced by his previous media exposure. The primary slogan of the Trump campaign, extensively used on campaign merchandise, was Make America Great Again. The red baseball cap with the slogan emblazoned on the front became a symbol of the campaign and has been frequently donned by Trump and his supporters. Trump's right-wing populist positions—reported by ''The New Yorker'' to be nativist, protectionist, and semi- isolationist—differ in many ways from traditional U.S. conservatism. He opposed many free trade deals and military interventionist policies that conservatives generally support, and opposed cuts in Medicare and Social Security benefits. Moreover, he has insisted that Washington is "broken" and can be fixed only by an outsider. Support for Trump was high among working and middle-class white male voters with annual incomes of less than $50,000 and no college degree. This group, particularly those without a high-school diploma, suffered a decline in their income in recent years. According to ''The Washington Post'', support for Trump is higher in areas with a higher mortality rate for middle-aged white people. A sample of interviews with more than 11,000 Republican-leaning respondents from August to December 2015 found that Trump at that time found his strongest support among Republicans in West Virginia, followed by New York, and then followed by six Southern states.

Media coverage

Clinton had an uneasy—and, at times, adversarial—relationship with the press throughout her life in public service. Weeks before her official entry as a presidential candidate, Clinton attended a political press corps event, pledging to start fresh on what she described as a "complicated" relationship with political reporters. Clinton was initially criticized by the press for avoiding taking their questions, after which she provided more interviews.

In contrast, Trump benefited from free media more than any other candidate. From the beginning of his campaign through February 2016, Trump received almost $2 billion in free media attention, twice the amount that Clinton received.Nicholas Confessore & Karen Yourish
Measuring Donald Trump's Mammoth Advantage in Free Media
, ''The New York Times'' (March 16, 2016). According to data from the '' Tyndall Report'', which tracks nightly news content, through February 2016, Trump alone accounted for more than a quarter of all 2016 election coverage on the evening newscasts of NBC, CBS and ABC, more than all the Democratic campaigns combined. Observers noted Trump's ability to garner constant mainstream media coverage "almost at will". However, Trump frequently criticized the media for writing what he alleged to be false stories about him and he has called upon his supporters to be "the silent majority". Trump also said the media "put false meaning into the words I say", and says he does not mind being criticized by the media as long as they are honest about it.

Controversies

According to a wide range of representative polls, both Clinton and Trump had significant net-unfavorability ratings, and their controversial reputations set the tone of the campaign.

Clinton's practice during her time as Secretary of State of using a private email address and server, in lieu of State Department servers, gained widespread public attention back in March 2015. Concerns were raised about security and preservation of emails, and the possibility that laws may have been violated. After allegations were raised that some of the emails in question fell into this so-called "born classified" category, an FBI probe was initiated regarding how classified information was handled on the Clinton server.
The FBI probe was concluded on July 5, 2016, with a recommendation of no charges, a recommendation that was followed by the Justice Department.

Also, on September 9, Clinton said: "You know, just to be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. They're racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic—you name it", adding "But that 'other' basket of people are people who feel the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures; and they're just desperate for change...Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well".

Donald Trump criticized her remark as insulting his supporters. The following day Clinton expressed regret for saying "half", while insisting that Trump had deplorably amplified "hateful views and voices". Previously on August 25, Clinton gave a speech criticizing Trump's campaign for using "racist lies" and allowing the alt-right to gain prominence.

On September 11, Clinton left a 9/11 memorial event early due to illness. Video footage of Clinton's departure showed Clinton becoming unsteady on her feet and being helped into a van. Later that evening, Clinton reassured reporters that she was "feeling great". After initially stating that Clinton had become overheated at the event, her campaign later added that she had been diagnosed with pneumonia two days earlier. The media criticized the Clinton campaign for a lack of transparency regarding Clinton's illness. Clinton cancelled a planned trip to California due to her illness. The episode drew renewed public attention to questions about Clinton's health.

On the other side, on October 7, video and accompanying audio were released by ''The Washington Post'' in which Trump referred obscenely to women in a 2005 conversation with Billy Bush while they were preparing to film an episode of '' Access Hollywood''. In the recording, Trump described his attempts to initiate a sexual relationship with a married woman and added that women would allow male celebrities to grope their genitalia (Trump used the phrase "grab 'em by the pussy"). The audio was met with a reaction of disbelief and disgust from the media. Following the revelation, Trump's campaign issued an apology, stating that the video was of a private conversation from "many years ago". The incident was condemned by numerous prominent Republicans like Reince Priebus, Mitt Romney, John Kasich, Jeb Bush and the Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. Many believed the video had doomed Trump's chances for election. By October 8, several dozen Republicans had called for Trump to withdraw from the campaign and let Pence and Condoleezza Rice head the ticket. Trump insisted he would never drop out, but apologized for his remarks.

Trump also delivered strong and controversial statements towards Muslims and Islam on the campaign trail, saying, "I think Islam hates us". He was criticized and also supported for his statement at a rally declaring, "Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on". Additionally, Trump announced that he would "look into" surveilling mosques, and mentioned potentially going after the families of domestic terrorists in the wake of the San Bernardino shooting. His strong rhetoric towards Muslims resulted in leadership from both parties condemning his statements. However, many of his supporters shared their support for his proposed travel ban, despite the backlash.

Throughout the campaign, Trump indicated in interviews, speeches, and Twitter posts that he would refuse to recognize the outcome of the election if he was defeated. Trump falsely stated that the election would be rigged against him. During the final presidential debate of 2016, Trump refused to tell Fox News anchor Chris Wallace whether or not he would accept the election results. The rejection of election results by a major nominee would have been unprecedented at the time as no major presidential candidate had ever refused to accept the outcome of an election until Trump did so himself in the following 2020 presidential election.

The ongoing controversy of the election made third parties attract voters' attention. On March 3, 2016, Libertarian Gary Johnson addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, DC, touting himself as the third-party option for anti-Trump Republicans.Benjy Sarlin
Anti-Trump forces have few options for third party alternative
, MSNBC (March 4, 2016): "'I am the third party,' former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, the party's 2012 nominee, told conservative gathering CPAC on Thursday. 'The Libertarian Party will be on the ballot in all 50 states.'" In early May, some commentators opined that Johnson was moderate enough to pull votes away from both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump who were very disliked and polarizing. Johnson also began to get time on national television, being invited on ABC News, NBC News, CBS News, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Bloomberg, and many other networks. In September–October 2016, Johnson suffered a "string of damaging stumbles when he has fielded questions about foreign affairs". On September 8, Johnson, when he appeared on MSNBC's ''Morning Joe'', was asked by panelist Mike Barnicle, "What would you do, if you were elected, about Aleppo?" (referring to a war-torn city in Syria). Johnson responded, "And what is Aleppo?" His response prompted widespread attention, much of it negative. Later that day, Johnson said that he had "blanked" and that he did "understand the dynamics of the Syrian conflict—I talk about them every day".

On the other hand, Green Party candidate Jill Stein said the Democratic and Republican parties are "two corporate parties" that have converged into one. Concerned by the rise of the far right internationally and the tendency towards neoliberalism within the Democratic Party, she has said, "The answer to neofascism is stopping neoliberalism. Putting another Clinton in the White House will fan the flames of this right-wing extremism".

In response to Johnson's growing poll numbers, the Clinton campaign and Democratic allies increased their criticism of Johnson in September 2016, warning that "a vote for a third party is a vote for Donald Trump" and deploying Senator Bernie Sanders (Clinton's former primary rival, who supported her in the general election) to win over voters who might be considering voting for Johnson or for Stein.

On October 28, eleven days before the election, FBI Director James Comey informed Congress that the FBI was analyzing additional Clinton emails obtained during its investigation of an unrelated case. On November 6, he notified Congress that the new emails did not change the FBI's earlier conclusion. In the week following the "Comey Letter" of October 28, Clinton's lead dropped by 3 percentage points, leading some commentators - including Clinton herself - to conclude that this letter cost her the election, though there are dissenting views.

Ballot access

* 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.

Party conventions

Republican Party

* July 18–21: Republican National Convention was held in Cleveland, Ohio.

Democratic Party

* July 25–28: Democratic National Convention was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Libertarian Party

* May 26–30: Libertarian National Convention was held in Orlando, Florida.

Green Party

* August 4–7: Green National Convention was held in Houston, Texas.

Constitution Party

* April 13–16: Constitution Party National Convention was held in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Campaign finance

Wall Street spent a record $2 billion trying to influence the 2016 United States presidential election.

The following table is an overview of the money used in the campaign as it is reported to Federal Election Commission (FEC) and released in September 2016. Outside groups are independent expenditure-only committees – also called PACs and SuperPACs. The sources of the numbers are the FEC and OpenSecrets. Some spending totals are not available, due to withdrawals before the FEC deadline. , ten candidates with ballot access have filed financial reports with the FEC.

Voting rights

The 2016 presidential election was the first in 50 years without all the protections of the original Voting Rights Act. Fourteen states had new voting restrictions in place, including swing states such as Virginia and Wisconsin.

Election administration

Among states that offered early in-person voting to all voters in 2016, 27 percent of all votes were cast early in person. Across states where mail voting was available to all voters, 34 percent of all votes were cast by mail. Nationwide, a total of 40 percent of votes were cast before Election Day in the 2016 general election.

Newspaper endorsements

Clinton was endorsed by ''The New York Times'', the ''Los Angeles Times'', the ''Houston Chronicle'', the ''San Jose Mercury News'', the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and the ''New York Daily News'' editorial boards. Several papers which endorsed Clinton, such as the ''Houston Chronicle'', ''The Dallas Morning News'', '' The San Diego Union-Tribune'', ''The Columbus Dispatch'' and ''The Arizona Republic'', endorsed their first Democratic candidate for many decades. ''The Atlantic'', which has been in circulation since 1857, gave Clinton its third-ever endorsement (after Abraham Lincoln and Lyndon Johnson).

Trump, who frequently criticized the mainstream media, was not endorsed by the vast majority of newspapers. The '' Las Vegas Review-Journal'', '' The Florida Times-Union'', and the tabloid ''National Enquirer'' were his highest profile supporters. ''USA Today'', which had not endorsed any candidate since it was founded in 1982, broke tradition by giving an anti-endorsement against Trump, declaring him "unfit for the presidency".

Gary Johnson received endorsements from several major daily newspapers, including the ''Chicago Tribune'', and the '' Richmond Times-Dispatch''. Other traditionally Republican papers, including the '' New Hampshire Union Leader'', which had endorsed the Republican nominee in every election for the last 100 years, and ''The Detroit News'', which had not endorsed a non-Republican in its 143 years, endorsed Gary Johnson.

Notable expressions, phrases, and statements

By Trump and Republicans:
* "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".
* "Big-league": A word used by Donald Trump most notably during the first presidential debate, 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".
* "Build the wall": A chant used at many Trump campaign rallies, and Donald Trump's corresponding promise of the Mexican Border Wall.
* " Drain the swamp": 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.
* " Grab 'em by the pussy" and "when you're a star, they let you do it": 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.
* "I like people who weren't captured": Donald Trump's criticism of Senator John McCain, who was held as a U.S. prisoners of war during the Vietnam War, prisoner of war by North Vietnam during the Vietnam War.
* "Lock her up": A chant first used at the 2016 Republican National Convention, Republican convention to claim that Hillary Clinton was guilty of a crime. The chant was later used at many Trump campaign rallies and even against other politicians critical of Trump, such as Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and (as "lock him up") against President Joe Biden. The phrase would also see use in the 2024 United States presidential election by opponents of Trump in reference to his Indictments against Donald Trump, indictments.
* " Make America Great Again": Donald Trump's campaign slogan.
* "Mexico will pay for it": Trump's campaign promise that if elected he will build a Mexico–United States border wall, wall on the border between the US and Mexico, with Mexico financing the project.
* List of nicknames used by Donald Trump, Nicknames used by Trump to deride his opponents: These include "Crooked Hillary", "Little Marco", "Low-energy Jeb", and "Lyin' Ted".
* "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 Timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections (July 2016 – election day)#20160727, July 2016 news conference.
* "Nasty woman, Such a nasty woman": Donald Trump's response to Hillary Clinton after her saying that her proposed rise in Social Security (United States), Social Security contributions would also include Trump's Social Security contributions, "assuming he can't figure out how to get out of it". Later reappropriated by supporters of Clinton and liberal feminists.
* "They're not sending their best...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 Mexico–United States border during the June 2015 launch of his campaign.
* "What the hell do you have to lose?": Said by Donald Trump to inner-city African Americans at rallies starting on August 19, 2016.

By Clinton and Democrats:
* "Basket of deplorables": A controversial phrase coined by Hillary Clinton to describe half of those who support Trump.
* "I'm with her": Clinton's unofficial campaign slogan ("Stronger Together" was the official slogan).
* "What, like with a cloth or something?": Said by Hillary Clinton in response to being asked whether she "Lost television broadcast#Wiping, wiped" Hillary Clinton email controversy, her emails during an August 2015 press conference.
* "Why aren't I 50 points ahead?": Rhetorical question asked by Hillary Clinton during a video address to the Laborers' International Union of North America on September 21, 2016, which was then turned into an opposition ad by the Trump campaign.
* "When they go low, we go high": Said by then-first lady Michelle Obama during her 2016 Democratic National Convention, Democratic convention 2016 Democratic National Convention#Michelle Obama, speech. This was later inverted by Eric Holder.
* "Feel the Bern": A phrase chanted by supporters of the Bernie Sanders Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign, campaign which was officially adopted by his campaign.
* "Pokémon Go to the polls": An often-ridiculed phrase coined by Hillary Clinton to encourage young people to go to the polls.

By Others:
* "What is Aleppo?": Said by Libertarian Party (United States), Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson when questioned about the Syrian Civil War. The remark was largely credited as having derailed Johnson's campaign, which was polling in the double digits at the time of the remark.

Debates

Primary election

General election

The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), a non-profit organization, hosted United States presidential election debates, debates between qualifying presidential and vice-presidential candidates. According to the commission's website, to be eligible to opt to participate in the anticipated debates, "in addition to being Constitutionally eligible, candidates must appear on a sufficient number of state ballots to have a mathematical chance of winning a majority vote in the Electoral College, and have a level of support of at least 15 percent of the national electorate as determined by five selected national public opinion polling organizations, using the average of those organizations' most recently publicly-reported results at the time of the determination".

The three locations (Hofstra University, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Nevada, Las Vegas) chosen to host the presidential debates, and the one location (Longwood University) selected to host the vice presidential debate, were announced in September 2015. The site of the first debate was originally designated as Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio; however, due to rising costs and security concerns, the debate was moved to Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York.

On August 19, Kellyanne Conway, Trump's campaign manager confirmed that Trump would participate in a series of three debates. Trump had complained two of the scheduled debates, one on September 26 and the other October 9, would have to compete for viewers with National Football League games, referencing the similar complaints made regarding Democratic Party presidential debates and forums, 2016#Dates with low expected ratings, the dates with low expected ratings during the Democratic Party presidential debates and forums, 2016, Democratic Party presidential debates.

There were also debates between independent candidates.

Timeline

Results

Election night and the next day

The news media and election experts were surprised at Trump's winning of the Electoral College. On the eve of the vote, spread betting firm Spreadex had Clinton at an Electoral College spread of 307–322 against Trump's 216–231. The final polls showed a lead by Clinton, and in the end she did receive more votes. Trump himself expected, based on polling, to lose the election, and rented a small hotel ballroom to make a brief concession speech, later remarking: "I said if we're going to lose I don't want a big ballroom". Trump performed surprisingly well in all Swing state, battleground states, especially Florida, Iowa, Ohio, and North Carolina. Even the Democratic-leaning Rust Belt states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin were narrowly won by Trump.

According to the authors of ''Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign'', the White House had concluded by late Tuesday night that Trump would win the election. Obama's political director David Simas called Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook to persuade Clinton to concede the election, with no success. Obama then called Clinton directly, citing the importance of continuity of government, to ask her to publicly acknowledge that Trump had won. Believing that Clinton was still unwilling to concede, the president then called her campaign chair John Podesta, but the call to Clinton had likely already persuaded her.

The Associated Press called Pennsylvania for Trump at 1:35 AM EST, putting Trump at 267 electoral votes. By 2:01 AM EST, they had called both Maine and Nebraska's second congressional districts for Trump, putting him at 269 electoral votes, making it impossible for Clinton to reach 270. One minute after this, John Podesta told Hillary Clinton's victory party in New York that the election was too close to call. At 2:29 AM EST, the Associated Press called Wisconsin, and the election, for Trump, giving him 279 electoral votes. By 2:37 AM EST, Clinton had called Trump to concede the election.

On Wednesday morning at 2:30 AM EST, it was reported that Trump had secured Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes, giving him a majority of the 538 electors in the Electoral College (United States), Electoral College, enough to make him the president-elect of the United States, and Trump gave his victory speech at 2:50 AM EST. Later that day, Clinton asked her supporters to accept the result and hoped that Trump would be "a successful president for all Americans". In his speech, Trump appealed for unity, saying "it is time for us to come together as one united people", and praised Clinton as someone who was owed "a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country".

Statistical analysis

The 2016 election was the fifth and most recent presidential election in which the winning candidate lost the popular vote. Six states plus a portion of Maine that Obama won in 2012 switched to Trump (Electoral College votes in parentheses): Florida (29), Pennsylvania (20), Ohio (18), Michigan (16), Wisconsin (10), Iowa (6), and Maine's second congressional district (1). Initially, Trump won exactly 100 more Electoral College votes than Mitt Romney had in 2012, with two lost to faithless electors in the final tally. Thirty-nine states swung more Republican compared to the previous presidential election, while eleven states and the District of Columbia swung more Democratic. Based on United States Census Bureau estimates of the voting age population (VAP), turnout of voters casting a vote for president was nearly 1% higher than in 2012. Examining overall turnout in the 2016 United States elections, 2016 election, the University of Florida's Michael P. McDonald, Michael McDonald estimated that 138.8 million Americans cast a ballot. Considering a VAP of 250.6 million people and a voting-eligible population (VEP) of 230.6 million people, this is a turnout rate of 55.4% VAP and 60.2% VEP. Based on this estimate, voter turnout was up compared to 2012 (54.1% VAP) but down compared to 2008 (57.4% VAP). An FEC report of the election recorded an official total of 136.7 million votes cast for president—more than any prior election.

By losing New York, Trump became the fourth and most recent victorious candidate to lose his home state, which also occurred in 1844, 1916, and 1968. Furthermore, along with James Polk in 1844, Trump is one of two victorious presidential nominees to win without either their home state or birth state (in this case, both were New York). Data scientist Hamdan Azhar noted the paradoxes of the 2016 outcome, saying that "chief among them [was] the discrepancy between the popular vote, which Hillary Clinton won by 2.8 million votes, and the electoral college, where Trump won 304–227". He said Trump outperformed Mitt Romney's 2012 results, while Clinton only just matched Barack Obama's 2012 totals. Hamdan also said Trump was "the highest vote earner of any Republican candidate ever", exceeding George W. Bush's 62.04 million votes in 2004, though neither reached Clinton's 65.9 million, nor Obama's 69.5 million votes in 2008. He concluded, with help from ''The Cook Political Report'', that the election hinged not on Clinton's large 2.8 million overall vote margin over Trump, but rather on about 78,000 votes from only three counties in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. Clinton was the first former Secretary of State to be nominated by a major political party since James G. Blaine in 1884 United States presidential election, 1884.

This is the first election since 1988 in which the Republican nominee won the states of Michigan and Pennsylvania, and the first since 1984 in which they won Wisconsin. It was the first time since 1988 that the Republicans won Maine's second congressional district and the first time since George W. Bush's victory in New Hampshire in 2000 that they won any electoral votes in the Northeast. This marked the first time that Maine split its electoral votes since it began awarding them based on congressional districts in 1972, and the first time the state split its electoral vote since 1828. The 2016 election marked the eighth consecutive presidential election where the victorious Two-party system#United States, major party nominee did not receive a List of United States presidential elections by popular vote margin, popular vote majority by a double-digit margin over the losing major party nominee(s), with the sequence of presidential elections from 1988 United States presidential election, 1988 through 2016 surpassing the sequence from 1876 United States presidential election, 1876 through 1900 United States presidential election, 1900 to become the longest sequence of such presidential elections in U.S. history. 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 United States presidential election, 1860, 1904 United States presidential election, 1904, 1920 United States presidential election, 1920, 1940 United States presidential election, 1940, and 1944 United States presidential election, 1944. It was also the first election since 1928 United States presidential election, 1928 that the Republicans won without having either Richard Nixon or one of the Bush family, Bushes on the ticket.

Trump was the first president with neither prior public service nor military experience. This election was the first since 1908 where neither candidate was currently serving in public office. This was the first election since 1980 where a Republican was elected without carrying every former Confederate state in the process, as Trump lost Virginia in this election. Trump became the first Republican to earn more than 300 electoral votes since the 1988 election, and the first Republican to win a Northeastern state since George W. Bush won New Hampshire in 2000. This was the first time since 1976 that a Republican presidential candidate lost a pledged vote via a faithless elector, and, additionally, this was the first time since 1972 that the winning presidential candidate lost an electoral vote due to faithless electors. With ballot access to the entire national electorate, Johnson received nearly 4.5 million votes (3.27%), the highest nationwide vote share for a third-party candidate since Ross Perot in 1996, while Stein received almost 1.45 million votes (1.06%), the most for a Green nominee since Ralph Nader in 2000. Johnson received the highest ever share of the vote for a Libertarian nominee, surpassing Ed Clark's 1980 result.

Independent candidate Evan McMullin, who appeared on the ballot in eleven states, received over 732,000 votes (0.53%). He won 21.4% of the vote in his home state of Utah, the highest share of the vote for a third-party candidate in any state since 1992. Despite dropping out of the election following his defeat in the Democratic primary, Senator Bernie Sanders received 5.7% of the vote in his home state of Vermont, the highest write-in draft campaign percentage for a presidential candidate in American history. Johnson and McMullin were the first third-party candidates since Nader to receive at least 5% of the vote in one or more states, with Johnson crossing the mark in nine states and McMullin crossing it in two. Trump became the oldest non-incumbent candidate elected president, besting Ronald Reagan in 1980, although this would be surpassed by Joe Biden in the next election only for it to return to Trump after his victory in 2024. Of the 3,153 counties/districts/independent cities making returns, Trump won the most popular votes in 2,649 (84.02%) while Clinton carried 504 (15.98%).

Electoral results

, -
, colspan=9, ''Tickets that received electoral votes from faithless electors''
, -

Notes:

Results by state

The table below displays the official vote tallies by each state's Electoral College voting method. The source for the results of all states is the official Federal Election Commission report. The column labeled "Margin" shows Trump's margin of victory over Clinton (the margin is negative for every state that Clinton won). A total of 29 United States third-party and independent presidential candidates, 2016, third party and independent presidential candidates appeared on the ballot in at least one state. Former List of Governors of New Mexico, Governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson and physician Jill Stein repeated their 2012 roles as the nominees for the Libertarian Party (United States), Libertarian Party and the Green Party of the United States, Green Party, respectively.

Aside from Florida and North Carolina, the states that secured Trump's victory are situated in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes/ Rust Belt region. Wisconsin went Republican for the first time since 1984 United States presidential election, 1984, while Pennsylvania and Michigan went Republican for the first time since 1988 United States presidential election, 1988. Stein petitioned for a 2016 United States presidential election recount and audit, recount in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. The Clinton campaign pledged to participate in the Green Party recount efforts, while Trump backers challenged them in court. Meanwhile, American Delta Party/Reform Party of the United States of America, Reform Party presidential candidate Rocky De La Fuente petitioned for and was granted a partial recount in Nevada. According to a 2021 study in ''Science Advances'', conversion of voters who voted for Obama in 2012 to Trump in 2016 contributed to Republican flips in Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

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, -
!rowspan=2
!colspan=3 , Clinton/Kaine
Democratic
!colspan=3 , Trump/Pence
Republican
!colspan=3 , Johnson/Weld
Libertarian
!colspan=3 , Stein/Baraka
Green
!colspan=3 , McMullin/Finn
Independent
!colspan=3 , Others
!colspan=2 , Margin
! Margin
swing
!rowspan=2 data-sort-type="number" , Total
votes
!rowspan=2
, -
!data-sort-type="number" , Votes
!data-sort-type="number" , %
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!data-sort-type="number" , Votes
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!data-sort-type="number", %
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Alabama, Alabama , , 729,547, , 34.36%, , –, , 1,318,255, , 62.08%, , 9, , 44,467, , 2.09%, , –, , 9,391, , 0.44%, , –, , –, , –, , –, , 21,712 , , 1.02%, , –, , 588,708, , 27.72%, , 5.54%, , 2,123,372, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Alaska, Alaska , , 116,454, , 36.55%, , –, , 163,387, , 51.28%, , 3, , 18,725, , 5.88%, , –, , 5,735, , 1.80%, , –, , –, , –, , –, , 14,307, , 4.49%, , –, , 46,933, , 14.73%, , 0.74%, , 318,608, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Arizona, Arizona , , 1,161,167, , 45.13%, , –, , 1,252,401, , 48.67%, , 11, , 106,327, , 4.13%, , –, , 34,345, , 1.33%, , –, , 17,449, , 0.68%, , –, , 1,476, , 0.06%, , –, , 91,234, , 3.54%, , −5.56%, , 2,573,165, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Arkansas, Arkansas , , 380,494, , 33.65%, , –, , 684,872, , 60.57%, , 6, , 29,949, , 2.64%, , –, , 9,473, , 0.84%, , –, , 13,176, , 1.17%, , –, , 12,712, , 1.12%, , –, , 304,378, , 26.92%, , 3.23%, , 1,130,676, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in California, California , , 8,753,788, , 61.73%, , 55, , 4,483,810, , 31.62%, , –, , 478,500, , 3.37%, , –, , 278,657, , 1.96%, , –, , 39,596, , 0.28%, , –, , 147,244, , 1.04%, , –, , −4,269,978, , −30.11%, , −6.99%, , 14,181,595, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Colorado, Colorado , , 1,338,870, , 48.16%, , 9, , 1,202,484, , 43.25%, , –, , 144,121, , 5.18%, , –, , 38,437, , 1.38%, , –, , 28,917, , 1.04%, , –, , 27,418, , 0.99%, , –, , −136,386, , −4.91%, , 0.45%, , 2,780,247, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Connecticut, Connecticut , , 897,572, , 54.57%, , 7, , 673,215, , 40.93%, , –, , 48,676, , 2.96%, , –, , 22,841, , 1.39%, , –, , 2,108, , 0.13%, , –, , 508, , 0.03%, , –, , −224,357, , −13.64%, , 3.69%, , 1,644,920, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Delaware, Delaware , , 235,603, , 53.09%, , 3, , 185,127, , 41.71%, , –, , 14,757, , 3.32%, , –, , 6,103, , 1.37%, , –, , 706, , 0.16%, , –, , 1,518, , 0.34%, , –, , −50,476, , −11.38%, , 7.26%, , 443,814, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , District of Columbia , , 282,830, , 90.86%, , 3, , 12,723, , 4.09%, , –, , 4,906, , 1.57%, , –, , 4,258, , 1.36%, , –, , –, , –, , –, , 6,551, , 2.52%, , –, , −270,107, , −86.77%, , −3.14%, , 311,268, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , Florida , , 4,504,975, , 47.82%, , –, , 4,617,886, , 49.02%, , 29, , 207,043, , 2.20%, , –, , 64,399, , 0.68%, , –, , –, , –, , –, , 25,736, , 0.28%, , –, , 112,911, , 1.20%, , 2.08%, , 9,420,039, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Georgia, Georgia , , 1,877,963, , 45.64%, , –, , 2,089,104, , 50.77%, , 16, , 125,306, , 3.05%, , –, , 7,674, , 0.19%, , –, , 13,017, , 0.32%, , –, , 1,668, , 0.04%, , –, , 211,141, , 5.13%, , −2.69%, , 4,114,732, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Hawaii, Hawaii , , 266,891, , 62.22%, , 3, , 128,847, , 30.04%, , –, , 15,954, , 3.72%, , –, , 12,737, , 2.97%, , –, , –, , –, , –, , 4,508, , 1.05%, , 1, , −138,044, , −32.18%, , 10.53%, , 428,937, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Idaho, Idaho , , 189,765, , 27.49%, , –, , 409,055, , 59.26%, , 4, , 28,331, , 4.10%, , –, , 8,496, , 1.23%, , –, , 46,476, , 6.73%, , –, , 8,132, , 1.18%, , –, , 219,290, , 31.77%, , 0.08%, , 690,255, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Illinois, Illinois , , 3,090,729, , 55.83%, , 20, , 2,146,015, , 38.76%, , –, , 209,596, , 3.79%, , –, , 76,802, , 1.39%, , –, , 11,655, , 0.21%, , –, , 1,627, , 0.03%, , –, , −944,714, , −17.07%, , −0.19%, , 5,536,424, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Indiana, Indiana , , 1,033,126, , 37.77%, , –, , 1,557,286, , 56.94%, , 11, , 133,993, , 4.90%, , –, , 7,841, , 0.29%, , –, , –, , –, , –, , 2,712, , 0.10%, , –, , 524,160, , 19.17%, , 8.97%, , 2,734,958, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , Iowa , , 653,669 , , 41.74%, , –, , 800,983, , 51.15%, , 6, , 59,186, , 3.78%, , –, , 11,479, , 0.73%, , –, , 12,366, , 0.79%, , –, , 28,348, , 1.81%, , –, , 147,314, , 9.41%, , 15.22%, , 1,566,031, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Kansas, Kansas , , 427,005, , 36.05%, , –, , 671,018, , 56.65%, , 6, , 55,406, , 4.68%, , –, , 23,506, , 1.98%, , –, , 6,520, , 0.55%, , –, , 947 , , 0.08%, , –, , 244,013, , 20.60%, , −1.11%, , 1,184,402, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Kentucky, Kentucky , , 628,854, , 32.68%, , –, , 1,202,971, , 62.52%, , 8, , 53,752, , 2.79%, , –, , 13,913, , 0.72%, , –, , 22,780, , 1.18%, , –, , 1,879 , , 0.10%, , –, , 574,177, , 29.84%, , 7.15%, , 1,924,149, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Louisiana, Louisiana , , 780,154, , 38.45%, , –, , 1,178,638, , 58.09%, , 8, , 37,978, , 1.87%, , –, , 14,031, , 0.69%, , –, , 8,547, , 0.42%, , –, , 9,684, , 0.48%, , –, , 398,484, , 19.64%, , 2.44%, , 2,029,032, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Maine, Maine † , , 357,735, , 47.83%, , 2, , 335,593, , 44.87%, , –, , 38,105, , 5.09%, , –, , 14,251, , 1.91%, , –, , 1,887, , 0.25%, , –, , 356, , 0.05%, , –, , −22,142, , −2.96%, , 12.33%, , 747,927, , rowspan=3,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , ', , ''212,774'', , ''53.96%'', , 1, , ''154,384'', , ''39.15%'', , –, , ''18,592'', , ''4.71%'', , –, , ''7,563'', , ''1.92%'', , –, , ''807'', , ''0.20%'', , –, , ''209'', , ''0.05%'', , –, , ''−58,390'', , ''−14.81%'', , ''6.58%'', , ''394,329''
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , ' , , ''144,817'', , ''40.98%'', , –, , ''181,177'', , ''51.26%'', , 1, , ''19,510'', , ''5.52%'', , –, , ''6,685'', , ''1.89%'', , –, , ''1,080'', , 0.31%, , –, , ''147'', , ''0.04%'', , –, , ''36,360'', , ''10.28%'', , ''18.85%'', , ''353,416''
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Maryland, Maryland , , 1,677,928, , 60.33%, , 10, , 943,169, , 33.91%, , –, , 79,605, , 2.86%, , –, , 35,945, , 1.29%, , –, , 9,630, , 0.35%, , –, , 35,169, , 1.26%, , –, , −734,759, , −26.42%, , −0.35%, , 2,781,446, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Massachusetts, Massachusetts , , 1,995,196, , 60.01%, , 11, , 1,090,893, , 32.81%, , –, , 138,018, , 4.15%, , –, , 47,661, , 1.43%, , –, , 2,719, , 0.08%, , –, , 50,559, , 1.52%, , –, , −904,303, , −27.20%, , −4.06%, , 3,325,046, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , Michigan , , 2,268,839, , 47.27%, , –, , 2,279,543, , 47.50%, , 16, , 172,136, , 3.59%, , –, , 51,463, , 1.07%, , –, , 8,177, , 0.17%, , –, , 19,126, , 0.40%, , –, , 10,704, , 0.23%, , 9.73%, , 4,799,284 , ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Minnesota, Minnesota , , 1,367,716, , 46.44%, , 10, , 1,322,951, , 44.92%, , –, , 112,972, , 3.84%, , –, , 36,985, , 1.26%, , –, , 53,076, , 1.80%, , –, , 51,113, , 1.74%, , –, , −44,765, , −1.52%, , 6.17%, , 2,944,813, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Mississippi, Mississippi , , 485,131 , , 40.11%, , –, , 700,714, , 57.94%, , 6, , 14,435, , 1.19%, , –, , 3,731, , 0.31%, , –, , –, , –, , –, , 5,346, , 0.44%, , –, , 215,583, , 17.83%, , 6.33%, , 1,209,357, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Missouri, Missouri , , 1,071,068, , 38.14%, , –, , 1,594,511, , 56.77%, , 10, , 97,359, , 3.47%, , –, , 25,419, , 0.91%, , –, , 7,071, , 0.25%, , –, , 13,177, , 0.47%, , –, , 523,443, , 18.63%, , 9.26%, , 2,808,605, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Montana, Montana , , 177,709, , 35.75%, , –, , 279,240, , 56.17%, , 3, , 28,037, , 5.64%, , –, , 7,970, , 1.60%, , –, , 2,297, , 0.46%, , –, , 1,894, , 0.38%, , –, , 101,531, , 20.42%, , 6.77%, , 497,147, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Nebraska, Nebraska † , , 284,494, , 33.70%, , –, , 495,961, , 58.75%, , 2, , 38,946, , 4.61%, , –, , 8,775, , 1.04%, , –, , –, , –, , –, , 16,051, , 1.90%, , –, , 211,467, , 25.05%, , 3.28%, , 844,227, , rowspan="4",
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , ' , , ''100,132'', , ''35.46%'', , –, , ''158,642'', , ''56.18%'', , 1 , , ''14,033'', , ''4.97%'', , –, , ''3,374'', , ''1.19%'', , –, , –, , –, , –, , 6,181, , 2.19%, , –, , ''58,500'', , ''20.72%'', , ''4.12%'', , ''282,338''
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , ' , , ''131,030'', , ''44.92%'', , –, , ''137,564'', , ''47.16%'', , 1 , , ''13,245'', , ''4.54%'', , –, , ''3,347'', , ''1.15%'', , –, , –, , –, , –, , 6,494, , 2.23%, , –, , ''6,534'', , ''2.24%'', , ''−4.91%'', , ''291,680''
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , ' , , ''53,332'', , ''19.73%'', , –, , ''199,755'', , ''73.92%'', , 1 , , ''11,668'', , ''4.32%'', , –, , ''2,054'', , ''0.76%'', , –, , –, , –, , –, , 3,451, , 1.28%, , –, , ''146,367'', , ''54.19%'', , ''11.78%'', , ''270,109''
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Nevada, Nevada , , 539,260, , 47.92%, , 6, , 512,058, , 45.50%, , –, , 37,384, , 3.29%, , –, , –, , –, , –, , –, , –, , –, , 36,683, , 3.23%, , –, , −27,202, , −2.42%, , 4.26%, , 1,125,385
, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in New Hampshire, New Hampshire , , 348,526, , 46.83%, , 4, , 345,790, , 46.46%, , –, , 30,777, , 4.15%, , –, , 6,496, , 0.88%, , –, , 1,064, , 0.14%, , –, , 11,643, , 1.24%, , –, , −2,736, , −0.37%, , 5.21%, , 744,296, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in New Jersey, New Jersey , , 2,148,278, , 55.45%, , 14, , 1,601,933, , 41.35%, , –, , 72,477, , 1.87%, , –, , 37,772, , 0.98%, , –, , –, , –, , –, , 13,586, , 0.35%, , –, , −546,345, , −14.10%, , 3.69%, , 3,874,046, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in New Mexico, New Mexico , , 385,234, , 48.26%, , 5, , 319,667, , 40.04%, , –, , 74,541, , 9.34%, , –, , 9,879, , 1.24%, , –, , 5,825, , 0.73%, , –, , 3,173, , 0.40%, , –, , −65,567
, −8.22%, , 1.94%, , 798,319, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in New York, New York , , 4,556,124, , 59.01%, , 29, , 2,819,534, , 36.52%, , –, , 176,598, , 2.29%, , –, , 107,934, , 1.40%, , –, , 10,373, , 0.13%, , –, , 50,890, , 0.66%, , –, , −1,736,590
, −22.49%, , 5.69%, , 7,721,453, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in North Carolina, North Carolina , , 2,189,316, , 46.17%, , –, , 2,362,631, , 49.83%, , 15, , 130,126, , 2.74%, , –, , 12,105, , 0.26%, , –, , –, , –, , –, , 47,386, , 1.00%, , –, , 173,315, , 3.66%, , 1.62%, , 4,741,564, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in North Dakota, North Dakota , , 93,758, , 27.23%, , –, , 216,794, , 62.96%, , 3, , 21,434, , 6.22%, , –, , 3,780, , 1.10%, , –, , –, , –, , –, , 8,594, , 2.49%, , –, , 123,036, , 35.73%, , 16.11%, , 344,360, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , Ohio , , 2,394,164, , 43.56%, , –, , 2,841,005, , 51.69%, , 18, , 174,498, , 3.17%, , –, , 46,271, , 0.84%, , –, , 12,574, , 0.23%, , –, , 27,975, , 0.51%, , –, , 446,841, , 8.13%, , 11.11%, , 5,496,487, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Oklahoma, Oklahoma , , 420,375, , 28.93%, , –, , 949,136, , 65.32%, , 7, , 83,481, , 5.75%, , –, , –, , –, , –, , –, , –, , –, , –, , –, , –, , 528,761, , 36.39%, , 2.95%
, , 1,452,992, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Oregon, Oregon , , 1,002,106, , 50.07%, , 7, , 782,403, , 39.09%, , –, , 94,231, , 4.71%, , –, , 50,002, , 2.50%, , –, , –, , –, , –, , 72,594, , 3.63%, , –, , −219,703
, −10.98%, , 1.11%, , 2,001,336, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , Pennsylvania , , 2,926,441, , 47.46%, , –, , 2,970,733, , 48.18%, , 20, , 146,715, , 2.38%, , –, , 49,941, , 0.81%, , –, , 6,472, , 0.11%, , –, , 65,176, , 1.06%, , –, , 44,292, , 0.72%, , 6.10%, , 6,165,478, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Rhode Island, Rhode Island , , 252,525, , 54.41%, , 4, , 180,543, , 38.90%, , –, , 14,746, , 3.18%, , –, , 6,220, , 1.34%, , –, , 516, , 0.11%, , –, , 9,594, , 2.07%, , –, , −71,982
, −15.51%, , 11.95%, , 464,144, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in South Carolina, South Carolina , , 855,373, , 40.67%, , –, , 1,155,389, , 54.94%, , 9, , 49,204, , 2.34%, , –, , 13,034, , 0.62%, , –, , 21,016, , 1.00%, , –, , 9,011, , 0.43%, , –, , 300,016, , 14.27%, , 3.80%, , 2,103,027, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in South Dakota, South Dakota , , 117,458, , 31.74%, , –, , 227,721, , 61.53%, , 3, , 20,850, , 5.63%, , –, , –, , –, , –, , –, , –, , –, , 4,064 , , 1.10%, , –, , 110,263, , 29.79%, , 11.77%, , 370,093, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Tennessee, Tennessee , , 870,695, , 34.72%, , –, , 1,522,925, , 60.72%, , 11, , 70,397, , 2.81%, , –, , 15,993, , 0.64%, , –, , 11,991, , 0.48%, , –, , 16,026, , 0.64%, , –, , 652,230, , 26.00%, , 5.61%, , 2,508,027, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Texas, Texas , , 3,877,868, , 43.24%, , –, , 4,685,047, , 52.23%, , 36, , 283,492, , 3.16%, , –, , 71,558, , 0.80%, , –, , 42,366, , 0.47%, , –, , 8,895, , 0.10%, , 2, , 807,179, , 8.99%, , −6.80%, , 8,969,226, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Utah, Utah , , 310,676, , 27.46%, , –, , 515,231, , 45.54%, , 6, , 39,608, , 3.50%, , –, , 9,438, , 0.83%, , –, , 243,690, , 21.54%, , –, , 12,787, , 1.13%, , –, , 204,555, , 18.08%, , −29.85%, , 1,131,430, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Vermont, Vermont , , , 178,573, , 56.68%, , 3, , 95,369, , 30.27%, , –, , 10,078, , 3.20%, , –, , 6,758, , 2.14%, , –, , 639, , 0.20%, , –, , 23,650, , 7.51%, , –, , −83,204
, −26.41%, , 9.19%, , 315,067, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Virginia, Virginia , , 1,981,473, , 49.73%, , 13, , 1,769,443, , 44.41%, , –, , 118,274, , 2.97%, , –, , 27,638, , 0.69%, , –, , 54,054, , 1.36%, , –, , 33,749, , 0.85%, , –, , −212,030
, −5.32%, , −1.44%, , 3,984,631, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Washington (state), Washington , , 1,742,718, , 52.54%, , 8, , 1,221,747, , 36.83%, , –, , 160,879, , 4.85%, , –, , 58,417, , 1.76%, , –, , –, , –, , –, , , 133,258, , 4.02%, , 4, , −520,971
, −15.71%, , −0.84%, , 3,317,019, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in West Virginia, West Virginia , , 188,794, , 26.43%, , –, , 489,371, , 68.50%, , 5, , 23,004, , 3.22%, , –, , 8,075, , 1.13%, , –, , 1,104, , 0.15%, , –, , 4,075, , 0.57%, , –, , 300,577, , 42.07%, , 15.31%, , 714,423, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , Wisconsin , , 1,382,536, , 46.45%, , –, , 1,405,284, , 47.22%, , 10, , 106,674, , 3.58%, , –, , 31,072, , 1.04%, , –, , 11,855, , 0.40%, , –, , 38,729, , 1.30%, , –, , 22,748, , 0.77%, , 7.71%, , 2,976,150, ,
, -
, style="white-space:nowrap;text-align:center;" , 2016 United States presidential election in Wyoming, Wyoming , , 55,973, , 21.88%, , –, , 174,419, , 68.17%, , 3, , 13,287, , 5.19%, , –, , 2,515, , 0.98%, , –, , –, , –, , –, , 9,655, , 3.78%, , –, , 118,446, , 46.29%, , 5.47%, , 255,849, ,
, -
!Total , , 65,853,516 , , 48.18% , , 227 , , 62,984,825 , , 46.09% , , 304 , , 4,489,221 , , 3.28% , , – , , 1,457,216 , , 1.07% , , – , , 731,788 , , 0.54% , , – , , 1,152,671 , , 0.84% , , 7 , , −2,868,691 , , −2.10% , , 1.76% , , {{{right 136,669,237
!rowspan=2 {{vertical header, Sources
, -
!
!colspan=3, Clinton/Kaine
Democratic
!colspan=3, Trump/Pence
Republican
!colspan=3, Johnson/Weld
Libertarian
!colspan=3, Stein/Baraka
Green
!colspan=3, McMullin/Finn
Independent
!colspan=3, Others
!colspan=2, Margin
! Margin
swing
! Total
votes

Two states (Maine{{efn, name=maine-split, Maine split its electoral votes for the first time since 1828 United States presidential election, 1828. and Nebraska) allow for their electoral votes to be split between candidates by congressional districts. The winner within each congressional district gets one electoral vote for the district. The winner of the statewide vote gets two additional electoral votes.{{cite web , url=http://www.sos.ne.gov/elec/2012/pdf/2012-general-canvass.pdf , title=Official Results of Nebraska General Election—November 6, 2012 , access-date=December 26, 2012 Results are from ''The New York Times''.{{cite news , title=Presidential Election Results: Donald J. Trump Wins , url=https://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/president , newspaper=The New York Times , date=November 9, 2016 , access-date=December 20, 2016

States and EV districts that flipped from Democratic to Republican

*Florida
*Iowa
*Maine's 2nd congressional district
*Michigan
*Ohio
*Pennsylvania
*Wisconsin

Battleground states

Most News site, media outlets announced the beginning of the presidential race about twenty months prior to Election Day (United States), Election Day. Soon after the first contestants declared their candidacy, Larry Sabato listed Virginia, Colorado, Iowa, New Hampshire, Florida, Nevada, and Ohio as the seven states most likely to be contested in the Elections in the United States, general election. After Donald Trump clinched the Republican presidential nomination, many pundits felt that the major campaign locations might be different from what had originally been expected.

Rust Belt, Rust Belt states such as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and even Michigan were thought to be in play with Trump as the nominee, while states with large minority populations, such as Colorado and Virginia, were expected to shift towards Clinton.{{cite web , url=http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/the-only-thing-that-matters/ , title=Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball " The Electoral College: The Only Thing That Matters , website=www.centerforpolitics.org , date=March 31, 2016 , access-date=June 11, 2016 By the conventions period and the debates, however, it did not seem as though the Rust Belt states could deliver a victory to Trump, as many of them were considered to be part of the "Blue wall (United States), blue wall" of Democratic-leaning states. Trump's courting of the Polish-American vote, a sizable number of whom were Reagan Democrats, has been cited as the cause for the loss of the Rust Belt by the Democratic nominee. According to Politico and FiveThirtyEight, his path to victory went through states such as Florida, North Carolina, Nevada, New Hampshire, and possibly Colorado.

Opinion poll, Early polling indicated a closer-than-usual race in former Democratic strongholds such as 2016 United States presidential election in Washington (state), Washington, 2016 United States presidential election in Delaware, Delaware, 2016 United States presidential election in New Jersey, New Jersey, 2016 United States presidential election in Connecticut, Connecticut, 2016 United States presidential election in Maine, Maine (for the two statewide electoral votes), and 2016 United States presidential election in New Mexico, New Mexico.

A consensus among pundit, political pundits developed throughout the primary elections in the United States, primary election season regarding swing states. From the results of presidential elections from 2004 United States presidential election, 2004 through to 2012, the Democratic and Republican parties would generally start with a safe Red states and blue states, electoral vote count of about 150 to 200. However, the 2012 presidential election results, margins required to constitute a swing state are vague, and can vary between groups of analysts.{{cite web , url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/21/utah-mormon-voters-anti-donald-trump-republican-caucuses , title=Why Mormons in America's most conservative state could turn a Trump stronghold questionably Democratic , last=Levin , first=Sam , date=March 21, 2016 , website=The Guardian , access-date=June 11, 2016{{cite web , url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865650513/Poll-Utah-would-vote-for-a-Democrat-for-president-over-Trump.html , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160320153419/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865650513/Poll-Utah-would-vote-for-a-Democrat-for-president-over-Trump.html , url-status=dead , archive-date=March 20, 2016 , title=Poll: Utah would vote for a Democrat for president over Trump , last=Roche , first=Lisa Riley , date=March 20, 2016 , website=DeseretNews.com , access-date=June 11, 2016 It was thought that left-leaning states in the Rust Belt could become more Conservatism in the United States, conservative, as Trump had strong appeal among many blue-collar workers. They represent a large portion of the American populace and were a major factor in Trump's eventual Presidential nominee, nomination. Trump's primary campaign was propelled by victories in Democratic states, and his supporters often did not identify as Republican.

Media reports indicated that both candidates planned to concentrate on Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio and North Carolina. Among the Republican-leaning states, potential Democratic targets included Nebraska's 2nd congressional district, Nebraska's second congressional district, Georgia, and Arizona.{{cite news , last1=Balz , first1=Dan , title=The Republican Party's uphill path to 270 electoral votes in 2016 elections , url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-gops-uphill-path-to-270-in-2016/2014/01/18/9404eb06-7fcf-11e3-93c1-0e888170b723_story.html , access-date=October 3, 2014 , newspaper=The Washington Post , date=January 18, 2014 Trump's relatively poor polling in some traditionally Republican states, such as Utah, raised the possibility that they could vote for Clinton, despite easy wins there by recent Presidential nominee, Republican nominees.{{cite magazine , last1=Villa , first1=Lissandra , title=Why Utah Doesn't Like Donald Trump , url=https://time.com/4397192/donald-trump-utah-gary-johnson/ , access-date=July 18, 2016 , magazine=Time , date=July 10, 2016 However, many analysts asserted that these states were not yet viable Democratic destinations.{{cite news , url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/05/2016-predictions-117554 , title=The 2016 Results We Can Already Predict , date=May 3, 2015 , work=Politico , last2=Skelley , first2=Geoffrey , last3=Sabato , first3=Larry , last1=Kondik , first1=Kyle , access-date=September 22, 2015 Several sites and individuals publish electoral predictions. These generally rate the race by the likelihood for each party to win a state.{{cite news , url=https://www.vox.com/2014/11/8/7174945/electoral-college-rigging , title=A totally legal, totally shady way that Republicans could ensure Hillary Clinton's defeat , date=November 8, 2014 , publisher=Vox (website), Vox , last1=Yglesias , first1=Matthew , access-date=November 8, 2014 The "tossup" label is usually used to indicate that neither party has an advantage, "lean" to indicate a party has a slight edge, "likely" to indicate a party has a clear but not overwhelming advantage, and "safe" to indicate a party has an advantage that cannot be overcome.{{cite news , url=http://themonkeycage.org/2012/07/31/president-obamas-disproportionate-battleground-state-focus-started-early-echoed-predecessors-actions/ , title=President Obama's Disproportionate Battleground State Focus Started Early, Echoed Predecessors' Actions , date=July 31, 2012 , publisher=Monkey Cage , last1=Doherty , first1=Brendan , access-date=November 4, 2014

As the parameters of the race established themselves, analysts converged on a narrower list of contested states, which were relatively similar to those of recent elections. On November 7, the Cook Political Report categorized Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin as states with close races. Additionally, a district from each of Maine and Nebraska were considered to be coin flips. Meanwhile, FiveThirtyEight listed twenty-two states as potentially competitive about a month before swing state, the election—Maine's two at-large electoral votes, New Mexico, Minnesota, Michigan, Colorado, Virginia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Nevada, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Iowa, Arizona, Georgia, Alaska, South Carolina, Texas, Indiana, Missouri, and Utah—as well as Maine's 2nd congressional district, Maine's second and Nebraska's 2nd congressional district, Nebraska's second congressional districts. Nate Silver, the publication's editor-in-chief, subsequently removed Texas, South Carolina, Missouri, and Indiana from the list after the race tightened significantly. These conclusions were supported by Voter model, models such as the Princeton University, Princeton Elections Consortium, the New York Times Upshot, and punditry evaluations from Sabato's Crystal Ball and the The Cook Political Report, Cook Political Report.

Hillary Clinton won states like 2016 United States presidential election in New Mexico, New Mexico by less than 10 percentage points. Among the states where the candidates finished at a margin of within seven percent, Clinton won Virginia (13 electoral votes), Colorado (9), Maine (2), Minnesota (10), and New Hampshire (4). On the other hand, Trump won Michigan (16), Pennsylvania (20), Wisconsin (10), Florida (29), North Carolina (15), Arizona (11), Nebraska's second district (1), and Georgia (16). States won by Obama in the 2012, such as Ohio (18), Iowa (6), and Maine's second district (1), were also won by Trump. The close result in 2016 United States presidential election in Maine, Maine was not expected by most commentators, nor were Trump's victory of over 10 points in the second district and their disparities. The dramatic shift of American Midwest, Midwestern states towards Trump were contrasted in the media against the relative movement of Southern United States, Southern states towards the Democratic Party (United States), Democrats. For example, former Democratic strongholds such as Minnesota and Maine leaned towards the Republican Party (United States), GOP while still voting Democratic, albeit by smaller margins. Meanwhile, Iowa voted more Republican than Texas did, Georgia was more Democratic than Ohio, and the margin of victory for Trump was greater in North Carolina than Arizona. Trump's smaller victories in Alaska and Utah also took some experts by surprise.

Close states

States where the margin of victory was under 1% (50 electoral votes; 46 won by Trump, 4 by Clinton):

#Michigan, 0.23% (10,704 votes) – 16 electoral votes
#New Hampshire, 0.37% (2,736 votes) – 4 electoral votes
#Pennsylvania, 0.72% (44,292 votes) – 20 electoral votes (tipping point state, including two faithless GOP electors){{cite web , url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/donald-trump-had-a-superior-electoral-college-strategy/ , title=Donald Trump Had A Superior Electoral College Strategy , date=February 6, 2017 , website=FiveThirtyEight
#Wisconsin, 0.77% (22,748 votes) – 10 electoral votes (tipping point state, excluding the two faithless GOP electors)

States/districts where the margin of victory was between 1% and 5% (83 electoral votes; 56 won by Trump, 27 by Clinton):

#Florida, 1.20% (112,911 votes) – 29 electoral votes
#Minnesota, 1.52% (44,765 votes) – 10 electoral votes
#Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District, 2.24% (6,534 votes) – 1 electoral vote
#Nevada, 2.42% (27,202 votes) – 6 electoral votes
#Maine, 2.96% (22,142 votes) – 2 electoral votes
#Arizona, 3.54% (91,234 votes) – 11 electoral votes
#North Carolina, 3.66% (173,315 votes) – 15 electoral votes
#Colorado, 4.91% (136,386 votes) – 9 electoral votes

States where the margin of victory was between 5% and 10% (94 electoral votes; 76 won by Trump, 18 by Clinton):

#Georgia, 5.13% (211,141 votes) – 16 electoral votes
#Virginia, 5.32% (212,030 votes) – 13 electoral votes
#Ohio, 8.13% (446,841 votes) – 18 electoral votes
#New Mexico, 8.22% (65,567 votes) – 5 electoral votes
#Texas, 8.99% (807,179 votes) – 38 electoral votes
#Iowa, 9.41% (147,314 votes) – 6 electoral votes

Red denotes states or congressional districts won by Republican Donald Trump; blue denotes those won by Democrat Hillary Clinton.

County statistics

Counties with highest percentage of Republican vote:
# Roberts County, Texas 94.58%
# King County, Texas 93.71%
# Motley County, Texas 92.03%
# Hayes County, Nebraska 91.83%
# Shackelford County, Texas 91.62%

Counties with highest percentage of Democratic vote:
# The Bronx, Bronx County, New York 88.52%
# Prince George's County, Maryland 88.13%
# Claiborne County, Mississippi 86.80%

Maps

File:Results by state, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote 2016.svg, Results by state, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote
File:2016 U.S. presidential election margins.svg, Results by state, shaded according to margin of victory
File:2016 Presidential Election by Vote Distribution Among States.svg, Results by vote distribution among states. The size of each state's pie chart is proportional to its number of electoral votes.
File:ElectorScaledUS2016.svg, A discontinuous cartogram of the 2016 United States presidential election
File:Cartogram—2016 Electoral Vote.svg, A discretized cartogram of the 2016 United States presidential election using squares
File:United States presidential election, 2016 Cartogram.png, A continuous cartogram of the 2016 United States presidential election
File:USA electoral votes 2016 hex cartogram.svg, A discretized cartogram of the 2016 United States presidential election using hexagons
File:2016 Presidential Election by County.svg, Results by county.{{efn, group=lower-alpha, name="county clarification", Alaska and Louisiana do not have counties. Alaska's List of boroughs and census areas in Alaska, boroughs and census areas and Louisiana's List of parishes in Louisiana, parishes are pictured. Red denotes counties that went to Trump; blue denotes counties that went to Clinton.
File:2016 United States presidential election results map by county.svg, Results by county,{{efn, group=lower-alpha, name="county clarification" shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote
File:2016 Presidential Election by County Flips.svg, Results by county flips from 2012 to the 2016 presidential election{{efn, group=lower-alpha, name="county clarification"
File:U.S. 2012 to 2016 presidential election swing.svg, County swing from 2012 to 2016{{efn, group=lower-alpha, name="county clarification"
File:2016 presidential election, results by congressional district (popular vote margin).svg, Results of election by congressional district, shaded by winning candidate's percentage of the vote
File:2016 United States presidential election - Percentage of votes cast for Gary Johnson by county.svg, Results by county, shaded according to percentage of the vote for Gary Johnson
File:2016 United States presidential election - Percentage of votes cast for Jill Stein by county.svg, Results by county, shaded according to percentage of the vote for Jill Stein
File:EvanMcMullin2016.svg, Results by county, shaded according to percentage of the vote for Evan McMullin

Viewership

The 2016 election was highly viewed, setting viewership records on CNN and Fox News. Over 28 million people watched the election on cable television, with 63.99 million viewers including broadcast television. While more highly viewed than 2012 (60.86 million viewers), it was less viewed than 2008 (71.5 million viewers).{{Cite web , url=http://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/2016-election-night-poised-to-be-most-watched-ever/310418 , url-access=registration , title=2016 Election Night poised to be most-watched in history , date=November 7, 2016 , website=Adweek , access-date=March 28, 2020

{{col-begin
{{col-break
Legend
{, class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;"
, - style="background:#e5d1cb;"
, cable news network
, - style="background:#dfe2e9;"
, broadcast network

{{col-break
Total television viewers
8:00 to 11:00 p.m. EST
{, class="wikitable"
, -
! Network !! Viewers
, - style="background:#e5d1cb;"
, CNN , , 13,258,000
, - style="background:#e5d1cb;"
, Fox News Channel, FNC , , 12,112,000
, - style="background:#dfe2e9;"
, NBC , , 11,152,000
, - style="background:#dfe2e9;"
, American Broadcasting Company, ABC , , 9,236,000
, - style="background:#dfe2e9;"
, CBS , , 8,008,000
, - style="background:#e5d1cb;"
, MSNBC , , 5,945,000
, - style="background:#dfe2e9;"
, Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox , , 4,196,000

{{col-break
Total cable TV viewers
2:00 to 3:00 a.m. EST
{, class="wikitable"
, -
! Network !! Viewers
, - style="background:#e5d1cb;"
, Fox News Channel, FNC , , 9,778,000
, - style="background:#e5d1cb;"
, CNN , , 6,452,000
, - style="background:#e5d1cb;"
, MSNBC , , 2,858,000

{{col-break
Cable TV viewers 25 to 54
2:00 to 3:00 a.m. EST
{, class="wikitable"
, -
! Network !! Viewers
, - style="background:#e5d1cb;"
, Fox News Channel, FNC , , 3,955,000
, - style="background:#e5d1cb;"
, CNN , , 3,372,000
, - style="background:#e5d1cb;"
, MSNBC , , 1,207,000

{{col-end

Exit poll

Voter demographic data for 2016 were collected by Edison Research for the National Election Pool, a consortium of ABC News, CBS News, MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, and the Associated Press. The voter survey is based on exit polls completed by 24,537 voters leaving 350 voting places throughout the United States on Election Day (United States), Election Day, in addition to 4,398 telephone interviews with early and absentee voters.{{cite web , title=exit polls , url=https://www.cnn.com/election/2016/results/exit-polls , publisher= CNN , access-date=December 9, 2024 Trump's crucial victories in the Midwestern United States, Midwest were aided in large part by his strong margins among Higher education in the United States, non-college White people, whites—while Barack Obama, Obama lost those voters by a margin of 10 points in 2012, Clinton lost this group by 20 percent. The election also represented the first time that Republicans performed better among lower-income whites than among affluent white voters.{{cite news , url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/23/upshot/how-the-obama-coalition-crumbled-leaving-an-opening-for-trump.html , title=How the Obama Coalition Crumbled, Leaving an Opening for Trump , last1=Cohn , first1=Nate , date=December 23, 2016 , access-date=December 25, 2016 , work=The New York Times Clinton however had the majority amongst lower-income Americans overall.

Trump narrowed Clinton's margin compared to Obama by seven points among Black people, blacks and African Americans, African-Americans, eight points among Hispanic and Latino Americans, Latinos, and 11 points among Asian Americans, Asian-Americans. Meanwhile, Trump increased his lead with non-Hispanic White people, white voters through one percent over Mitt Romney's performance, and Native Americans in the United States, American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Pacific Islanders shifted their support towards the Republican candidate using the same relative amount. Additionally, although 74 percent of Islam in the United States, Muslim voters supported Clinton, Trump nearly doubled his support among those voters compared to Mitt Romney at 13 percent, according to the ''Council on American–Islamic Relations'' exit poll.

However, "more convincing data" from the polling firm Latino Decisions indicates that Clinton received a higher share of the Hispanic vote, and Trump a lower share, than the Edison exit polls showed. Using wider, more geographically and linguistically representative sampling, Latino Decisions concluded that Clinton won 79% of Hispanic voters (also an improvement over Obama's share in 2008 and 2012), while Trump won only 18% (lower than previous Republicans such as Romney and McCain). Additionally, the 2016 Cooperative Congressional Election Study found that Clinton's share of the Hispanic vote was one percentage point higher than Obama's in 2012, while Trump's was seven percentage points lower than Romney's.

Similarly, a large, multi-lingual study by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund found that Clinton won 79% of Asian-American voters, higher than the Edison exit poll showed, while Trump won only 18%, a decrease from McCain's and Romney's numbers. Furthermore, according to the AALDEF's report, Trump received merely 2% of the Muslim-American vote, whereas Clinton received 97%.
The low percentage of Muslim votes for Trump may have been influenced by much of his rhetoric during the campaign regarding Muslims and Islam. The issue of islamophobia was demonstrated to be an important political issue for Muslim voters; an ISPU study done in 2016 found that, "...outside the issues of discrimination and Islamophobia there aren't, like, one or two big issues that unite all Muslims".

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:90%; line-height:1.2"
, -
! colspan="8" , 2016 presidential election exit poll results (Edison)
, -
! Response category
! {{party shading/Democratic, Clinton
! {{party shading/Republican, Trump
! {{party shading/Independent, Other
! % of
total vote
, -
, Total vote
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 48
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 46
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 100
, -
! colspan=5, Ideology
, -
, Liberalism in the United States, Liberals
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 84
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 10
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 26
, -
, Moderates
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 52
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 41
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 39
, -
, Conservatism in the United States, Conservatives
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 15
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 81
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 35
, -
! colspan=5, Party
, -
, Democratic Party (United States), Democrats
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 89
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 9
, style="text-align:right;" , 2
, style="text-align:right;" , 37
, -
, Republican Party (United States), Republicans
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 7
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 90
, style="text-align:right;" , 3
, style="text-align:right;" , 33
, -
, Independent (voter), Independents
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 41
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 47
, style="text-align:right;" , 12
, style="text-align:right;" , 31
, -
! colspan=5, Party by gender
, -
, Democratic men
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 87
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 10
, style="text-align:right;" , 3
, style="text-align:right;" , 14
, -
, Democratic women
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 90
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 8
, style="text-align:right;" , 2
, style="text-align:right;" , 23
, -
, Republican men
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 6
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 90
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 17
, -
, Republican women
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 9
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 89
, style="text-align:right;" , 2
, style="text-align:right;" , 16
, -
, Independent men
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 37
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 51
, style="text-align:right;" , 12
, style="text-align:right;" , 17
, -
, Independent women
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 46
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 43
, style="text-align:right;" , 11
, style="text-align:right;" , 14
, -
! colspan=5, Gender
, -
, Men
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 41
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 52
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 47
, -
, Women
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 54
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 41
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 53
, -
! colspan=5, Marital status
, -
, Married
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 44
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 52
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 59
, -
, Unmarried
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 55
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 37
, style="text-align:right;" , 8
, style="text-align:right;" , 41
, -
! colspan=5, Gender by marital status
, -
, Married men
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 37
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 58
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 29
, -
, Married women
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 49
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 47
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 30
, -
, Non-married men
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 46
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 45
, style="text-align:right;" , 9
, style="text-align:right;" , 19
, -
, Non-married women
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 61
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 32
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 23
, -
! colspan=5, Race/ethnicity
, -
, White American, White
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 37
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 57
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 70
, -
, African American, Black
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 88
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 8
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 12
, -
, Asian American, Asian
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 65
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 29
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, -
, Other
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 56
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 37
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 3
, -
, Hispanic and Latino Americans, Hispanic (of any race)
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 65
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 29
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 11
, -
! colspan=5, Gender by race/ethnicity
, -
, White men
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 31
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 62
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 34
, -
, White women
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 43
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 52
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 37
, -
, Black men
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 80
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 13
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, -
, Black women
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 94
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 2
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, -
, Latino men (of any race)
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 62
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 32
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, -
, Latina women (of any race)
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 68
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 26
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, -
, All other races
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 61
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 32
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, -
! colspan=5, Religion
, -
, Protestantism, Protestant
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 37
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 59
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 27
, -
, Catholic Church in the United States, Catholic
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 45
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 52
, style="text-align:right;" , 3
, style="text-align:right;" , 23
, -
, Mormon
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 25
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 59
, style="text-align:right;" , 16
, style="text-align:right;" , 1
, -
, Other Christians, Christian
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 41
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 55
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 24
, -
, American Jews, Jewish
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 71
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 24
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 3
, -
, Other religion
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 58
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 31
, style="text-align:right;" , 11
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, -
, Irreligion, None
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 67
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 26
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 15
, -
! colspan=5, Religious service attendance
, -
, Weekly or more
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;" , 40
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 54
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 33
, -
, Monthly
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;" , 46
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 49
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 16
, -
, A few times a year
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 48
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 46
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 29
, -
, Never
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 62
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 31
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 22
, -
! colspan=5, White evangelical or born-again Christian
, -
, White evangelical or born-again Christian
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 16
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 81
, style="text-align:right;" , 3
, style="text-align:right;" , 26
, -
, Everyone else
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 58
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 35
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 74
, -
! colspan=5, Age
, -
, 18–24 years old
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 56
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 35
, style="text-align:right;" , 9
, style="text-align:right;" , 10
, -
, 25–29 years old
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 53
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 39
, style="text-align:right;" , 8
, style="text-align:right;" , 9
, -
, 30–39 years old
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 51
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 40
, style="text-align:right;" , 9
, style="text-align:right;" , 17
, -
, 40–49 years old
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 46
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 49
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 19
, -
, 50–64 years old
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 44
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 53
, style="text-align:right;" , 3
, style="text-align:right;" , 30
, -
, 65 and older
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 45
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 53
, style="text-align:right;" , 2
, style="text-align:right;" , 15
, -
! colspan=5, Age by race
, -
, Whites 18–29 years old
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 43
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 47
, style="text-align:right;" , 10
, style="text-align:right;" , 12
, -
, Whites 30–44 years old
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 37
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 54
, style="text-align:right;" , 9
, style="text-align:right;" , 16
, -
, Whites 45–64 years old
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 34
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 62
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 30
, -
, Whites 65 and older
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 39
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 58
, style="text-align:right;" , 3
, style="text-align:right;" , 13
, -
, Blacks 18–29 years old
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 85
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 9
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 3
, -
, Blacks 30–44 years old
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 89
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, -
, Blacks 45–64 years old
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 89
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, -
, Blacks 65 and older
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 91
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 9
, style="text-align:right;" , n/a
, style="text-align:right;" , 1
, -
, Latinos 18–29 years old
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 67
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 26
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 3
, -
, Latinos 30–44 years old
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 65
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 28
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, -
, Latinos 45–64 years old
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 64
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 32
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, -
, Latinos 65 and older
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 73
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 25
, style="text-align:right;" , 2
, style="text-align:right;" , 1
, -
, Others
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 61
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 32
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, -
! colspan=5, Sexual orientation
, -
, LGBT
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 77
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 14
, style="text-align:right;" , 9
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, -
, Heterosexuality, Heterosexual
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 47
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 48
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 95
, -
! colspan=5, First time voter
, -
, Voting, First time voter
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 54
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 39
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 10
, -
, Everyone else
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 47
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 47
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 90
, -
! colspan=5, Education
, -
, Secondary education in the United States, High school or less
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 44
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 51
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 18
, -
, Some Higher education in the United States, college education
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 42
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 52
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 32
, -
, College graduate
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 49
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 45
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 32
, -
, Postgraduate education
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 58
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 36
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 18
, -
! colspan=5, Education by race/ethnicity
, -
, White college graduates
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 45
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 49
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 37
, -
, White no college degree
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 28
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 67
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 34
, -
, Non-white college graduates
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 71
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 22
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 13
, -
, Non-white no college degree
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 75
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 20
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 16
, -
! colspan=5, Education by race/ethnicity/sex
, -
, White women with college degrees
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 51
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 45
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 20
, -
, White men with college degrees
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 39
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 53
, style="text-align:right;" , 8
, style="text-align:right;" , 17
, -
, White women without college degrees
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 34
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 61
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 17
, -
, White men without college degrees
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 23
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 71
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 16
, -
, Non-whites
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 74
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 21
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 29
, -
! colspan=5, Family income
, -
, Under $30,000
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 53
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 41
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 17
, -
, $30,000–49,999
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 51
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 42
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 19
, -
, $50,000–99,999
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 46
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 48
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 31
, -
, $100,000–199,999
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 47
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 48
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 24
, -
, $200,000–249,999
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 48
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 49
, style="text-align:right;" , 3
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, -
, Over $250,000
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 46
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 48
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, -
! colspan=5, Union households
, -
, Labor unions in the United States, Union
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 51
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 42
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 18
, -
, Non-union
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 46
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 48
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 82
, -
! colspan=5, Military service
, -
, Veteran#United States, Veterans
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 34
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 60
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 13
, -
, Non-veterans
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 50
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 44
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 87
, -
! colspan=5, Region
, -
, Northeastern United States, Northeast
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 55
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 40
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 19
, -
, Midwestern United States, Midwest
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 44
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 49
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 23
, -
, Southern United States, South
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 44
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 52
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 37
, -
, Western United States, West
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 53
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 39
, style="text-align:right;" , 8
, style="text-align:right;" , 21
, -
! colspan=5, Community size
, -
, Cities (population 50,000 and above)
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 59
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 35
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 34
, -
, Suburbs
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 45
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 49
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 49
, -
, Rural areas
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 32
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 62
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 17
, -
! colspan=5, Obama job approval
, -
, Strongly approve
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 93
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 3
, style="text-align:right;" , 33
, -
, Somewhat approve
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 69
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 20
, style="text-align:right;" , 11
, style="text-align:right;" , 20
, -
, Somewhat disapprove
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 14
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 77
, style="text-align:right;" , 9
, style="text-align:right;" , 12
, -
, Strongly disapprove
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 3
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 93
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 33
, -
! colspan=5, Direction of the country
, -
, Wrong track
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 26
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 68
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 62
, -
, Right direction
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 89
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 33
, -
! colspan=5, Life for the next generation of Americans will be
, -
, Better than today
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 59
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 38
, style="text-align:right;" , 3
, style="text-align:right;" , 37
, -
, About the same
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 54
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 38
, style="text-align:right;" , 8
, style="text-align:right;" , 25
, -
, Worse than today
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 31
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 63
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 33
, -
! colspan=5, Feelings about the federal government
, -
, Angry
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 18
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 75
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 23
, -
, Dissatisfied
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 46
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 48
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 46
, -
, Satisfied
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 76
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 19
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 24
, -
, Enthusiastic
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 78
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 19
, style="text-align:right;" , 3
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, -
! colspan=5, Opinion of the role of government
, -
, Government doing too much
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 22
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 72
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 50
, -
, Government should do more
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 74
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 22
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 45
, -
! colspan=5, Next president should
, -
, Be more conservative
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 13
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 82
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 47
, -
, Continue Obama's policies
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 91
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 28
, -
, Be more liberal
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 69
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 23
, style="text-align:right;" , 8
, style="text-align:right;" , 17
, -
! colspan=5, Decided on presidential vote
, -
, Before September
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 52
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 45
, style="text-align:right;" , 3
, style="text-align:right;" , 60
, -
, In September
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 46
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 48
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 12
, -
, In October
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 37
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 51
, style="text-align:right;" , 12
, style="text-align:right;" , 12
, -
, Last week
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 41
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 49
, style="text-align:right;" , 10
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, -
, Last few days
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 43
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 43
, style="text-align:right;" , 14
, style="text-align:right;" , 8
, -
! colspan=5, Importance of 2016 United States presidential debates, presidential debates to your vote
, -
, Most important factor
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 51
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 47
, style="text-align:right;" , 2
, style="text-align:right;" , 25
, -
, An important factor
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 50
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 45
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 38
, -
, A minor factor
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 37
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 58
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 19
, -
, Not a factor
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 41
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 49
, style="text-align:right;" , 10
, style="text-align:right;" , 11
, -
! colspan=5, Quality of candidate that mattered most
, -
, Can bring change
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 14
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 82
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 39
, -
, Right experience
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 90
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 3
, style="text-align:right;" , 22
, -
, Good judgment
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 65
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 25
, style="text-align:right;" , 10
, style="text-align:right;" , 20
, -
, Cares about me
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 57
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 34
, style="text-align:right;" , 9
, style="text-align:right;" , 15
, -
! colspan=5, Opinion of presidential candidate voted for
, -
, Strongly favor
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 53
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 41
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 41
, -
, Have reservations
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 49
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 48
, style="text-align:right;" , 3
, style="text-align:right;" , 32
, -
, Dislike opponents
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 39
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 50
, style="text-align:right;" , 11
, style="text-align:right;" , 25
, -
! colspan=5, Candidate viewed as honest
, -
, Clinton is honest
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 97
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 1
, style="text-align:right;" , 2
, style="text-align:right;" , 34
, -
, Trump is honest
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 2
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 98
, style="text-align:right;" , N/A
, style="text-align:right;" , 31
, -
, Neither are honest
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 40
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 43
, style="text-align:right;" , 17
, style="text-align:right;" , 29
, -
, Both are honest
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", N/A
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", N/A
, style="text-align:right;" , N/A
, style="text-align:right;" , 2
, -
! colspan=5, Candidate viewed as qualified
, -
, Clinton is qualified
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 94
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 2
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 46
, -
, Trump is qualified
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 1
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 98
, style="text-align:right;" , 1
, style="text-align:right;" , 32
, -
, Neither are qualified
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 15
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 66
, style="text-align:right;" , 19
, style="text-align:right;" , 15
, -
, Both are qualified
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 22
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 71
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, -
! colspan=5, Candidate viewed as having temperament to be President
, -
, Clinton does
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 90
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 49
, -
, Trump does
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 2
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 97
, style="text-align:right;" , 1
, style="text-align:right;" , 29
, -
, Neither does
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 12
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 67
, style="text-align:right;" , 21
, style="text-align:right;" , 14
, -
, Both do
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 20
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 77
, style="text-align:right;" , 3
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, -
! colspan=5, Hillary Clinton email controversy, Clinton's use of private email for official use bothers you
, -
, A lot
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 7
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 86
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 45
, -
, Some
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 68
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 25
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 18
, -
, Not much
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 88
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 17
, -
, Not at all
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 93
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 2
, style="text-align:right;" , 19
, -
! colspan=5, Donald Trump sexual misconduct allegations, Donald Trump's treatment of women bothers you
, -
, A lot
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 83
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 11
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 50
, -
, Some
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 20
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 73
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 20
, -
, Not much
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 8
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 88
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 13
, -
, Not at all
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 11
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 86
, style="text-align:right;" , 3
, style="text-align:right;" , 16
, -
! colspan=5, Issue regarded as most important
, -
, Economy
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 52
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 42
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 52
, -
, Terrorism
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 39
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 57
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 18
, -
, Foreign policy
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 52
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 34
, style="text-align:right;" , 14
, style="text-align:right;" , 13
, -
, Immigration
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 32
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 64
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 13
, -
! colspan=5, Condition of national economy
, -
, Poor
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 15
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 79
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 21
, -
, Not good
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 40
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 53
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 41
, -
, Good
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 76
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 18
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 33
, -
, Excellent
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 83
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 16
, style="text-align:right;" , 1
, style="text-align:right;" , 3
, -
! colspan=5, Financial situation compared to four years ago
, -
, Better today
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 72
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 23
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 31
, -
, About the same
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 47
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 45
, style="text-align:right;" , 8
, style="text-align:right;" , 41
, -
, Worse today
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 19
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 77
, style="text-align:right;" , 2
, style="text-align:right;" , 25
, -
! colspan=5, Candidate that would better handle the economy
, -
, Clinton
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 95
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 1
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 46
, -
, Trump
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 3
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 94
, style="text-align:right;" , 3
, style="text-align:right;" , 48
, -
! colspan=5, View of how the War against the Islamic State, war against ISIS is going
, -
, Very badly
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 12
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 83
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 24
, -
, Somewhat badly
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 37
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 55
, style="text-align:right;" , 8
, style="text-align:right;" , 28
, -
, Somewhat well
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 71
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 24
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 35
, -
, Very well
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 85
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 11
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, -
! colspan=5, Candidate that would better handle foreign policy
, -
, Clinton
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 86
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 53
, -
, Trump
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 2
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 96
, style="text-align:right;" , 2
, style="text-align:right;" , 42
, -
! colspan=5, Effect of international trade
, -
, Takes away U.S. jobs
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 32
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 64
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 42
, -
, Creates U.S. jobs
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 59
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 35
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 39
, -
, Does not affect jobs
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 65
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 30
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 11
, -
! colspan=5, Illegal immigrants working in the U.S. should be
, -
, Offered chance at legal status
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 61
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 33
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 70
, -
, Deported to home country
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 14
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 83
, style="text-align:right;" , 3
, style="text-align:right;" , 25
, -
! colspan=5, View of Mexico–United States border wall, U.S. wall along the entire Mexican border
, -
, Support
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 10
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 85
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 41
, -
, Oppose
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 76
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 16
, style="text-align:right;" , 8
, style="text-align:right;" , 54
, -
! colspan=5, Importance of Supreme Court appointments to vote
, -
, The most important factor
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 41
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 56
, style="text-align:right;" , 3
, style="text-align:right;" , 21
, -
, An important factor
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 49
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 46
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 48
, -
, A minor factor
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 49
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 40
, style="text-align:right;" , 11
, style="text-align:right;" , 14
, -
, Not a factor at all
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 55
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 37
, style="text-align:right;" , 8
, style="text-align:right;" , 14
, -
! colspan=5, The country's criminal justice system
, -
, Treats blacks unfairly
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 72
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 22
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 48
, -
, Treats all fairly
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 23
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 73
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 43
, -
! colspan=5, View of Affordable Care Act, Obamacare
, -
, Went too far
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 23
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 73
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 47
, -
, Was about right
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 83
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 10
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 18
, -
, Did not go far enough
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 78
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 18
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, style="text-align:right;" , 30
, -
! colspan=5, Confidence in vote count
, -
, Very confident
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", 68
, style="text-align:right; background:#fff3f3;", 27
, style="text-align:right;" , 5
, style="text-align:right;" , 47
, -
, Somewhat confident
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 33
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 61
, style="text-align:right;" , 6
, style="text-align:right;" , 37
, -
, Not very confident
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 25
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 68
, style="text-align:right;" , 7
, style="text-align:right;" , 11
, -
, Not at all confident
, style="text-align:right; background:#f0f0ff;", 28
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", 57
, style="text-align:right;" , 15
, style="text-align:right;" , 4
, -

Election forecasts

{{further, Nationwide opinion polling for the 2016 United States presidential election, Statewide opinion polling for the 2016 United States presidential election

Various methods were used to Political forecasting, forecast the outcome of the 2016 election.{{cite web , url=http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199756223/obo-9780199756223-0023.xml , title=Election forecasting , last1=Stegmaier , first1=Mary , last2=Norpoth , first2=Helmut , date=September 30, 2013 , access-date=September 26, 2016 , doi=10.1093/obo/9780199756223-0023 There were many competing election forecast approaches including Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight, The Upshot at ''The New York Times'', ''Daily Kos'', Princeton University, Princeton Election Consortium, Cook Political Report, Stuart Rothenberg, Rothenberg and Gonzales, PollyVote, Sabato's Crystal Ball and Electoral-vote.com, Electoral-Vote. These models mostly showed a Democratic advantage since the nominees were confirmed, and were supported by pundits and statisticians, including Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight, Nate Cohn at ''The New York Times'', and Larry Sabato from the Crystal Ball newsletter, who predicted a Democratic victory in competitive presidential races and projected consistent leads in several battleground states around the country. However, FiveThirtyEight's model pointed to the possibility of an Electoral College-popular vote split widening in the final weeks based on Trump's improvement in swing states like Florida or Pennsylvania. This was due to the demographics targeted by Trump's campaign which lived in big numbers there, in addition to Clinton's poor performance in several of those swing states in comparison with Obama's performance in 2012, as well as having a big number of her potential voters in very populated traditionally 'blue' states, but also in some very populated states traditionally 'red', like Texas, which were projected safe for Trump.

Early exit polls generally favored Clinton. After the polls closed and some of the results came in, the forecasts were found to be inaccurate, as Trump performed better in the competitive Midwestern states, such as Iowa, Ohio, and 2016 United States presidential election in Minnesota, Minnesota, than expected. Three states (Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan) which were considered to be part of Clinton's Blue wall (U.S. politics), firewall, were won by Trump.{{Cite news , first=Frank , last=Lutz , url=https://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/frank-luntz-ban-exit-polls-231051 , title=Frank Luntz: Ban exit polls , website=Politico , publisher=Capitol News Company , location=Arlington, Virginia , date=November 9, 2016 , access-date=November 10, 2016 Of the states in the Great Lakes, Great Lakes region, Clinton won the swing state of Minnesota by one point, as well as traditional Democratic strongholds such as New York and Illinois with populous urban centers. This result stands in contrast to that of 2012, when Barack Obama, President Barack Obama won all but Indiana, which he carried in 2008 United States presidential election, 2008. This table displays the final polling average published by RealClearPolitics, Real Clear Politics on November 7, the actual electoral margin, and the over-performance by either candidate relative to the polls.

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
, -
!State
!Electoral
votes
!Polling average
!Final result
!Difference
, -
!Arizona
, 11
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", Trump +4
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", Trump +3.5
, Clinton +0.5
, -
!Colorado
, 9
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", Clinton +2.9
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", Clinton +4.9
, Clinton +2
, -
!Florida
, 29
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", Trump +0.2
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", Trump +1.2
, Trump +1
, -
!Georgia
, 16
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", Trump +4.8
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", Trump +5.1
, Trump +0.3
, -
!Iowa
, 6
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", Trump +3
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", Trump +9.5
, Trump +6.5
, -
!Maine
, 4
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", Clinton +4.5
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", Clinton +2.9
, Trump +1.6
, -
!Michigan
, 16
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", Clinton +3.4
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", Trump +0.3
, Trump +3.7
, -
!Minnesota
, 10
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", Clinton +6.2
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", Clinton +1.5
, Trump +4.7
, -
!Nevada
, 6
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", Trump +0.8
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", Clinton +2.4
, Clinton +3.2
, -
!New Hampshire
, 4
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", Clinton +0.6
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", Clinton +0.3
, Trump +0.3
, -
!New Mexico
, 5
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", Clinton +5
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", Clinton +8.3
, Clinton +3.3
, -
!North Carolina
, 15
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", Trump +1
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", Trump +3.7
, Trump +2.7
, -
!Ohio
, 18
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", Trump +3.5
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", Trump +8.1
, Trump +4.6
, -
!Pennsylvania
, 20
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", Clinton +1.9
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", Trump +0.7
, Trump +2.6
, -
!Virginia
, 13
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", Clinton +5
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", Clinton +5.4
, Clinton +0.4
, -
!Wisconsin
, 10
, style="text-align:right; background:#b0ceff;", Clinton +6.5
, style="text-align:right; background:#ffb6b6;", Trump +0.7
, Trump +7.2

Many pollsters were puzzled by the failure of mainstream forecasting models to predict the outcome of the 2016 election. Some journalists compared the 2016 election to the failure of prognosticator Arthur Henning in the "Dewey Defeats Truman" incident from the 1948 United States presidential election, 1948 presidential election.{{cite web , last=Grossman , first=Ron , date=November 11, 2016 , title=Flashback: It's happened before: Truman's defeat of Dewey had hints of Trump-Clinton , url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-truman-defeats-dewey-1948-flashback-perspec-1113-md-20161111-story.html , access-date=December 3, 2017 , work=Chicago Tribune Sean Trende, writing for ''RealClearPolitics'', wrote that many of the polls were accurate, but that the pundits' interpretation of these polls neglected polling error. Nate Silver found that the high number of undecided and third-party voters in the election was neglected in many of these models, and that many of these voters decided to vote for Trump. According to a February 2018 study by ''Public Opinion Quarterly'', the main sources of polling error were "a late swing in vote preference toward Trump and a pervasive failure to adjust for over-representation of college graduates (who favored Clinton)", whereas the share of "shy" Trump voters (who declined to admit their support for Trump to the pollsters) proved to be negligible.
Political scientist Lloyd Gruber said, "One of the major casualties of the 2016 election season has been the reputation of political science, a discipline whose practitioners had largely dismissed Donald Trump's chances of gaining the Republican nomination". Trump said that he was surprised, and added "I always used to believe in [polls]. I don't believe them anymore."{{r, bloomberg20161213

FiveThirtyEight's final polls-plus forecast predicted 18 states, plus the second congressional districts of Maine and Nebraska, with an interval of confidence lower than 90%. However, every major forecaster, including FiveThirtyEight, ''The New York Times'' Upshot, prediction markets aggregator PredictWise, ElectionBettingOdds from Maxim Lott and John Stossel, the ''Daily Kos, DailyKos'', the Princeton University, Princeton Election Consortium, the ''Huffington Post'', the ''The Cook Political Report, Cook Political Report'', Larry Sabato's University of Virginia Center for Politics, Crystal Ball, and the Stuart Rothenberg, Rothenberg and Gonzales Report, called every state the same way (although Cook and Rothenberg-Gonzales left two and five states as toss-ups, respectively). The lone exception was Maine's 2nd congressional district. Of the forecasters who published results on the district, the ''Times'' gave Trump a 64% chance of winning and PredictWise a 52% chance, FiveThirtyEight gave Clinton a 51% chance of winning in polls-only and 54% in polls-plus, Princeton gave her a 60% chance, Cook labelled it a toss-up, and Sabato leaned it towards Trump. The following table displays the final winning probabilities given by each outlet, along with the final electoral result. The states shown have been identified by Politico, FiscalNote, WhipBoard, ''The New York Times'',{{Cite news , url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/upshot/presidential-polls-forecast.html , title=2016 Election Forecast: Who Will Be President? , last=Katz , first=Josh , date=July 19, 2016 , newspaper=The New York Times , issn=0362-4331 , access-date=January 31, 2017 and the Crystal Ball as battlegrounds.

Elections analysts and political pundits issue probabilistic forecasts of the composition of the Electoral College. These forecasts use a variety of factors to estimate the likelihood of each candidate winning the Electoral College electors for that state. Most election predictors use the following ratings:
* "tossup": no advantage
* "tilt" (used by some predictors): advantage that is not quite as strong as "lean"
* "lean" or "leans": slight advantage
* "likely": significant, but surmountable, advantage
* "safe" or "solid": near-certain chance of victory

Below is a list of states considered by one or more forecasts to be competitive; states that are deemed to be "safe" or "solid" by forecasters ''Sabato's Crystal Ball'', ''New York Times'', ''Sam Wang (neuroscientist), Princeton Election Consortium,'' ''PredictWise,'' and ''FiveThirtyEight''.

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
, -
! State
! The New York Times Upshot
! FiveThirtyEight, Five{{shyThirty{{shyEight
! Predict{{shyWise
! Sam Wang (neuroscientist), Princeton Election Consortium
! Sabato's Crystal Ball
! 2012 United States presidential election, 2012 margin
! #Results, 2016 margin
, -
! Alaska
, style="background:#f99" , {{sort, 077, Likely R
, style="background:#f99" , {{sort, 077, Likely R
, style="background:#f55;", {{sort, 077, Likely R
, style="background:#f55;", {{sort, 108, Safe R
, style="background:#f99" , {{sort, 077, Likely R
, style="background:#f99" , R+14
, style="background:#f99" , R+15
, -
! Arizona
, style="background:#f99" , {{sort, 077, Likely R
, style="background:#fcc" , {{sort, 074, Lean R
, style="background:#f99" , {{sort, 077, Likely R
, style="background:#f99" , {{sort, 077, Likely R
, style="background:#fcc" , {{sort, 074, Lean R
, style="background:#f99" , R+9
, style="background:#fcc" , R+4
, -
! Colorado
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 094, Likely D
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 094, Likely D
, style="background:#55f;", {{sort, 094, Safe D
, style="background:#55f;", {{sort, 094, Safe D
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 094, Likely D
, style="background:#ccf" , D+5
, style="background:#ccf" , D+5
, -
! Florida
, style="background:#ccf" , {{sort, 096, Lean D
, style="background:#fff" , {{sort, 100, Tossup
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 094, Likely D
, style="background:#ccf" , {{sort, 096, Lean D
, style="background:#ccf" , {{sort, 096, Lean D
, style="background:#ccf" , D+1
, style="background:#fcc" , R+1
{{Small, (flip)
, -
! Georgia
, style="background:#f99" , {{sort, 085, Likely R
, style="background:#f99" , {{sort, 085, Likely R
, style="background:#f99" , {{sort, 085, Likely R
, style="background:#f99" , {{sort, 085, Likely R
, style="background:#f99" , {{sort, 085, Likely R
, style="background:#f99" , R+8
, style="background:#f99" , R+6
, -
! Iowa
, style="background:#fcc" , {{sort, 102, Lean R
{{Small, (flip)
, style="background:#fcc" , {{sort, 102, Lean R
{{Small, (flip)
, style="background:#f99" , {{sort, 085, Likely R
{{Small, (flip)
, style="background:#fcc" , {{sort, 102, Lean R
{{Small, (flip)
, style="background:#fcc" , {{sort, 102, Lean R
{{Small, (flip)
, style="background:#99f" , D+6
, style="background:#f99" , R+10
{{Small, (flip)
, -
! Maine
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 096, Likely D
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 096, Likely D
, style="background:#66f" , {{sort, 096, Safe D
, style="background:#66f" , {{sort, 096, Safe D
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 096, Likely D
, style="background:#66f" , D+15
, style="background:#ccf" , D+3
, -
! Maine's 2nd congressional district, ME-2
, style="background:#fcc" , {{sort, 102, Lean R
{{Small, (flip)
, style="background:#fff" , {{sort, 100, Tossup
, style="background:#fff" , {{sort, 100, Tossup
, style="background:#ccf" , {{sort, 096, Lean D
, style="background:#fcc" , {{sort, 102, Lean R
{{Small, (flip)
, style="background:#99f" , D+9
, style="background:#f99" , R+10
{{Small, (flip)
, -
! Michigan
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 096, Likely D
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 096, Likely D
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 096, Likely D
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 096, Likely D
, style="background:#ccf" , {{sort, 096, Lean D
, style="background:#99f" , D+9
, style="background:#fcc" , R+1
{{Small, (flip)
, -
! Minnesota
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 096, Likely D
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 096, Likely D
, style="background:#55f;", {{sort, 092, Safe D
, style="background:#55f;", {{sort, 092, Safe D
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 096, Likely D
, style="background:#99f" , D+8
, style="background:#ccf" , D+2
, -
! Nebraska's 2nd congressional district, NE-2
, style="background:#f99" , {{sort, 085, Likely R
, style="background:#fff" , {{sort, 100, Tossup
, style="background:#f99" , {{sort, 085, Likely R
, style="background:#f99" , {{sort, 085, Likely R
, style="background:#fcc" , {{sort, 102, Lean R
, style="background:#f99" , R+7
, style="background:#fcc" , R+3
, -
! New Mexico
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 092, Safe D
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 096, Likely D
, style="background:#55f;", {{sort, 092, Safe D
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 096, Likely D
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 096, Likely D
, style="background:#99f" , D+10
, style="background:#99f" , D+8
, -
! Nevada
, style="background:#ccf" , {{sort, 096, Lean D
, style="background:#fff" , {{sort, 100, Tossup
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 096, Likely D
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 096, Likely D
, style="background:#ccf" , {{sort, 096, Lean D
, style="background:#99f" , D+7
, style="background:#ccf" , D+2
, -
! New Hampshire
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 096, Likely D
, style="background:#ccf" , {{sort, 096, Lean D
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 096, Likely D
, style="background:#ccf" , {{sort, 096, Lean D
, style="background:#ccf" , {{sort, 096, Lean D
, style="background:#99f" , D+6
, style="background:#ccf" , D+1
, -
! North Carolina
, style="background:#ccf" , {{sort, 096, Lean D
{{Small, (flip)
, style="background:#fff" , {{sort, 100, Tossup
, style="background:#ccf" , {{sort, 096, Lean D
{{Small, (flip)
, style="background:#ccf" , {{sort, 096, Lean D
{{Small, (flip)
, style="background:#ccf" , {{sort, 096, Lean D
{{Small, (flip)
, style="background:#fcc" , R+2
, style="background:#fcc" , R+4
, -
! Ohio
, style="background:#fff" , {{sort, 100, Tossup
, style="background:#fcc" , {{sort, 102, Lean R
{{Small, (flip)
, style="background:#fcc" , {{sort, 102, Lean R
{{Small, (flip)
, style="background:#fcc" , {{sort, 102, Lean R
{{Small, (flip)
, style="background:#fcc" , {{sort, 102, Lean R
{{Small, (flip)
, style="background:#ccf" , D+3
, style="background:#f99" , R+9
{{Small, (flip)
, -
! Pennsylvania
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 096, Likely D
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 096, Likely D
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 096, Likely D
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 096, Likely D
, style="background:#ccf" , {{sort, 096, Lean D
, style="background:#ccf" , D+5
, style="background:#fcc" , R+1
{{Small, (flip)
, -
! Utah
, style="background:#fcc" , {{sort, 102, Lean R
, style="background:#f99" , {{sort, 085, Likely R
, style="background:#f99" , {{sort, 085, Likely R
, style="background:#f55;", {{sort, 108, Safe R
, style="background:#fcc" , {{sort, 102, Lean R
, style="background:#f55;", R+48
, style="background:#f55;", R+18
, -
! Virginia
, style="background:#55f;", {{sort, 092, Safe D
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 096, Likely D
, style="background:#55f;", {{sort, 092, Safe D
, style="background:#55f;", {{sort, 092, Safe D
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 096, Likely D
, style="background:#ccf" , D+4
, style="background:#ccf" , D+5
, -
! Wisconsin
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 096, Likely D
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 096, Likely D
, style="background:#55f;", {{sort, 092, Safe D
, style="background:#55f;", {{sort, 092, Safe D
, style="background:#99f" , {{sort, 096, Likely D
, style="background:#99f" , D+7
, style="background:#fcc" , R+1
{{Small, (flip)

Post-election events and controversies

{{see also, International reactions to the 2016 United States presidential election

Trump's victory, considered unlikely by most forecasts, was characterized as an "upset" and as "shocking" by news organizations. Trump himself thought he would lose even as the polls were closing.

Protests

{{further, Protests against Donald Trump#Post-election protests

Following the announcement of Trump's election, large protests broke out across the United States with some continuing for several days.{{cite news , url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/12/us/trump-election-protests.html , title=Protests of Trump's Election Continue Into Third Day , last=Bromwich , first=Jonah Engel , date=November 11, 2016 , newspaper=The New York Times , issn=0362-4331 , access-date=November 12, 2016

Protesters held up a number of different signs and chanted various shouts including "Not my president" and "We don't accept the president-elect".{{cite news , url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2016/11/not-my-president-elect , title=Anti-Trump protests continue across America , date=November 10, 2016 , newspaper=The Economist , issn=0013-0613 , access-date=November 10, 2016 The movement organized on Twitter under the hashtags #Antitrump and #NotMyPresident.{{cite news , last=Galeano , first=Javier , date=November 10, 2016 , title=In second day of anti-Trump protests, civil rights a top concern , url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-protests-idUSKBN1343CO , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170112050517/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-protests-idUSKBN1343CO , archive-date=12 January 2017 , access-date=November 10, 2016 , newspaper=Reuters

High school and college students walked out of classes to protest.{{cite news , date=November 10, 2016 , title=Oxnard students took to the streets protesting Trump , url=http://www.vcstar.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/11/10/oxnard-students-lead-anti-trump-protests/93602958/ , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240915212541/https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/11/10/oxnard-students-lead-anti-trump-protests/93602958/ , archive-date=15 September 2024 , access-date=November 10, 2016 , newspaper=Ventura County Star At a few protests fires were lit, flags and other items were burned and people yelled derogatory remarks about Trump. Rioters also broke glass at certain locations.
Celebrities such as Madonna (entertainer), Madonna, Cher, and Lady Gaga took part in New York. Kendrick Lamar's song "Alright (Kendrick Lamar song), Alright" was used repeatedly by protestors, despite the movement receiving no endorsement from Lamar himself. Some protesters took to blocking Controlled-access highway, freeways in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Portland, Oregon, and were dispersed by police in the early hours of the morning. In a number of cities, protesters were dispersed with rubber bullets, pepper spray and bean-bags fired by police.
In New York City, calls were made to continue the protests over the coming days after the election. Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti expressed understanding of the protests and praised those who peacefully wanted to make their voices heard.

Vote tampering concerns

After the election, computer scientists, including Alex Halderman, J. Alex Halderman, the director of the University of Michigan Center for Computer Security and Society, urged the Clinton campaign to request an election recount in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania (three swing states where Trump had won narrowly) for the purpose of excluding the possibility that the hacking of electronic voting machines had influenced the recorded outcome. However, statistician Nate Silver performed a regression analysis which demonstrated that the alleged discrepancy between paper ballots and electronic voting machines "completely disappears once you control for race and education level". On November 25, the Presidency of Barack Obama, Obama administration said the results from November{{nbsp8 "accurately reflect the will of the American people". The following day, the White House released another statement, saying: "the federal government did not observe any increased level of malicious cyberactivity aimed at disrupting our electoral process on Election Day".

In the years following the election, Hillary Clinton has alleged that official maleficence contributed to and may have caused her electoral loss, saying in 2022, "Literally within hours of the polls closing in 2016, we had so much evidence pouring in about voters being turned away in Milwaukee and not being able to vote in Detroit. These states were run by Republicans so there was no way to find out the truth about any of them".

Donald Trump and New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu both complained that liberal voters from Massachusetts were illegally bused into New Hampshire for the 2016 election, and Scott Brown (politician), Scott Brown blamed the same phenomenon for losing his senate race in 2014.{{cite news , url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/06/01/says-once-and-for-all-that-one-was-bused-vote/bQxQPQxyrvEOUzXTirnwDP/story.html , title=N.H. says once and for all that no one was bused in to vote , date=June 1, 2018 , newspaper=The Boston Globe , first=James , last=Pindell , access-date=October 26, 2018 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181026064758/https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/06/01/says-once-and-for-all-that-one-was-bused-vote/bQxQPQxyrvEOUzXTirnwDP/story.html , archive-date=October 26, 2018 , url-status=dead The New Hampshire Secretary of State and New Hampshire Department of Justice issued a report in 2018 regarding complaints of voters being bused in from Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts for the 2016 election. They found that in every case, field inspectors were able to determine that the voters were from New Hampshire, though they were riding a bus operated by an out-of-state company (which has its name and address written on the outside of the bus, presumably the source of the confusion). Out of 743,000 votes cast, four were determined to be cast illegally, either because the voters were told to go to the wrong location, or because the voter believed they were able to vote in each town in which they owned property. Out of about 6,000 same-day voter registrations in the state, the report says only 66 voters could not have their residency confirmed (though fraud is not the only explanation for such a failure).

Recount petitions

{{main, 2016 United States presidential election recounts

On November 23, Green Party of the United States, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein launched a public fundraiser to pay for recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, asserting that the election's outcome had been affected by hacking in those states; Stein did not provide evidence for her claims.{{cite news , title=Stein Ends Recount Bid, but Says It Revealed Flaws in Voting System , url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/13/us/stein-ends-recount-bid-but-says-it-revealed-flaws-in-voting-system.html , work=The New York Times , date=December 13, 2016 Changing the outcome of these three states would make Clinton the winner, and this would require showing that fewer than 60,000 votes had been counted for Trump which should have been counted for Clinton. Stein filed for a recount in Wisconsin on November 25, after which Clinton campaign general counsel Marc Elias said their campaign would join Stein's recount efforts in that state and possibly others "in order to ensure the process proceeds in a manner that is fair to all sides".{{cite news , title=Clinton campaign splits from White House in backing Jill Stein recount push , url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/26/hillary-clinton-attorney-jill-stein-wisconsin-recount , work=The Guardian , date=November 26, 2016 , access-date=November 26, 2016 Stein subsequently filed for a recount in Pennsylvania on November 28, and in Michigan on November 30. Concurrently, American Delta Party/Reform Party of the United States of America, Reform Party presidential candidate Rocky De La Fuente sought and was granted a partial recount in Nevada that was unrelated to Stein's efforts.

President-elect Donald Trump issued a statement denouncing Stein's Wisconsin recount request saying, "The people have spoken and the election is over". Trump further commented that the recount "is a scam by the Green Party for an election that has already been conceded". The Trump campaign and Republican Party officials moved to block Stein's three recount efforts through state and federal courts.

Mark A. Goldsmith, U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith ordered a halt to the recount in Michigan on December 7, dissolving a previous temporary restraining order against the Michigan Board of Elections that allowed the recount to continue, stating in his order: "Plaintiffs have not presented evidence of tampering or mistake. Instead, they present speculative claims going to the vulnerability of the voting machinery—but not actual injury". On December 12, Paul S. Diamond, U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond rejected an appeal by the Green Party and Jill Stein to force a recount in Pennsylvania, stating that suspicion of a hacked Pennsylvania election "borders on the irrational" and that granting the Green Party's recount bid could "ensure that no Pennsylvania vote counts" given the December 13, federal deadline to certify the vote for the Electoral College.{{cite news , date=December 12, 2016 , title=U.S. judge rejects Green Party's Pennsylvania recount case; Wisconsin recount finished , url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-pennsylvania-election-recount-20161212-story.html , newspaper=Chicago Tribune , access-date=December 12, 2016 Meanwhile, the Wisconsin recount was allowed to continue as it was nearing completion and had uncovered no significant irregularities.

The recounts in Wisconsin and Nevada were completed on schedule, resulting in only minor changes to vote tallies.{{cite news , first=Matthew , last=DuFour , title=Completed Wisconsin recount widens Donald Trump's lead by 131 votes , url=http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/completed-wisconsin-recount-widens-donald-trump-s-lead-by-votes/article_3f61c6ac-5b18-5c27-bf38-e537146bbcdd.html , newspaper=Wisconsin State Journal , date=December 12, 2016{{cite news , title=Nevada ballot recount changes just 15 Trump, Clinton votes , url=http://www.fox5vegas.com/story/34011663/nevada-ballot-recount-changes-just-15-trump-clinton-votes , website=Fox 5 KVVU-TV , date=December 8, 2016 , access-date=December 19, 2016 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221134247/http://www.fox5vegas.com/story/34011663/nevada-ballot-recount-changes-just-15-trump-clinton-votes , archive-date=December 21, 2016 , url-status=dead A partial recount of Michigan ballot found some precinct imbalances in Detroit, which were corrected. A subsequent state audit found no evidence of voter fraud and concluded that the mistakes, which were "almost entirely" caused by poll-worker mistakes attributed to poor training, did not impair "the ability of Detroit residents to cast a ballot and have their vote counted". The overall outcome of the election remained unchanged by the recount efforts.{{cite news , title=Green Party U.S. election recount bid comes to a close , url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-recount-idUSKBN1411QE , publisher=Reuters , date=December 13, 2016

Electoral College lobbying

{{anchor, ElectoralLobbying

Intense lobbying (in one case involving claims of harassment and death threats) and grass-roots campaigns were directed at various GOP electors of the United States Electoral College{{cite news , url=http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/politics-government/election/article114786018.html , title=Electoral College: Are Idaho's 4 electors being pressured to dump Trump, or harassed? , last=Dentzer , first=Bill , date=November 15, 2016 , newspaper=The Idaho Statesman to convince a sufficient number of them (37) to not vote for Trump, thus precluding a Trump presidency.{{cite news , url=http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article116138613.html , title=Trump opponents' campaign to beat him at the Electoral College is a long shot , last=Kruesi , first=Kimberlee , date=November 21, 2016 , agency=Associated Press , newspaper=The Idaho Statesman Members of the Electoral College themselves started a campaign for other members to "vote their conscience for the good of America" in accordance with Alexander Hamilton's Federalist No. 68, Federalist Paper No. 68. Former candidate Lawrence Lessig and attorney Laurence Tribe established The Electors Trust on December 5 under the aegis of Equal Citizens to provide ''pro bono'' legal counsel as well as a secure communications platform for members of the Electoral College who were considering a unfaithful elector, vote of conscience against Trump.{{cite web , url=https://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/larry-lessig-electors-trump-232231 , title=Lessig, lawyers to offer support to anti-Trump electors , last=Cheney , first=Kyle , website=Politico , date=December 5, 2016

On December 6, Secretary of State of Colorado, Colorado Secretary of State Wayne W. Williams castigated Democratic electors who had filed a lawsuit in Federal court to have the state law binding them to the popular vote (in their case for Hillary Clinton) overturned.{{cite web , url=https://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/colorado-secretary-of-state-rogue-electors-232294 , title=Colorado secretary of state slams rogue electors , last=Cheney , first=Kyle , website=Politico , date=December 6, 2016

On December 10, ten electors, in an open letter headed by Christine Pelosi to the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, demanded an intelligence briefing{{cite web , last=Cheney , first=Kyle , date=December 12, 2016 , title=Electors demand intelligence briefing before Electoral College vote , url=https://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/electors-intelligence-briefing-trump-russia-232498 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161212160927/http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/electors-intelligence-briefing-trump-russia-232498 , archive-date=12 December 2016 , website=Politico{{cite web , url=https://extranewsfeed.com/bipartisan-electors-ask-james-clapper-release-facts-on-outside-interference-in-u-s-election-c1a3d11d5b7b , title=Bipartisan Electors Ask James Clapper: Release Facts on Outside Interference in U.S. Election , last=Pelosi , first=Christine , website=Extra News Feed , date=December 16, 2016 in light of 2016 United States election interference by Russia, Russian interference in the election to help Trump win the presidency.{{cite news , url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/12/10/505072304/cia-concludes-russian-interference-aimed-to-elect-trump , title=CIA Concludes Russian Interference Aimed To Elect Trump , last=Mary , first=Kelly , newspaper=NPR , date=December 10, 2016 Fifty-eight additional electors subsequently added their names to the letter, bringing the total to 68 electors from 17 different states. On December 16, the briefing request was denied.

On December 19, several electors #Faithless electors, voted against their pledged candidates: two against Trump and five against Clinton. A further three electors attempted to vote against Clinton but were replaced or forced to vote again. The 115th United States Congress officially certified the results on January 6, 2017.

Faithless electors

{{Main, Faithless electors in the 2016 United States presidential election

In the Electoral College vote on December 19, for the first time since the ratification of the 12th Amendment, multiple faithless electors voted against their pledged qualified presidential candidate.{{efn, The 1872 United States presidential election, 1872 presidential election also saw multiple electors vote for a different candidate than that pledged, due to the death of Liberal Republican Party (United States), Liberal Republican candidate Horace Greeley, after the popular vote, yet before the meeting of the Electoral College. Greeley still garnered three posthumous electoral votes which Congress subsequently dismissed. Five Democrats rebelled in Washington (state), Washington and Hawaii, while two Republicans rebelled in Texas. Two Democratic electors, one in Minnesota and one in Colorado, were replaced after voting for Bernie Sanders and John Kasich, respectively.{{cite news , last1=Hickey , first1=Chuck , title=Colorado Electoral College casts all 9 votes for Clinton after elector replaced , url=http://kdvr.com/2016/12/19/colorado-electoral-college-casts-all-9-votes-for-clinton-kaine-after-elector-replaced/ , access-date=June 15, 2017 , agency=Fox 31 Denver , date=December 19, 2016 Electors in Maine conducted a second vote after one of its members voted for Sanders; the elector then voted for Clinton. Likewise, for the first time since 1896 United States presidential election, 1896,{{efn, Not including 1912 United States presidential election, 1912, because of the death of James S. Sherman. multiple faithless electors voted against the pledged qualified vice presidential candidate.
* 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.{{cite web , url=http://www.ajc.com/news/national/electoral-college-vote-live-updates-state-state-voting/sy5C2hooqtnMG8tEviTATN/ , title=Electoral College vote: Live updates on state-by-state voting , last=Lord , first=Debbie , website=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution , date=December 19, 2016 , access-date=November 6, 2017
* One Clinton elector in Minnesota voted for Bernie Sanders as president and Tulsi Gabbard as vice president; his votes were discarded and he was replaced by an alternate who voted for Clinton.
* One Clinton elector in Maine voted for Bernie Sanders; this vote was invalidated as "improper" and the elector subsequently voted for Clinton.
* Four Clinton electors in Washington did not vote for Clinton (three votes went to Colin Powell, and one to Faith Spotted Eagle).{{cite news , url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/19/us/elections/electoral-college-results.html , title=Tracking the Electoral College Vote , date=December 19, 2016 , work=The New York Times , last2=Schmidt , first2=Kiersten , last1=Andrews , first1=Wilson
* One Trump elector in Georgia resigned before the vote rather than vote for Trump and was replaced by an alternate.
* 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 Carly Fiorina for vice president; a third resigned before the vote rather than vote for Trump and was replaced by an alternate.
* One Clinton elector in Hawaii voted for Bernie Sanders.{{Cite news , url=https://apnews.com/article/f257bfa03cef45c3a68cd6fb6f8b8fb6 , title=The Latest: Hawaii electors cast votes for Clinton, Sanders , work=Associated Press , date=December 20, 2016 , access-date=November 6, 2017

Of the faithless votes, Colin Powell and Elizabeth Warren were the only two to receive more than one; Powell received three electoral votes for president and Warren received two for vice president. Receiving one valid electoral vote each were Sanders, John Kasich, Ron Paul and Faith Spotted Eagle for president, and Carly Fiorina, Susan Collins, Winona LaDuke and Maria Cantwell for vice president. Sanders is the first Jewish American to receive an electoral vote for president. LaDuke is the first Green Party of the United States, Green Party member to receive an electoral vote, and Paul is the third member of the Libertarian Party (United States), Libertarian Party to do so, following the party's presidential and vice-presidential nominees each getting one vote in 1972 United States presidential election, 1972. It is the first election with faithless electors from more than one political party.

{, class="wikitable"
, -
!Electoral College (United States)#Apportionment, State
!Electoral College (United States)#Nominations, Party
!Presidential vote
!Vice presidential vote
!List of 2016 United States presidential electors, Name of elector
!References
, -
, rowspan="2" , ''Nationwide''
! {{party color cell, Republican Party (United States)
, Donald Trump, 304
, Mike Pence, 305
, rowspan="2" , ''Pledged''
, rowspan="2" ,
, -
! {{party color cell, Democratic Party (United States)
, Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton, 227
, Tim Kaine, 227
, -
, Hawaii
! {{party color cell, Democratic Party (United States)
, Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign, Bernie Sanders (Progressivism in the United States, I-VT)
, Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
, David Mulinix
,
, -
, rowspan="2" , Texas
! {{party color cell, Republican Party (United States)
, John Kasich (R-OH)
, Carly Fiorina 2016 presidential campaign, Carly Fiorina (R-VA)
, Christopher Suprun
, Sean Collins Walsh,
All but two Texas members of the Electoral College choose Donald Trump
" ''Statesman.com'' (December 19, 2016).Texas electors cast 36 votes for Trump, one for Kasich, one for Ron Paul
''Texas Tribune'' (December 19, 2016). Retrieved December 19, 2016.
, -
! {{party color cell, Republican Party (United States)
, Ron Paul 2012 presidential campaign, Ron Paul (Ron Paul#Political party identification, L-TX / R-TX)
, Mike Pence (''as pledged'')
, Bill Greene
,
, -
, rowspan="4" , Washington (state), Washington
! {{party color cell, Democratic Party (United States)
, rowspan="3" , Colin Powell (R-VA){{refn, Powell has several homes, including one in NYC (still) and also one in DC, but is officially a VA resident per WikiLeaks emails, and per his 'verified' social media account.
, Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
, Levi Guerra
, Rachel la Corte,
Four Washington state electors to be fined $1,000 for vote
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161226150053/http://bigstory.ap.org/article/487a23bf2dd143a6833898dc2619d4f4/4-washington-state-electors-be-fined-1000-vote , date=December 26, 2016 ", ''bigstory.ap.org'' (December 22, 2016).{{Cite news , last=Brunner , first=Jim , date=December 19, 2016 , title=Four Washington state electors break ranks and don't vote for Clinton , url=http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/four-washington-electors-break-ranks-and-dont-vote-for-clinton/ , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220235548/http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/four-washington-electors-break-ranks-and-dont-vote-for-clinton/ , archive-date=20 December 2016 , access-date=December 20, 2016 , newspaper=The Seattle Times
, -
! {{party color cell, Democratic Party (United States)
, Susan Collins (R-ME)
, Esther John
,
, -
! {{party color cell, Democratic Party (United States)
, Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
, Bret Chiafalo
,
, -
! {{party color cell, Democratic Party (United States)
, Faith Spotted Eagle (D-SD)
, Winona LaDuke (Green Party of Minnesota, G-MN)
, Robert Satiacum Jr.
, {{Cite news , url=http://www.theolympian.com/news/state/washington/article121770533.html , title=4 Washington State electors pick candidates other than Clinton , last=La Corte , first=Rachel , date=December 19, 2016 , newspaper=Associated Press , access-date=December 20, 2016 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://archive.today/20161221170701/http://www.theolympian.com/news/state/washington/article121770533.html , archive-date=December 21, 2016 , language=en-US , via=The Olympian

Democratic objections to vote certification

{{Main, 2017 United States Electoral College vote count

On January 6, 2017, a Joint Session of Congress was held to count the Electoral College votes, pursuant to the Electoral Count Act. This count was unusual for the many unsuccessful objections raised by Democratic members of the House of Representatives (United States), House of Representatives, alleging Voter suppression in the United States, voter suppression and foreign interference.

Handling of illegal votes

Critics alleged racial bias after comparing the different sentences handed down to two white people and one black person who were convicted of attempting to vote illegally in the 2016 presidential election.

Involvement of other countries

Russian involvement

{{main, Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, Mueller report
On December 9, 2016, the Central Intelligence Agency issued an assessment to lawmakers in the US Senate, stating that a Russian entity hacked the DNC and John Podesta's emails to assist Donald Trump. The Federal Bureau of Investigation agreed.{{cite news , url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/clinton-blames-putins-personal-grudge-against-her-for-election-interference/2016/12/16/12f36250-c3be-11e6-8422-eac61c0ef74d_story.html , title=FBI in agreement with CIA that Russia aimed to help Trump win White House , newspaper=The Washington Post , access-date=December 21, 2016 , archive-date=February 15, 2021 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210215010529/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/clinton-blames-putins-personal-grudge-against-her-for-election-interference/2016/12/16/12f36250-c3be-11e6-8422-eac61c0ef74d_story.html , url-status=live President Barack Obama ordered a "full review" into such possible intervention. Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper in early January 2017 testified before a Senate committee that Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign went beyond hacking, and included disinformation and the dissemination of Fake news website, fake news, often promoted on social media. Facebook revealed that during the 2016 United States presidential election, a Russian company funded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian businessman with ties to Vladimir Putin, had purchased advertisements on the website for US$100,000, 25% of which were geographically targeted to the U.S.

President-elect Trump originally called the report fabricated.{{Cite news , url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/10/us/politics/trump-mocking-claim-that-russia-hacked-election-at-odds-with-gop.html , title=Trump, Mocking Claim That Russia Hacked Election, at Odds with G.O.P. , last=Sanger , first=David E. , date=December 10, 2016 , newspaper=The New York Times , issn=0362-4331 , access-date=December 10, 2016 Julian Assange said the Russian government was not the source of the documents.{{cite news , url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-orders-review-of-russian-hacking-during-presidential-campaign/2016/12/09/31d6b300-be2a-11e6-94ac-3d324840106c_story.html , title=Secret CIA assessment says Russia was trying to help Trump win White House , newspaper=The Washington Post , last1=Entous , first1=Adam , last2=Nakashima , first2=Ellen , last3=Miller , first3=Greg , date=December 9, 2016 Days later, Trump said he could be convinced of the Russian hacking "if there is a unified presentation of evidence from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies".{{cite web , first1=Damian, last1=Paletta, first2=Kate, last2=O'Keeffe, url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/priebus-says-donald-trump-wants-fbi-view-on-russia-hacking-accusations-1482084741 , title=Donald Trump's Team Tones Down Skepticism on Russia Hacking Evidence , work=The Wall Street Journal , date=December 18, 2016

Several U.S. senators—including Republicans John McCain, Richard Burr, and Lindsey Graham—demanded a congressional investigation. The Senate Intelligence Committee announced the scope of their bipartisan :File:Joint Statement on Committee Inquiry into Russian Intelligence Activities.pdf, official inquiry on December 13, which began on January 24, 2017.

A formal Special Counsel investigation headed by former FBI director Robert Mueller was initiated in May 2017 to uncover the detailed interference operations by Russia, and to determine whether any people associated with the Trump campaign were complicit in the Russian efforts. When questioned by Chuck Todd on ''Meet the Press'' in March 2017, Clapper declared that intelligence investigations on Russian interference performed by the FBI, CIA, NSA and his ODNI office had found no evidence of collusion between the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign, Trump campaign and Russia.{{cite news , url=http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/full-clapper-no-evidence-of-collusion-between-trump-and-russia-890509379597 , title=Full Clapper: 'No Evidence' of Collusion Between Trump and Russia , work=Meet the Press , publisher=NBC News , date=March 5, 2017 , access-date=March 6, 2017 Mueller concluded his investigation on March 22, 2019, by submitting his report to Attorney General William Barr.

On March 24, 2019, Barr submitted Barr letter, a letter describing Mueller's conclusions, and on April 18, 2019, a redacted version of the Mueller report was released to the public. It concluded that Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election did occur "in sweeping and systematic fashion" and "violated U.S. criminal law".{{Cite news , last1=Inskeep , first1=Steve , last2=Detrow , first2=Scott , last3=Johnson , first3=Carrie , last4=Davis , first4=Susan , last5=Greene , first5=David , title=Redacted Mueller Report Released; Congress, Trump React , newspaper=NPR , url=https://www.npr.org/2019/04/18/714667960/redacted-mueller-report-is-released , publisher=NPR , access-date=April 22, 2019{{Cite web , title=The Mueller Report , url=https://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/mueller-report , work=YaleGlobal Online , date=May 19, 2021 , publisher=MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies

The first method detailed in the final report was the usage of the Internet Research Agency, waging "a social media campaign that favored presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and disparaged presidential candidate Hillary Clinton".{{Cite news , title=Main points of Mueller report , url=https://www.afp.com/en/news/15/main-points-mueller-report-doc-1fr5vv1 , agency=Agence France-Presse , access-date=April 20, 2019 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190420143436/https://www.afp.com/en/news/15/main-points-mueller-report-doc-1fr5vv1 , archive-date=April 20, 2019 The Internet Research Agency also sought to "provoke and amplify political and social discord in the United States".

The second method of Russian interference saw the Russian intelligence service, the GRU (G.U.), GRU, hacking into email accounts owned by volunteers and employees of the Clinton presidential campaign, including that of campaign chairman John Podesta, and also hacking into "the computer networks of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and the Democratic National Committee (DNC)".
Mueller Report
', vol. I, p. 4: At the same time that the IRA operation began to focus on supporting candidate Trump in early 2016, the Russian government employed a second form of interference: cyber intrusions (hacking) and releases of hacked materials damaging to the Clinton Campaign. The Russian intelligence service known as the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Army (GRU) carried out these operations. In March 2016, the GRU began hacking the email accounts of Clinton Campaign volunteers and employees, including campaign chairman John Podesta. In April 2016, the GRU hacked into the computer networks of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The GRU stole hundreds of thousands of documents from the compromised email accounts and networks. Around the time that the DNC announced in mid-June 2016 the Russian government's role in hacking its network, the GRU began disseminating stolen materials through the fictitious online personas "DCLeaks" and "Guccifer 2.0." The GRU later released additional materials through the organization WikiLeaks. As a result, the GRU obtained hundreds of thousands of hacked documents, and the GRU proceeded by arranging releases of damaging hacked material via the WikiLeaks organization and also GRU's personas "DCLeaks" and "Guccifer 2.0".{{Cite web , last1=Mackey , first1=Robert , last2=Risen , first2=James , last3=Aaronson , first3=Trevor , title=Annotating special counsel Robert Mueller's redacted report , url=https://theintercept.com/2019/04/18/annotating-special-counsel-robert-muellers-redacted-report/ , work=The Intercept , date=April 18, 2019 , access-date=April 23, 2019{{Cite web , last1=Dunleavy , first1=Jerry , title=Mueller says Russia's GRU stole Clinton, DNC emails and gave them to WikiLeaks , url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/mueller-says-russias-gru-stole-clinton-dnc-emails-and-gave-them-to-wikileaks , work=Washington Examiner , date=April 18, 2019 , access-date=April 23, 2019
To establish whether a crime was committed by members of the Trump campaign with regard to Russian interference, the special counsel's investigators "applied the framework of Conspiracy (criminal), conspiracy law", and not the concept of "collusion", because collusion "is not a specific offense or theory of liability found in the United States Code, nor is it a term of art in federal criminal law". They also investigated if members of the Trump campaign "coordinated" with Russia, using the definition of "coordination" as having "an agreement—tacit or express—between the Trump campaign and the Russian government on election interference". Investigators further elaborated that merely having "two parties taking actions that were informed by or responsive to the other's actions or interests" was not enough to establish coordination.

The Mueller report writes that the investigation "identified numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign", found that Russia "perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency" and that the 2016 Trump presidential campaign "expected it would benefit electorally" from Russian hacking efforts. Ultimately, "the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities".{{Cite web , last1=Ostriker , first1=Rebecca , last2=Puzzanghera , first2=Jim , last3=Finucane , first3=Martin , last4=Datar , first4=Saurabh , last5=Uraizee , first5=Irfan , last6=Garvin , first6=Patrick , title=What the Mueller report says about Trump and more , url=https://apps.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/graphics/2019/03/mueller-report/ , website=The Boston Globe , access-date=April 22, 2019{{cite magazine , last1=Law , first1=Tara , title=Here Are the Biggest Takeaways From the Mueller Report , url=https://time.com/5567077/mueller-report-release/ , magazine=Time , access-date=April 22, 2019

However, investigators had an incomplete picture of what had really occurred during the 2016 campaign, due to some associates of Trump campaign providing either false, incomplete or declined testimony, as well as having deleted, unsaved or encrypted communications. As such, the Mueller report "cannot rule out the possibility" that information then unavailable to investigators would have presented different findings. In March 2020, the US Justice Department dropped its prosecution of two Russian firms linked to interference in the 2016 election.{{cite news , title=DOJ abruptly drops once-heralded prosecution of Russian troll farm initiated by Mueller , url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/doj-drops-once-heralded-prosecution-of-russian-troll-farm , publisher=Fox News , date=March 16, 2020

Other countries

{{see also, Foreign electoral intervention

Special Council Robert Mueller also investigated the Trump campaign's alleged ties to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Qatar, Israel, and China. According to ''The Times of Israel'', Trump's longtime confidant Roger Stone "was in contact with one or more apparently well-connected Israelis at the height of the 2016 US presidential campaign, one of whom warned Stone that Trump was 'going to be defeated unless we intervene' and promised 'we have critical intell{{Sic.{{' "

The Justice Department accused George Nader (businessman), George Nader of providing $3.5 million in illicit campaign donations to Hillary Clinton before the elections and to Trump after he won the elections. According to ''The New York Times'', this was an attempt by the government of United Arab Emirates to influence the election.

In December 2018, a Ukrainian court ruled that prosecutors in Ukraine had meddled in the 2016 election by releasing damaging information on Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

''Voice of America'' reported in April 2020 that "U.S. intelligence agencies concluded the Chinese cyberwarfare, Chinese hackers meddled in both the 2016 and 2018 elections".

In July 2021, the US federal prosecutors accused Trump's former adviser Tom Barrack for being an unregistered foreign lobbying agent for the United Arab Emirates during the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump. In 2022, Barrack was found not guilty on all charges.{{cite news , last1=Hays , first1=Tom , title=Trump ally Tom Barrack acquitted of foreign agent charges , url=https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2022-11-04/trump-ally-tom-barrack-acquitted-of-foreign-agent-charges , work=Los Angeles Times , agency=The Associated Press , date=November 4, 2022 , language=en

See also

{{portal, Modern history, Politics, United States
* History of the United States (2016–present)
* First inauguration of Donald Trump, Inauguration of Donald Trump
* 1948 United States presidential election, another upset in the history of United States presidential elections
* 2016 United States gubernatorial elections
* 2016 United States House of Representatives elections
* 2016 United States Senate elections
* White backlash

Notes

{{notelist
{{reflist, group="nb"
{{reflist, group="note"

References

{{reflist, 30em

Further reading

* {{cite news , title=Rigged: How Voter Suppression Threw Wisconsin to Trump , work=Mother Jones (magazine), Mother Jones , date=November–December 2017 , url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/10/voter-suppression-wisconsin-election-2016/ , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923034510/https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/10/voter-suppression-wisconsin-election-2016/ , archive-date=September 23, 2018 , last1=Berman , first1=Ari
* Lauck, Jon K. "Trump and The Midwest: The 2016 Presidential Election and The Avenues of Midwestern Historiography" ''Studies in Midwestern History'' (2017) vol 3#
online
* {{cite journal , last1=Ott , first1=Brian L. , title=The age of Twitter: Donald J. Trump and the politics of debasement , journal=Critical Studies in Media Communication , date=2017 , volume=34 , issue=1 , pages=59–68 , doi=10.1080/15295036.2016.1266686 , doi-access=free
* {{cite web , last1=Patterson , first1=Thomas E. , title=News Coverage of the 2016 Presidential Primaries: Horse Race Reporting Has Consequences , date=July 11, 2016 , publisher=Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002002940/https://shorensteincenter.org/news-coverage-2016-presidential-primaries/ , archive-date=October 2, 2018 , url=https://shorensteincenter.org/news-coverage-2016-presidential-primaries/
* {{cite journal , last1=Ross , first1=Andrew S. , last2=Rivers , first2=Damian J. , title=Digital cultures of political participation: Internet memes and the discursive delegitimization of the 2016 U.S Presidential candidates , journal=Discourse, Context & Media , date=April 2017 , volume=16 , pages=1–11 , doi=10.1016/j.dcm.2017.01.001
* {{cite book , editor-last=Rozell , editor-first=Mark J. , year=2017 , title=God at the Grassroots 2016: The Christian Right in American Politics , location=Lanham, MD , publisher=Rowman & Littlefield , isbn=978-1538108918
* {{cite book , editor1-last=Sabato , editor1-first=Larry , editor2-last=Kondik , editor2-first=Kyle , editor3-last=Shelley , editor3-first=Geoffrey , title=Trumped: The 2016 Election That Broke All the Rules , date=2017 , location=Lanham, MD , publisher=Rowman & Littlefield , isbn=978-1-4422-7940-7
* {{cite book , editor1-last=Schaffner , editor1-first=Brian , editor2-first=John A. , editor2-last=Clark , title=Making Sense of the 2016 Elections: A CQ Press Guide , publisher=CQ Press , date=2017 , location=Thousand Oaks, CA , isbn=978-1-5063-8418-4
* {{cite journal , last1=Visser , first1=Beth A. , last2=Book , first2=Angela S. , last3=Volk , first3=Anthony A. , title=Is Hillary dishonest and Donald narcissistic? A HEXACO analysis of the presidential candidates' public personas , journal=Personality and Individual Differences , date=2017 , volume=106 , pages=281–286 , doi=10.1016/j.paid.2016.10.053 , url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309662562
* {{cite book , last1=West , first1=Darrell M. , title=Air Wars: Television Advertising and Social Media in Election Campaigns, 1952–2016 , publisher=CQ Press , date=2017 , location=Thousand Oaks, CA , isbn=9781506329833

External links

{{Sister project links , d=Q699872, commons=United States presidential election, 2016 , n=2016 United States presidential election , wikt=no , b=no , q=no , s=no , v=no , voy=no, display=2016 U.S. presidential election
{{Scholia, topic

Presidential election process
from USA.gov, the official Federal government of the United States, United States Federal Government web portal

2016 Presidential Form{{nbsp2 Filers
at the Federal Election Commission (FEC)

An Extremely Detailed Map of the 2016 Election
from The New York Times
* {{YouTube, 5NPavp5WrTE, Hillary Clinton's Concession Speech
* {{cite episode , title=The Choice 2016 , series=Frontline , series-link=Frontline (American TV program) , network=PBS , station=WGBH-TV, WGBH , date=September 27, 2016 , season=35 , number=2 , url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/the-choice-2016/ , access-date=November 28, 2024
* {{cite episode , title=Trump's Road to the White House , series=Frontline , network=PBS , station=WGBH , date=January 24, 2017 , season=35 , number=9 , url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/trumps-road-to-the-white-house/ , access-date=November 28, 2024

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