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Presidential Election Popular Vote: Hillary Clinton On Course To Win 2.5 Million More Votes Than Donald Trump

By Josh Moorcroft
Published on: 01:42 PST, Nov 22, 2016

Defeated candidate Hillary Clinton is on course to win 2.5 million more votes than president-elect Donald Trump in the popular vote. Donald Trump managed to secure the presidency earlier this month, winning a considerably higher amount of electoral college votes than his rival, but analysts have confirmed that Hillary Clinton’s lead in the popular vote will only continue to grow and could reach in excess of 2.5 million votes.

According to the Independent, Hillary Clinton’s growing lead in the popular vote is thanks to mail-in and absentee ballots, which are typically coming from Democratic strongholds like California and New York.

The former first lady and secretary of state has currently tallied a total of 63.7 million votes, which is ahead of Donald Trump by roughly 1.7 million votes. If Clinton manages to reach 65 million votes, she’ll have a total roughly on par with that of George W. Bush’s 2004 victory and that of Barack Obama in 2012. However, Clinton’s triumph in the popular vote means for very little because of the electoral college system. Because Donald Trump has already racked up the required electoral college votes to reach the White House, there’s no hope for Clinton.

That being said, political commentator David Wasserman says Hillary Clinton could still pull off an upset in Michigan, where Republicans are leading by just 0.3 percent. If the Democrats manage to take the lead in the state, its 16 Electoral College votes will fall into the hands of Hillary Clinton. However, this would only give Clinton 248 votes to Donald Trump’s 290, which means the result of the presidential election wouldn’t be affected. A single state is able to easily affect the result of an election because, in most states, the winner takes all of its electoral votes.

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While Donald Trump is assumed to be the winner of the presidential election, his presidency won’t be confirmed until the Electoral College’s 538 electors meet on December 19 to rubber stamp Trump’s presidency. That being said, according to Politico, this year could see more electors revolt against the chosen candidate than ever before and become what are commonly referred to as “faithless electors.”

A number of Democratic electors have already committed to not voting for the president-elect when the Electoral College meets in December. Those electors are looking to not only stand in the way of Mr. Trump’s presidency but also demonstrate their distaste for the Electoral College as an institution. They are, of course, bound by oath to cast their vote for the candidate chosen by their state’s population, but many Democratic electors have said that they’re prepared to reject that oath, and in some cases, state law by voting against the chosen candidate.

Of course, those Democratic electors are more than aware that they’re unlikely to garner enough support among Republican electors to deny Donald Trump the presidency. However, they believe their move would erode confidence in the Electoral College and further help in efforts to eliminate the institution. Many of the electors, who are supporters of Bernie Sanders, have in the past called for the institution’s elimination.

The outcome of the election is unlikely to be changed by Hillary Clinton’s growing lead in the popular vote or by a few faithless electors deciding not to vote for the president-elect. It’s now an almost certainty that Donald Trump will be confirmed the next president of the United States on December 19 ahead of his inauguration in January.

[Featured Image by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]

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