Us Presidential Elections 2016

Introduction

The Elections in America took place on November 8, 2016, after several months of campaigning by the contesting parties. The presidential aspirants included Donald Trump of the Republican Party, Hillary Clinton of the Democrats, Libertarian's party Gary Johnson, and Jill Stein of the Green Party. The campaign brought about new dimensions in politics and yielded unexpected results.

Winner of the 2016 Presidential Election

The Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential elections after defeating his fellow aspirants including most people’s favorite Hillary Clinton (Flegenheimer & Barbaro N.p). Donald Trump won the elections as he garnered more Electoral College votes, 303 votes,  as compared to Hillary Clinton’s 232 electoral votes. Trump won with a majority of the electoral votes in the Swing states including Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Florida, for instance, was considered a traditional voting block for Democrats. Trump used economic populism and nationalism overtones in his campaigns. His slogan "To Make America Great Again" made him popular among many white Americans who harbor beliefs that America has lost its position as the world leader. His economic policies of bringing back manufacturing jobs back to America to create jobs also increased his popularity amongst the people hence his election.

Impact of the Electoral College

The Electoral College played a significant role in determining the winner of the American Election. A candidate who gathers more than 270 Electoral College votes is declared winner irrespective of the outcome of the majority vote turnout. In the American Elections, Trump won the College vote but lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton.

Participation of Voters

Americans of all races who had registered as voters’ participated in the elections. However, the voter turnout was low compared to other countries. Some of the reasons for the low voters' turnout include restrictive voting laws in some states, which discourage voter registration and disgruntled citizens who are unhappy with the politics of the country (Regan N.p). The political groups that voted included Hispanics, most of whom voted for Clinton due to her policies on migration. American voters from all genders, College educated, and uneducated voters also voted for their preferred candidates.

Breakdown of Voter Turnout

The voter turnout was estimated to be about 58% percent of the total registered voters. Approximately, only one hundred and thirty-five million registered voters cast their votes out of about two hundred and thirty-one million registered voters (Scott N.p). The final tally indicated that Hillary Clinton gathered 64, 874, 143 votes (48.1%), while Donald Trump gathered 62, 516, 883 votes (46.4%) of the total vote. About 52% of all male voters voted for Trump against 41% that voted for Clinton and 7% for other candidates.  54% of all female voters voted for Clinton against 41% for Trump and 5 % for the other candidates. Clinton got about 53% of the votes of the electorate between the ages of 18-44 against 38% for Trump. Trump, on the other hand, garnered 52% of the votes from voters aged 45 years and older against 44% for Clinton (CNN N.p).