US History/2016 Vote

The 2016 election was an election to decide who would replace Barack Obama as president. Candidates Primaries GOP thumb|Results from the 2016 GOP Primaries. Blue is Trump, Yellow is Cruz, Red is Rubio, and Green is Kasich The GOP Primaries lasted from February 1st to June 7th, 2016.EXCLUSIVE: TIME Guide to Official 2016 Republican Nomination Calendar https://time.com/4059030/republican-primary-calendar-2016-nomination-convention/ 21 December 2020 Time Following an early polling lead in the run up to the primaries by Jeb Bush, he withdrew on February 20th, 2016.https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/jeb-bush-suspends-2016-campaign/2016/02/20/d3a7315a-d721-11e5-be55-2cc3c1e4b76b_story.html Following Jeb Bush's withdrawal, four major Republican candidates remained in the race: Businessman Donald Trump, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Ohio Governor John Kasich, and Florida Senator Marco Rubio. Donald Trump's key platform promise in the race was construction of a "giant wall" on the United States-Mexico border. During the 2016 primary, much of Donald Trump's early support came from voters who believed the untrue claims that President Obama was a Muslim or born outside the United States.https://www.cnn.com/2015/09/18/politics/trump-obama-muslim-birther/index.html Trump also did well with blue-collar voters in the Rustbelt and Frostbelt, while Cruz did fairly well in the Rocky Mountain and Southern states. Many Christian evangelicals supported Cruz in the primary, but enough supported Trump to give him the nomination. Winning only Ohio, Kasich suspended his campaign on May 4th, 2016 when he was the only remaining major Republican challenger to Donald Trump.https://www.economist.com/democracy-in-america/2016/05/04/john-kasich-leaves-the-republican-battle-with-his-reputation-intact Democratic thumb|The 2016 Democratic Primary results. Yellow for Clinton, Green for Sanders. The Democratic Primaries lasted from February 1st to June 24, 2016. The main candidates in the Democratic Primaries were Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Hillary Clinton was the spouse of former President Bill Clinton and had also served as a Senator from New York and Secretary of State. Bernie Sanders was a Senator from Vermont, and had been a socialist or independent for most of his political career. Clinton ran as a moderate, while Sanders ran as a leftist, promising expanded healthcare, student loan relief, and regulation of institutions of the Top 1% such as large banks. Clinton won more votes in the primary, but a significant number of voters backed Sanders. In particular, Sanders received the overwhelming support of younger voters. Major Candidates thumb|right|Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were the nominees of the two major political parties The candidates after the primaries were: Hillary Clinton https://graphics.wsj.com/elections/2016/how-clinton-won/, Democrat Donald Trump, Republican Third Party Candidates The two most notable third party candidates were Gary Johnson, of the Libertarian Party https://www.npr.org/2016/05/29/479957426/libertarian-party-nominates-former-gov-gary-johnson Jill Stein, of the Green Party https://www.npr.org/2016/08/07/489029975/jill-stein-wins-green-party-nomination-courting-disaffected-sanders-supporters Controversies The 2016 election was noted for a large amount of misinformation being spread during the election, labeled as Fake News.https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/04/03/a-new-study-suggests-fake-news-might-have-won-donald-trump-the-2016-election/ Hillary Clinton made a statement in September of 2016, in which she called many of Trump's supporters as being deplorable, attracting criticism.https://www.npr.org/2016/09/10/493427601/hillary-clintons-basket-of-deplorables-in-full-context-of-this-ugly-campaign Especially controversial was her use of a private email server for work purposes while serving as Secretary of State.Zurcher Anthony Clinton emails - what's it all about? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-31806907 23 September 2020 BBC News 6 November 2016 Months after clearing Clinton of criminal conduct in the case, and less than two weeks before the election in late October Republican FBI director James B. Comey sent a letter to Congress which brought the issue back into the public view.Lichtblau Eric Schmidt Michael S. Apuzzo Matt F.B.I. Chief James Comey Is in Political Crossfire Again Over Emails https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/29/us/politics/fbi-clinton-emails-james-comey.html 23 September 2020 The New York Times 28 October 2016 Analysts would later debate if this action cost Hillary Clinton the Election.Cohn Nate Did Comey Cost Clinton the Election? Why We’ll Never Know https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/14/upshot/did-comey-cost-clinton-the-election-why-well-never-know.html 23 September 2020 The New York Times 14 June 2018Silver Nate The Comey Letter Probably Cost Clinton The Election https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-comey-letter-probably-cost-clinton-the-election/ 23 September 2020 FiveThirtyEight 3 May 2017 Donald Trump made several controversial statements. His comment "I like people who weren't captured", regarding John McCain, who was captured while fighting in the Vietnam War was controversial.https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/07/18/424169549/trump-lashes-out-at-mccain-i-like-people-who-werent-captured On October 7th, 2016 the Access Hollywood tapes were leaked, a 2005 recording of Trump where inappropriate comments were made.https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-recorded-having-extremely-lewd-conversation-about-women-in-2005/2016/10/07/3b9ce776-8cb4-11e6-bf8a-3d26847eeed4_story.htmlhttps://www.npr.org/2016/10/07/497087141/donald-trump-caught-on-tape-making-vulgar-remarks-about-women Results thumb|The 2016 electoral map Voting took place on November 8, 2016. Hillary Clinton got 65,853,516 votes, or 48.5% of the people who voted. She scored 232 electoral votes.http://www.cnn.com/election/results Election Results 2016 CNN 13 April 2017 Donald Trump got 62,984,825 votes, or 46.4% of the people who voted. He scored 306 electoral votes, giving him the amount of electoral votes needed to become president-elect. Trump narrowly won several states in the Rustbelt that had previously voted for Obama: Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania This election was somewhat unusual in that Hillary Clinton received the most popular votes but Trump received the most electoral votes. This was the fifth time in United States history that happened, but the second time in the previous 16 years, having also occurred in 2000. Reaction thumb|President Obama and then President-elect Trump in the Oval Office. The election results were widely seen as surprising, with many predictions made prior to the election giving a Clinton victory a 70%-99% chance of occurring.https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/10/technology/the-data-said-clinton-would-win-why-you-shouldnt-have-believed-it.html There was open speculation about if the Electoral College would elect a different person to the position of president.Beinart Peter The Electoral College Was Meant to Stop Men Like Trump From Being President https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/the-electoral-college-was-meant-to-stop-men-like-trump-from-being-president/508310/ 20 September 2020 The Atlantic 21 November 2016 While a historic number of Electoral College votes did defect, most were from Clinton to a minor candidate.Schmidt Kiersten Andrews Wilson A Historic Number of Electors Defected, and Most Were Supposed to Vote for Clinton https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/19/us/elections/electoral-college-results.html 20 September 2020 The New York Times 19 December 2016 People began to question if the protections the Electoral College is supposed to offer was worth the disenfranchising trade offs caused by the system.These 3 Common Arguments For Preserving the Electoral College Are All Wrong https://time.com/4571626/electoral-college-wrong-arguments/ 20 September 2020 Time References Obama Trump 50%