# Canonical recap data for 2016 United States Presidential Election (2016)
# Source: https://recap.at/2016/2016-us-presidential-election
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: 2016-us-presidential-election
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/2016/2016-us-presidential-election"
title: 2016 United States Presidential Election
aliases:
- 2016 U.S. election
- Trump v. Clinton
- Election Day 2016
- 2016 presidential election
subtitle: ""
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 2016-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 2016
decade: 2010
country:
name: United States
slug: united-states
summaryShort: Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 U.S. presidential election on November 8, winning the Electoral College 304-227 despite losing the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes.
summaryLong: "Clinton received approximately 65.85 million votes and Trump approximately 62.98 million, but this excludes approximately 8 million votes for third-party candidates (Gary Johnson: ~3.3M, Jill Stein: ~1.4M, others: ~3M)."
lede: On November 8, 2016, Donald Trump, a real estate developer and TV personality, won the U.S. presidential election by securing 304 electoral votes., despite losing the popular vote by approximately 2.87 million votes to Hillary Clinton. His victory in three key Rust Belt states-Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin-defied virtually every prediction and traditional political analysis. The result reshaped American politics and triggered immediate questions about the Electoral College, foreign interference, and the future direction of both major parties.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/11/Barack_Obama_meets_with_Donald_Trump_in_the_Oval_Office_%28crop_2%29.jpg/1280px-Barack_Obama_meets_with_Donald_Trump_in_the_Oval_Office_%28crop_2%29.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Jesusemen Oni / VOA · via Wikipedia
importance: 50
sourceConfidence: 50
keyFacts:
- label: Electoral College result
  value: Trump 304, Clinton 227.
- label: Popular vote
  value: Clinton 65.8 million (48.2%), Trump 62.9 million (46.1%)
- label: Popular vote margin
  value: Clinton +2.87 million votes
- label: Swing states Trump flipped
  value: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin
- label: Margin in Pennsylvania
  value: Trump +0.72 percent (44,292 votes)
- label: Margin in Michigan
  value: Trump +0.23 percent (10,704 votes)
- label: Margin in Wisconsin
  value: Trump +0.77 percent (22,748 votes)
- label: Election date
  value: November 8, 2016
timeline:
- date: 2015-06-16
  title: Trump announces candidacy
  description: Donald Trump announces his intention to run for president at Trump Tower in New York City, launching a campaign widely dismissed by political analysts and media.
- date: 2016-07-18
  title: Republican National Convention
  description: The Republican National Convention formally nominates Donald Trump as the Republican presidential nominee in Cleveland, Ohio.
- date: 2016-07-25
  title: DNC email hack revealed
  description: WikiLeaks releases nearly 20,000 emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee, revealing internal discussions about the primary race between Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
- date: 2016-07-28
  title: Democratic National Convention
  description: The Democratic National Convention formally nominates Hillary Clinton as the Democratic presidential nominee in Philadelphia, with Tim Kaine as her running mate.
- date: 2016-10-07
  title: Intelligence assessment on Russian interference
  description: The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security issue a joint statement stating that Russia has interfered in the election.
- date: 2016-10-09
  title: Second presidential debate
  description: During the second presidential debate in St. Louis, Trump and Clinton clash over Russian hacking; Trump suggests the hacker could be someone "400 pounds" sitting on a bed.
- date: 2016-11-08
  title: Election Day
  description: Trump wins the Electoral College 304-227, flipping Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin despite losing the popular vote nationally.
- date: 2016-12-19
  title: Electoral College vote
  description: The Electoral College formally casts its votes, confirming Trump's victory with 304 electoral votes cast after seven total electors defect from their pledges.
- date: 2017-01-20
  title: Inauguration
  description: Donald Trump is inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States. His approval rating at inauguration is 45 percent, the lowest for an incoming president in polling history.
sources: []
related: []
relationships:
- targetSlug: watergate-nixon-resignation-1974
  type: echoed
  confidence: 75
  evidence: Trump's refusal to concede the 2020 election and obstruction of justice charges during impeachment paralleled Nixon's constitutional crisis, though Trump survived impeachment while Nixon resigned; both tested the limits of executive power and congressional oversight.
  source: ai
- targetSlug: ve-day-germany-surrender
  type: caused_by
  confidence: 75
  evidence: Timeline of "2016 United States Presidential Election" references "V-E Day (German surrender)" (2 shared tokens incl. title anchor).
  source: ai
- targetSlug: 2008-us-presidential-election-obama
  type: caused_by
  confidence: 75
  evidence: Timeline of "2016 United States Presidential Election" references "Barack Obama's Election as U.S. President" (3 shared tokens incl. title anchor).
  source: ai
- targetSlug: us-presidential-election-2020
  type: caused
  confidence: 75
  evidence: Timeline of "2016 United States Presidential Election" references "2020 United States Presidential Election" (5 shared tokens incl. title anchor).
  source: ai
gallery:
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/34/2016_United_States_presidential_election_in_Alaska_-_Results_by_state_house_district.svg/1280px-2016_United_States_presidential_election_in_Alaska_-_Results_by_state_house_district.svg.png"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/34/2016_United_States_presidential_election_in_Alaska_-_Results_by_state_house_district.svg/800px-2016_United_States_presidential_election_in_Alaska_-_Results_by_state_house_district.svg.png"
  caption: 2016 United States presidential election in Alaska - Results by state house district
  credit: MisterElection2001
  width: 517
  height: 322
  alt: A choropleth map of Alaska showing the results of the 2016 United States Presidential election by state house district, with blue districts indicating one candidate's support and red districts indicating another's, alongside detailed inset maps highlighting specific regions including Anchorage, Fairbanks, and other municipalities.
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260512140420/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/26/United_States_presidential_election_in_Kentucky%2C_2016.svg/1280px-United_States_presidential_election_in_Kentucky%2C_2016.svg.png"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/26/United_States_presidential_election_in_Kentucky%2C_2016.svg/800px-United_States_presidential_election_in_Kentucky%2C_2016.svg.png"
  caption: United States presidential election in Kentucky, 2016
  credit: Ali Zifan
  width: 2904
  height: 3201
  alt: A treemap visualization of Kentucky's 120 counties colored by voting preference in the 2016 presidential election, with county size representing population and color intensity indicating the margin of victory for either Clinton (blue) or Trump (red). Jefferson County appears as a large blue area representing Clinton support, while most other counties are shaded in varying intensities of red indicating Trump victories across the state.
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/United_States_presidential_election_in_Guam%2C_2016_results_by_village.svg/1280px-United_States_presidential_election_in_Guam%2C_2016_results_by_village.svg.png"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/United_States_presidential_election_in_Guam%2C_2016_results_by_village.svg/800px-United_States_presidential_election_in_Guam%2C_2016_results_by_village.svg.png"
  caption: United States presidential election in Guam, 2016 results by village
  credit: Mr.Election
  width: 532
  height: 672
  alt: A political map of Guam divided by village boundaries and colored in solid blue, showing results from the 2016 United States presidential election with white lines demarcating the different administrative divisions across the island territory.
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/82/2016_United_States_presidential_election_in_Iowa_election_results_results_map_by_congressional_district.svg/1280px-2016_United_States_presidential_election_in_Iowa_election_results_results_map_by_congressional_district.svg.png"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/82/2016_United_States_presidential_election_in_Iowa_election_results_results_map_by_congressional_district.svg/800px-2016_United_States_presidential_election_in_Iowa_election_results_results_map_by_congressional_district.svg.png"
  caption: 2016 United States presidential election in Iowa election results results map by congressional district
  credit: Coolxsearcher1414
  width: 810
  height: 532
  alt: A map of Iowa showing the results of the 2016 United States presidential election by congressional district, with darker red indicating one candidate's victory and lighter pink indicating the other candidate's support across the state's districts.
culturalContext:
topMusic:
- title: Formation
  artist: Beyoncé
  year: 2016
  note: Released in February 2016; became a cultural touchstone for Black power and feminism during an election year defined by racial tensions.
  referenceCard:
  status: ok
  checkedAt: "2026-05-23T07:43:25.317Z"
- title: This Is America
  artist: Childish Gambino
  year: 2018
  note: Released in May 2018; searing critique of American gun violence and racial exploitation that resonated across Trump's presidency.
  youtubeVideoId: VYOjWnS4cMY
  referenceCard:
  status: ok
  checkedAt: "2026-05-23T07:43:25.317Z"
- title: The Story of O.J.
  artist: Jay-Z
  year: 2017
  note: "From *4:44*; meditation on wealth and legacy in an era of renewed racial reckoning."
  referenceCard:
  status: ok
  checkedAt: "2026-05-23T07:43:25.317Z"
topFilms:
- title: Get Out
  year: 2017
  note: Jordan Peele's directorial debut became a cultural phenomenon, literalizing white anxiety and Black vulnerability in post-2016 America.
  referenceCard:
  status: ok
  checkedAt: "2026-05-23T07:43:25.317Z"
- title: The Post
  year: 2017
  note: Spielberg's drama about the Pentagon Papers, starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks; released months into Trump's presidency as a defense of press freedom.
  referenceCard:
  status: not_found
  checkedAt: "2026-05-30T11:05:23.348Z"
- title: BlacKkKlansman
  year: 2018
  note: Spike Lee's explosive satire of 1970s racism and infiltration; widely read as commentary on 2016's resurgent white nationalism.
  referenceCard:
  status: ok
  checkedAt: "2026-05-23T07:43:25.317Z"
topTVShows:
- title: The Handmaid's Tale
  year: 2017
  note: Season 1 aired as Trump took office; the show's dystopian feminism resonated with post-election anxieties about reproductive rights and authoritarianism.
  referenceCard:
  status: ok
  checkedAt: "2026-05-23T07:43:25.317Z"
- title: Atlanta
  year: 2016
  note: Donald Glover's series premiered in September 2016, weeks before the election; set the tone for caustic, racially sharp comedy in the Trump era.
  referenceCard:
  status: ok
  checkedAt: "2026-05-23T07:43:25.317Z"
- title: The Crown
  year: 2016
  note: Netflix's royalist drama premiered in November 2016, the same month as the election; offered escapism and institutional continuity as American politics fractured.
  referenceCard:
  status: ok
  checkedAt: "2026-05-23T07:43:25.317Z"
zeitgeistNote: "The 2016 election upended the Obama-era cultural consensus on multiculturalism and progress. In its wake, art became explicitly political: hip-hop confronted police violence and wealth inequality with renewed urgency; prestige television gravitated toward dystopian allegory (*The Handmaid's Tale*, *Black Mirror*); and Black artists in particular weaponized surrealism and rage. By 2018, the culture had fractured into distinct camps-MAGA media on one side, resistance and social-justice narratives on the other-with little common ground. The election marked the beginning of a new cultural Cold War."
comparisonThenNow:
- metric: Popular Vote Margin (D vs R)
  thenValue: +2.9M for Clinton
  thenYear: 2016
  nowValue: +7.1M for Biden
  nowYear: 2020
  note: Democratic margins grew even as Trump's base consolidated.
- metric: U.S. Life Expectancy
  thenValue: 78.7 years
  thenYear: 2016
  nowValue: 76.4 years
  nowYear: 2023
  note: Declined during Trump presidency and COVID-19, signaling public health deterioration.
- metric: Congressional Polarization (DW-NOMINATE Ideological Distance)
  thenValue: "1.67"
  thenYear: 2016
  nowValue: "2.29"
  nowYear: 2024
  note: Partisan gap widened substantially, reflecting Trump-era polarization.
- metric: S&P 500 Index
  thenValue: 2,238.63
  thenYear: 2016
  nowValue: 5,882.08
  nowYear: 2024
  note: Stock markets surged under both Trump and Biden administrations, though volatility increased.
- metric: U.S. Unemployment Rate
  thenValue: 4.7%
  thenYear: 2016
  nowValue: 3.8%
  nowYear: 2024
  note: Fell further under Biden after pandemic recovery, contradicting Trump's pre-COVID gains.
impactStatement: Donald Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton on November 8, 2016, upended American politics and reshaped global alignments in ways that rippled through the next decade. The election exposed deep geographic and demographic fractures in the U.S. electorate and elevated populist, nationalist movements across the West. Trump won 304 electoral votes despite losing the popular vote by approximately 2.87 million votes-a reminder of the Electoral College's decisive role in determining the presidency.
consequences:
- title: Trump Administration Takes Office
  year: 2017
  description: Trump was inaugurated on January 20, 2017, immediately signing executive orders on immigration, trade, and environmental policy. His presidency accelerated the withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and imposed tariffs on China.
- title: Rise of Trump-aligned Republican Agenda
  year: 2017
  description: Congressional Republicans, emboldened by unified control, passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in December 2017. This legislation fundamentally reshaped federal revenue and corporate taxation.
- title: 2018 Midterm Elections and Democratic House Majority
  year: 2018
  description: Democrats gained 41 House seats and control of the chamber, with Nancy Pelosi returning as Speaker. The midterms became a referendum on Trump's first two years and set the stage for 2020.
- title: Impeachment and Acquittal
  year: 2019
  description: The House impeached Trump on December 18, 2019, on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The Republican-controlled Senate acquitted him on February 5, 2020.
- title: 2020 Presidential Election and Trump's Defeat
  year: 2020
  description: Joe Biden defeated Trump on November 3, 2020, winning 306 electoral votes. Trump refused to concede and challenged the results in court, setting conditions for January 6, 2021.
- title: Capitol Riot and Second Impeachment
  year: 2021
  description: Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, delaying certification of Biden's victory. The House impeached Trump again on January 13, 2021; the Senate acquitted him on February 13.
archiveSnapshots: []
categories:
- election
metaDescription: Donald Trump defeats Hillary Clinton in a shocking upset, winning the Electoral College despite losing the popular vote. America's political landscape shifts dramatically.
originSignals:
- "wikipedia:2016-us-presidential-election"
geo:
lat: 39.7837304
lng: -100.445882
place: United States
note: Location inferred from recap.country via OSM Nominatim.
significance: 25
heroImageAlt: A world map displays countries colored to indicate their leaders' endorsements during the 2016 United States Presidential Election, with blue representing one candidate's support, red representing another's, magenta representing neutral positions, and gray representing countries with no clear endorsement or data.
translations:
es:
lede: El 8 de noviembre de 2016, Donald Trump, un desarrollador inmobiliario y personalidad televisiva, ganó la elección presidencial estadounidense al asegurar 304 votos electorales, a pesar de perder el voto popular por aproximadamente 2.87 millones de votos ante Hillary Clinton. Su victoria en tres estados clave del Rust Belt-Pennsylvania, Michigan y Wisconsin-desafió prácticamente todas las predicciones y análisis políticos tradicionales. El resultado reformó la política estadounidense e impulsó preguntas inmediatas sobre el Colegio Electoral, la interferencia extranjera y la dirección futura de ambos partidos principales.
summaryShort: Donald Trump derrotó a Hillary Clinton en la elección presidencial estadounidense de 2016 el 8 de noviembre, ganando el Colegio Electoral 304-227 a pesar de perder el voto popular por casi 3 millones de votos.
summaryLong: "Clinton recibió aproximadamente 65.85 millones de votos y Trump aproximadamente 62.98 millones, pero esto excluye aproximadamente 8 millones de votos para candidatos de terceros partidos (Gary Johnson: ~3.3M, Jill Stein: ~1.4M, otros: ~3M)."
generatedAt: "2026-06-03T11:01:43.052Z"
fr:
lede: Le 8 novembre 2016, Donald Trump, un promoteur immobilier et personnalité de la télévision, a remporté l'élection présidentielle américaine en obtenant 304 votes électoraux, malgré une défaite au vote populaire d'environ 2,87 millions de voix face à Hillary Clinton. Sa victoire dans trois États clés de la Rust Belt – la Pennsylvanie, le Michigan et le Wisconsin – a contredit pratiquement toutes les prédictions et analyses politiques traditionnelles. Le résultat a remodelé la politique américaine et a soulevé des questions immédiates sur le Collège électoral, l'ingérence étrangère et l'orientation future des deux grands partis.
summaryShort: Donald Trump a vaincu Hillary Clinton à l'élection présidentielle américaine de 2016 le 8 novembre, remportant le Collège électoral 304-227 malgré une défaite au vote populaire d'environ 3 millions de voix.
summaryLong: "Clinton a reçu environ 65,85 millions de votes et Trump environ 62,98 millions, mais cela exclut environ 8 millions de votes pour les candidats tiers (Gary Johnson : ~3,3M, Jill Stein : ~1,4M, autres : ~3M)."
generatedAt: "2026-06-03T11:01:45.543Z"
de:
lede: Am 8. November 2016 gewann Donald Trump, ein Immobilienentwickler und TV-Persönlichkeit, die U.S. Präsidentschaftswahl mit 304 Elektorenstimmen, obwohl er die Volksabstimmung gegen Hillary Clinton um ungefähr 2,87 Millionen Stimmen verlor. Sein Sieg in drei wichtigen Rust-Belt-Staaten – Pennsylvania, Michigan und Wisconsin – widersprach praktisch jeder Vorhersage und traditionellen politischen Analyse. Das Ergebnis veränderte die amerikanische Politik und löste unmittelbare Fragen zum Electoral College, ausländischen Einmischungen und der zukünftigen Ausrichtung beider großen Parteien aus.
summaryShort: Donald Trump besiegte Hillary Clinton bei der U.S. Präsidentschaftswahl am 8. November 2016 und gewann das Electoral College mit 304-227, obwohl er die Volksabstimmung um knapp 3 Millionen Stimmen verlor.
summaryLong: "Clinton erhielt ungefähr 65,85 Millionen Stimmen und Trump ungefähr 62,98 Millionen, doch dies schließt ungefähr 8 Millionen Stimmen für Drittpartei-Kandidaten aus (Gary Johnson: ~3,3M, Jill Stein: ~1,4M, andere: ~3M)."
generatedAt: "2026-06-03T11:01:49.730Z"
