Vice President Kamala Harris is on track to perform worse than former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did back in 2016's presidential election, in what could be the lowest Electoral College result for any Democratic nominee since 1988.
Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the United States on November 6, marking an incredible political comeback for a former president who refused to concede defeat four years ago and then sparked a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol. As of Wednesday morning, he was projected to win 277 Electoral College votes, and was ahead in four other swing states - which currently remain too close to call - as well as Alaska, according to Associated Press projections. Multiple TV news networks have projected a Harris win in Maine, giving her a total of 226 Electoral College votes.
Clinton won a total of 227 Electoral College votes eight years ago, after losing five votes to so-called faithless electors - individuals who don't pledge themselves to the winner of their state. Trump won 304, losing two votes to faithless electors. Newsweek has reached out to a representative for Clinton via email for comment.
If the remaining states this time round are projected in Trump's favor, Harris will have achieved the least amount of Electoral College votes won by a Democratic candidate since 1988, when former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis ran against then-Vice President George H. W. Bush. Dukakis won 111 Electoral College votes, and Bush won 426, in what is generally considered the last real landslide result in the College.
The lowest Electoral College score for any candidate was four years prior to that, when former Vice President Walter Mondale won just one state and Washington, D.C., for a total of 13 votes, against President Ronald Reagan, who was running for re-election.
Harris is also losing in the popular vote as of Wednesday morning, which Clinton won the in 2016. She secured 65.8 million votes, or 48.2 percent to Trump's 62.9 million votes (46.1 percent). Trump winning the popular vote would be the first time a Republican has done this in 20 years, since then-President George W. Bush won re-election in 2004.
According to the Associated Press, at the time of writing, Trump has won 71.3 million votes, or 51 percent. Harris has racked up 66.4 million votes, awarding her 47.5 percent of the vote.
Both candidates could fall short of how many individuals votes their respective tickets received in 2020; Trump won 74.2 million (46.8 percent) votes that year, to then-former Vice President Joe Biden's 81.2 million (51.2 percent).
Newsweek has reached out to the Harris campaign via email for comment
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