Trump Popular Vote Loss Is Historically Unprecedented

Only five American presidents in history have ascended to the Oval Office without winning the popular vote. But Republican Presidential-elect Donald Trump claimed victory with the greatest loss by popular vote margin ever.

According to the Cook Political Report, Hillary Clinton won 65,756,948 votes (or 48.2 percent of the national total), while Trump secured 62,913,088 votes (46.1 percent of the total). This gives Clinton a nearly 3 million vote margin over Trump, on par with George W. Bush’s victory over Democrat John Kerry in 2004. Yet, with vote distribution across states, Clinton only mustered 232 Electoral College votes, while Trump surpassed the 270 threshold with 306.

According to the Independent, Trump called the Electoral College “a disaster for democracy” in 2012. Yet, following his 2016 victory, he called the U.S. election system “genius”.

However, Trump did not stop there. In a series of tweets on November 27, the president-elect questioned the validity of votes in at least three states.

“In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally,” Trump’s tweets began. “Serious voter fraud in Virginia, New Hampshire and California – so why isn’t the media reporting on this? Serious bias – big problem!”

Trump’s claims of voter fraud are false and have no basis in evidence. Furthermore, reports are surfacing that Russia may have helped Trump and the GOP win the election.

According to NPR, Trump dismissed the Russian hacking accusations as political pandering.

“I think the Democrats are putting it out because they suffered one of the greatest defeats in the history of politics in this country,” Trump said, reports NPR.

“To be certain, Trump’s win in the Electoral College is what matters,” NPR’s Arnie Seipel adds. “But his loss in the popular vote to Hillary Clinton is itself historic. At 2.8 million votes, Trump’s deficit is by far the largest for any candidate who won the Electoral College and lost the popular vote.”

Sources: Cook Political Report, Independent UK, Donald Trump/Twitter, (2), NPR / Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore/Flickr