In November 2020, incumbent Republican President Donald Trump and former Democrat Vice President Joe Biden contested the 59th United States Presidential election. Who won the election?
Democratic party nominee Joe Biden was victorious in the 2020 US Presidential Election and became the future 46th President of the United States of America. Biden defeated incumbent President Donald Trump, crossing the projected 270 electoral college threshold to be declared president-elect on November 7, 2020,
For more on the 2020 election and Joe Biden’s path to the presidency, read on.
Nominees
The 2020 United States Presidential Election was contested between Republican party nominee, incumbent President Donald Trump, and Democratic party nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden.
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was born on November 20, 1942, and was first elected as a United States Senator in Delaware in 1973. He was a member of the Democratic party. In January 2009, he became the 47th Vice President of the United States, serving President Barack Obama.
Donald John Trump was born on June 14, 1946, and was a successful real estate mogul for decades before entering politics. He was a member of the Republican party. In January 2017, he became the 45th President of the United States, defeating Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Biden’s vice presidential nominee was Kamala Devi Harris, the Senator of California. Trump’s nominee was incumbent vice president Michael Richard Pence.
Media polls in the run-up to the election made Biden a heavy favorite, though it is worth noting that Hillary Clinton enjoyed a similar advantage in opinion polls before the 2016 election.
Voting
Election day in the United States occurred on November 3, 2020, against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, which became one of the major points of contention in the runup to the election. The pandemic necessitated a greater proportion of mail-in voting, a process that Trump repeatedly claimed would allow for widespread voter fraud.
The 2020 presidential election saw the largest voter turnout in the history of the United States, a result of both population growth and the importance placed on the results of the election.
Early voter counts on the east coast quickly placed Biden in the lead in electoral votes, a dynamic that would remain consistent throughout the counting. Much of the map remained unchanged from the 2016 election, with Trump winning much of the United States heartland and Biden winning the east and west coasts.
After appearing closely contested in the early results, Trump won a key victory in Florida, thanks largely to increased Latino support in the state.
As votes continued to be counted and revealed, it became clear that the election would be decided by a number of very evenly contested states: Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Nevada.
Trump held an early and seemingly unassailable lead in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. However, these were somewhat misleading due to the unique dynamic of the 2020 election.
Results
While Trump had discouraged early voting and voting by mail as encouraging voter fraud, Biden had encouraged Democrat voters to vote by mail. Several states only allowed the opening of mail-in votes on election day, prolonging the counting process by days.
As a result, mail votes were heavily skewed in favor of Biden and saw Trump’s lead in several states diminishing. In response, Trump delivered a speech where he again condemned mail voting, claiming that he had already won the election and that Biden and the Democratic party were now attempting to steal states via fraud.
Trump also criticized Fox News for calling Arizona for Biden and stated that he would take the matter of fraud to the United States Supreme Court. At the time, there was no evidence of any sort of widespread voter fraud and there were numerous provisions in place to prevent it from occurring.
Despite still being behind in several key states, including Georgia, counting reached a point where only mail votes remained and it became clear that Biden would overtake Trump. In the days after Election Day, he achieved this, winning Michigan and Wisconsin and taking the lead in Georgia.
The 2020 election displayed a clear regional voter dynamic, even in historical strongholds for each party. Rural areas consistently voted Republican while urban areas voted Democratic, resulting in Biden winning historic strongholds such as Georgia.
Having crossed the projected 270 electoral college vote threshold on November 7, 2020, the media declared Joe Biden the president-elect and the future 46th President of the United States.