Election 2020: A Riveting Aftermath
There comes a time around every Olympic season when the U.S. political climate wreaks havoc. It’s a cycle of four years that spins history to the forefront of America. This November 3rd, or month, to be quite frank, was no different from the painstaking reality. Whether it be through Cable TV, social media, or notifications buzzing from digital news, many Americans were preoccupied with numbers filing in and out before their eyes. As much of a toll that this election has taken on the country, the voter turnout was phenomenal.
On November 3, the votes for the next presidential candidate began to be counted all around the country. Over 65 percent, or over 150 million people, of those eligible to vote, casted their ballots. Around 99 million of these votes were cast early, which makes up 72 percent of the total votes from the 2016 election. The last time a presidential election reached those turnout numbers was in the year 1908 when Republican William Howard Taft beat Democrat William Jennings Bryan.
Democratic candidate Joseph R. Biden and Republican candidate Donald Trump butted heads over the course of a nail-biting week. The Associated Press has claimed that Biden will be the President-elect for the upcoming presidential term, 2020 to 2024. Republican President Trump will be one of the first in a century to be voted off as a sitting president. He will be the first interim president who has not won re-election since Bill Clinton claimed victory over George Bush in 1992. Joe Biden’s sidekick, moreover, vice -president-elect Kamala Harris, will be the first woman, African-American, and Asian-American to be sworn into the U.S. higher office, her new position.
Biden’s victory was projected on November 7, with 20 votes contributed by the state of Pennsylvania. He was put over the necessary 270 electoral votes out of 538. Key states including Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, and Nevada all flipped blue despite their red pasts. However, the margin of victory for these battlegrounds was narrow, with less than a one percent vote difference between the two candidates.
Trump has garnered 73,787,560 popular votes (232 electoral votes), while Biden won with 79,825,443 popular votes (306 electoral votes). Interestingly, the electoral vote numbers are identical with those reached in the 2016 election when President Trump defeated Hillary Clinton. This new Democratic administration will commence with a potential Republican Senate (there are still two races yet to be called) and a Democrat majority in the House of Representatives.