2020 United States presidential election

For related races, see 2020 United States elections.

2020 United States presidential election

November 3, 2020
538 members of the Electoral College 270 electoral votes needed to win
Opinion polls
Turnout	66.7% (estimated)
Nominee Joe Biden Donald Trump Party Democratic Republican Home state Delaware Florida Running mate Kamala Harris Mike Pence Electoral vote 306 232 States carried 25 + DC + NE-02 25 + ME-02 Popular vote 81,268,924 74,216,154 Percentage 51.3% 46.9%
Presidential election results map. Blue denotes states won by Biden/Harris, and red denotes those won by Trump/Pence. Numbers indicate electoral votes cast by each state and the District of Columbia.
President before election Donald Trump Republican Elected President Joe Biden Democratic

The 2020 United States presidential election was the 59th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The Democratic Party ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and the junior U.S. senator from California Kamala Harris defeated the incumbent Republican president Donald Trump and vice president Mike Pence. Trump became the first U.S. president since George H. W. Bush in the 1992 presidential election and the eleventh incumbent president in the country's history to lose a bid for a second term. Biden's 51.3% of the popular vote was also the largest percentage of the popular vote won by any challenger to an incumbent president since the 1932 presidential election. The election saw the highest voter turnout by percentage since 1900, with each of the two main tickets receiving more than 74 million votes, surpassing Barack Obama's record of 69.5 million votes from 2008. Biden received more than 81 million votes, the most votes ever cast for a candidate in a U.S. presidential election. Federal agencies overseeing election security said it was the most secure in American history.

Biden secured the Democratic nomination over his closest rival, Senator Bernie Sanders, in a competitive primary that featured the largest field of candidates for any political party in the modern era of American politics. Biden's running mate, Senator Kamala Harris from California, became the first African-American, first Asian-American, and third female vice presidential nominee on a major party ticket. Jo Jorgensen secured the Libertarian nomination with Spike Cohen as her running mate, and Howie Hawkins secured the Green nomination with Angela Nicole Walker as his running mate. Central issues of the election included the public health and economic impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic; civil unrest in reaction to the death of George Floyd and others; the U.S. Supreme Court following the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett; and the future of the Affordable Care Act.

The election saw a record number of ballots cast early and by mail due to the ongoing pandemic. Many more Democrats voted by mail compared to Republicans. As a result of a large number of mail-in ballots, some swing states saw delays in vote counting and reporting; this led to major news outlets delaying their projection of Biden and Harris as the president-elect and vice president-elect until the morning of November 7, three and a half days after the election.

Before, during, and after Election Day, Trump and numerous Republicans attempted to overturn the results of the election, alleging widespread voter fraud and trying to influence the vote counting process in swing states. Attorney General William Barr and officials in each of the 50 states found no evidence of widespread fraud or irregularities in the election. The Trump campaign and its allies, including Republican members of Congress, continued to engage in numerous attempts to overturn the results of the election by filing 63 lawsuits in several states with all but one minor case (which was later overturned) being withdrawn or dismissed by various courts, spreading conspiracy theories alleging fraud, pressuring Republican state electors and legislators, objecting to the Electoral College certification in Congress, inciting insurrection at the United States Capitol, and refusing to cooperate with the presidential transition of Joe Biden in what was widely described as an attempted coup. Trump said he would never concede the election. On January 7, 2021, one day after the violent storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters and two months after Biden's victory was declared, Trump acknowledged the incoming administration without mentioning Biden's name in a video posted to Twitter.

The election results in each state and the District of Columbia were certified by December 9. The presidential electors formally cast their votes for president and vice president on December 14, and their votes were officially counted by Congress on January 6–7, 2021, before and after pro-Trump insurrectionists stormed the Capitol. Biden and Harris were inaugurated on January 20, 2021.

Background

Procedure

Further information: United States presidential election § Procedure

Article Two of the United States Constitution states that for a person to serve as president, the individual must be a natural-born citizen of the United States, at least 35 years old and a United States resident for at least 14 years. Candidates for the presidency typically seek the nomination of one of the various political parties of the United States. Each party develops a method (such as a primary election) to choose the candidate the party deems best suited to run for the position. The primary elections are usually indirect elections where voters cast ballots for a slate of party delegates pledged to a particular candidate. The party's delegates then officially nominate a candidate to run on the party's behalf. The presidential nominee typically chooses a vice presidential running mate to form that party's ticket, who is then ratified by the delegates at the party's convention (with the exception of the Libertarian Party, which nominates its vice-presidential candidate by delegate vote regardless of the presidential nominee's preference). The general election in November is also an indirect election, in which voters cast ballots for a slate of members of the Electoral College; these electors then directly elect the president and vice president. If no candidate receives the minimum 270 electoral votes needed to win the election, the United States House of Representatives will select the president from the three candidates who received the most electoral votes, and the United States Senate will select the vice president from the candidates who received the two highest totals. The election will occur simultaneously alongside elections for the House of Representatives, Senate, and various state and local-level elections.

The Maine Legislature passed a bill in August 2019 adopting ranked-choice voting (RCV) both for presidential primaries and for the general election. Governor Janet Mills allowed the bill to become law without her signature, which delayed it from taking effect until after the 2020 Democratic primary in March, but made Maine the first state to use RCV for a presidential general election. The Maine Republican Party filed signatures for a veto referendum and preclude the use of RCV for the 2020 election but Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap found there were insufficient valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. A challenge in Maine Superior Court was successful for the Maine Republican Party, but the Maine Supreme Judicial Court stayed the ruling pending appeal on September 8, 2020. Nevertheless, ballots began being printed later that day without the veto referendum and including RCV for the presidential election, and the Court ruled in favor of the Secretary of State on September 22, allowing RCV to be used. An emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was denied on October 6. Implementation of RCV could potentially delay the projection of the winner(s) of Maine's electoral votes for days after election day and may complicate interpretation of the national popular vote. The law continues the use of the congressional district method for the allocation of Maine's electors (Nebraska is the only other state that apportions its electoral votes this way).

Demographic trends

Further information: Demography of the United States

A bipartisan report indicated in 2019 that changes in voter demographics since the 2016 election could impact the results of the 2020 election. African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and other ethnic minorities, as well as "whites with a college degree", are expected to all increase their percentage of national eligible voters by 2020, while "whites without a college degree" will decrease. The Hispanic likely voter population has increased by approximately 600,000 since the 2016 election. Generation Z, those born after 1996, will more than double to 10% of the eligible voters. It is possible Trump could win the Electoral College while still losing the popular vote, however, updated NBC News reporting from September 2020 predicts this is unlikely with 2020 demographics.

Youth turnout in the 2016 presidential election was extremely low, and during the Democratic primaries young voters broke overwhelmingly for Bernie Sanders. However, polls suggest that youth turnout for the 2020 election is comparatively very high.

Simultaneous elections

Further information: 2020 United States Senate elections and 2020 United States House of Representatives elections

The presidential election occurred simultaneously with elections to the Senate and the House of Representatives. Gubernatorial and legislative elections were also held in several states. For the subsequent election, the United States House will redistribute the seats among the 50 states based on the results of the 2020 United States Census, and the states will conduct a redistricting of Congressional and state legislative districts. In most states, the governor and the state legislature conduct the redistricting (although some states have redistricting commissions). Often, a party that wins a presidential election experiences a coattail effect that also helps other candidates of that party win elections. Therefore, the party that wins the 2020 presidential election could also win a significant advantage in drawing new Congressional and state legislative districts that would stay in effect until the 2032 elections.

Nominations

Democratic Party nomination

Main article: 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries

Primaries

In August 2018, the Democratic National Committee voted to disallow superdelegates from voting on the first ballot of the nominating process, beginning with the 2020 election. This required a candidate to win a majority of pledged delegates from the assorted primary elections in order to win the party's nomination. The last time this did not occur was the nomination of Adlai Stevenson II at the 1952 Democratic National Convention. Meanwhile, six states used ranked-choice voting in the primaries: Alaska, Hawaii, Kansas, and Wyoming for all voters; and Iowa and Nevada for absentee voters.

After Hillary Clinton's loss in the previous election, the Democratic Party was seen largely as leaderless and fractured between the centrist Clinton wing and the more progressive Sanders wing of the party, echoing the rift brought up in the 2016 primary election. In 2018, several U.S. House districts that Democrats hoped to gain from the Republican majority had contentious primary elections. Politico's Elena Schneider described these clashes as a "Democratic civil war". During this period, there was a general shift to the left in regards to college tuition, healthcare, and immigration among Democrats in the Senate.

Overall, the 2020 primary field had 29 major candidates, breaking the record for the largest field under the modern presidential primary system previously set during the 2016 GOP primaries with 17 major candidates.

Entering the Iowa caucuses on February 3, 2020, the field had decreased to 11 major candidates. Pete Buttigieg narrowly defeated Bernie Sanders in Iowa, then Sanders edged out Buttigieg in the February 11, New Hampshire primary. Following Michael Bennet, Deval Patrick, and Andrew Yang dropping out, Sanders won the Nevada caucuses on February 22. Joe Biden then won the South Carolina primary, causing Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, and Tom Steyer to abandon their campaigns (Buttigieg and Klobuchar then immediately endorsed Biden). After Super Tuesday, March 3, Michael Bloomberg and Elizabeth Warren quit the race, leaving three candidates left: Biden and Sanders, the main contenders, and Tulsi Gabbard, who remained in the race despite facing nigh-on insurmountable odds. Gabbard then dropped out and endorsed Biden after the March 17, Arizona, Florida, and Illinois races. On April 8, 2020, Sanders dropped out, reportedly after being convinced by former president Barack Obama, leaving Biden as the only major candidate remaining, and the presumptive nominee. Biden then gained endorsements from Obama, Sanders and Warren. By June 5, 2020, Biden had officially gained enough delegates to ensure his nomination at the convention, and proceeded to work with Sanders to develop a joint policy task force.

Vice presidential selection

Further information: 2020 Democratic Party vice presidential candidate selection

Senator Kamala Harris was announced as former vice president Joe Biden's running mate on August 11, 2020. If elected and inaugurated, Harris would be the first woman, first African-American, and first Asian-American vice president of the United States, as well as the second person with non-European ancestry (after Herbert Hoover's vice-president Charles Curtis). She is the third female vice presidential running mate after Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and Sarah Palin in 2008. She is the first person representing the Western United States to appear on the Democratic Party presidential ticket.

Candidates

The following major candidates have either: (a) served as vice president, a member of the cabinet, a U.S. senator, a U.S. representative, or a governor, (b) been included in a minimum of five independent national polls, or (c) received substantial media coverage.

Candidates in this section are sorted by date of withdrawal
Bernie Sanders	Tulsi Gabbard	Elizabeth Warren	Michael Bloomberg	Amy Klobuchar	Pete Buttigieg	Tom Steyer
x120px	x120px	x120px	x120px	x120px	x120px	x120px
U.S. senator from Vermont (2007–present) U.S. representative from VT-AL (1991–2007) Mayor of Burlington, Vermont (1981–1989)	U.S. representative from HI-02 (2013–present)	U.S. senator from Massachusetts (2013–present)	Mayor of New York City, New York (2002–2013) CEO of Bloomberg L.P.	U.S. senator from Minnesota (2007–present)	Mayor of South Bend, Indiana (2012–2020)	Hedge fund manager Founder of Farallon Capital and Beneficial State Bank
100x100px	100x100px	100x100px	100x100px	100x100px	100x100px	100x100px
Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign
W: April 8, 2020 (endorsed Biden) 8,823,936 votes 1,073 delegates	W: March 19, 2020 (endorsed Biden) 233,079 votes 2 delegates	W: March 5, 2020 (endorsed Biden) 2,668,057 votes 58 delegates	W: March 4, 2020 (endorsed Biden) 2,430,062 votes 43 delegates	W: March 2, 2020 (endorsed Biden) 501,332 votes 7 delegates	W: March 1, 2020 (endorsed Biden) 874,727 votes 21 delegates	W: February 29, 2020 (endorsed Biden) 250,513 votes
Deval Patrick	Michael Bennet	Andrew Yang	John Delaney	Cory Booker	Marianne Williamson	Julián Castro
x120px	x120px	x120px	x120px	x120px	x120px	x120px
Governor of Massachusetts (2007–2015)	U.S. senator from Colorado (2009–present)	Entrepreneur Founder of Venture for America	U.S. representative from MD-06 (2013–2019)	U.S. senator from New Jersey (2013–present) Mayor of Newark, New Jersey (2006–2013)	Author Founder of Project Angel Food Independent candidate for U.S. House from CA-33 in 2014	Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (2014–2017) Mayor of San Antonio, Texas (2009–2014)
100x100px	100x100px	100x100px	100x100px	100x100px	100x100px	100x100px
Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign
W: February 12, 2020 (endorsed Biden) 20,761 votes	W: February 11, 2020 (endorsed Biden) 43,682 votes	W: February 11, 2020 (endorsed Biden) 119,862 votes	W: January 31, 2020 (endorsed Biden) 15,985 votes	W: January 13, 2020 (endorsed Biden) 30,191 votes	W: January 10, 2020 (endorsed Sanders) 21,993 votes	W: January 2, 2020 (endorsed Warren, then Biden) 36,694 votes
Kamala Harris	Steve Bullock	Joe Sestak	Wayne Messam	Beto O'Rourke	Tim Ryan	Bill de Blasio
x120px	x120px	x120px	x120px	x120px	x120px	x120px
U.S. senator from California (2017–present) Attorney General of California (2011–2017)	Governor of Montana (2013–present) Attorney General of Montana (2009–2013)	U.S. representative from PA-07 (2007–2011) Former vice admiral of the United States Navy	Mayor of Miramar, Florida (2015–present)	U.S. representative from TX-16 (2013–2019)	U.S. representative from OH-13 (2013–present) U.S. representative from OH-17 (2003–2013)	Mayor of New York City, New York (2014–present)
100x100px	100x100px	N/A	100x100px	100x100px	100x100px	100x100px
Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign
W: December 3, 2019 (endorsed Biden and nominated for vice president) 844 votes	W: December 2, 2019 549 votes	W: December 1, 2019 (endorsed Klobuchar) 5,251 votes	W: November 19, 2019 0 votes	W: November 1, 2019 (endorsed Biden) 1 vote	W: October 24, 2019 (endorsed Biden) 0 votes	W: September 20, 2019 (endorsed Sanders) 0 votes
Kirsten Gillibrand	Seth Moulton	Jay Inslee	John Hickenlooper	Mike Gravel	Eric Swalwell	Richard Ojeda
x120px	x120px	x120px	x120px	x120px	x120px	x120px
U.S. senator from New York (2009–present) U.S. representative from NY-20 (2007–2009)	U.S. representative from MA-06 (2015–present)	Governor of Washington (2013–present) U.S. representative from WA-01 (1999–2012) U.S. representative from WA-04 (1993–1995)	Governor of Colorado (2011–2019) Mayor of Denver, Colorado (2003–2011)	U.S. senator from Alaska (1969–1981)	U.S. representative from CA-15 (2013–present)	West Virginia state senator from WV-SD07 (2016–2019)
100x100px	100x100px	100x100px	100x100px	100x100px	100x100px	N/A
Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign
W: August 28, 2019 (endorsed Biden) 0 votes	W: August 23, 2019 (endorsed Biden) 0 votes	W: August 21, 2019 (endorsed Biden) 1 vote	W: August 15, 2019 (endorsed Bennet) 1 vote	W: August 6, 2019 (endorsed Gabbard and Sanders, then Howie Hawkins) 0 votes	W: July 8, 2019 0 votes	W: January 25, 2019 0 votes

Republican Party nomination

Main article: 2020 Republican Party presidential primaries

Primaries

In election cycles with incumbent presidents running for re-election, the race for the party nomination is usually pro-forma, with token opposition instead of any serious challengers and with their party rules being fixed in their favor. The 2020 election was no exception; with Donald Trump formally seeking a second term, the official Republican apparatus, both state and national, coordinated with his campaign to implement changes to make it difficult for any primary opponent to mount a serious challenge. On January 25, 2019, the Republican National Committee unofficially endorsed Trump.

Several Republican state committees scrapped their respective primaries or caucuses, citing the fact that Republicans canceled several state primaries when George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush sought a second term in 1992 and 2004, respectively; and Democrats scrapped some of their primaries when Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were seeking reelection in 1996 and 2012, respectively. After cancelling their races, some of those states, such as Hawaii and New York, immediately pledged their delegates to Trump. In contrast, other states, such as Kansas and Nevada, later formally held a convention or meeting to officially award their delegates to him.

The Trump campaign also urged Republican state committees that used proportional methods to award delegates in 2016 (where a state's delegates are divided proportionally among the candidates based on the vote percentage) to switch to a "winner-takes-all" (where the winning candidate in a state gets all its delegates) or "winner-takes-most" (where the winning candidate only wins all of the state's delegates if he exceeds a predetermined amount, otherwise they are divided proportionally) for 2020.

Nevertheless, reports arose beginning in August 2017 that members of the Republican Party were preparing a "shadow campaign" against the president, particularly from the party's moderate or establishment wings. Then-Arizona senator John McCain said, "Republicans see weakness in this president." Maine senator Susan Collins, Kentucky senator Rand Paul, and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie all expressed doubts in 2017 that Trump would be the 2020 nominee, with Collins stating, "It's too difficult to say." Senator Jeff Flake claimed in 2017 that Trump was "inviting" a primary challenger by the way he was governing. However, longtime political strategist Roger Stone predicted in May 2018 that Trump might not seek a second term were he to succeed in keeping all his campaign promises and "mak[ing] America great again".

Former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld became Trump's first major challenger in the Republican primaries following an announcement on April 15, 2019. Weld, who was the Libertarian Party's nominee for vice president in 2016, was considered a long shot because of Trump's popularity within his own party and Weld's positions on issues such as abortion, gun control and same-sex marriage that conflicted with conservative positions on those issues. In addition, businessman Rocky De La Fuente also entered the race but was not widely recognized as a major candidate.

Former Illinois representative Joe Walsh launched a primary challenge on August 25, 2019, saying, "I'm going to do whatever I can. I don't want [Trump] to win. The country cannot afford to have him win. If I'm not successful, I'm not voting for him." Walsh ended his presidential bid on February 7, 2020, after drawing around 1% support in the Iowa caucuses. Walsh declared that "nobody can beat Trump in a Republican primary" because the Republican Party was now "a cult" of Trump. According to Walsh, Trump supporters had become "followers" who think that Trump "can do no wrong", after absorbing misinformation from conservative media. He stated, "They don't know what the truth is and—more importantly—they don't care." On September 8, 2019, former South Carolina governor and representative Mark Sanford officially announced that he would be another Republican primary challenger to Trump. He dropped out of the race 65 days later on November 12, 2019, after failing to gain support in Republican circles.

Donald Trump's re-election campaign has essentially been ongoing since his victory in 2016, leading pundits to describe his tactic of holding rallies continuously throughout his presidency as a "never-ending campaign". On January 20, 2017, at 5:11 p.m. EST, he submitted a letter as a substitute of FEC Form 2, by which he reached the legal threshold for filing, in compliance with the Federal Election Campaign Act. During the primary season, Trump ran an active campaign, even holding rallies in the February primary states, including South Carolina and Nevada where Republican primaries were canceled. Trump won every race and, having won enough delegates to ensure his nomination at the convention, became the presumptive nominee on March 17, 2020. Weld suspended his campaign the next day.

Candidates

The following major candidates have either: (a) held public office, (b) been included in a minimum of five independent national polls, or (c) received substantial media coverage.

Candidates in this section are sorted by popular vote
Bill Weld	Joe Walsh	Rocky De La Fuente	Mark Sanford
x120px		x120px
Governor of Massachusetts (1991–1997)	U.S. Representative from IL-08 (2011–2013)	Businessman and perennial candidate	U.S. Representative from SC-01 (1995–2001, 2013–2019) Governor of South Carolina (2003–2011)
100x100px	100x100px	100x100px	100x100px
Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign
W: March 18, 2020 454,402 votes 1 delegate	W: February 7, 2020 173,519 votes	Accepted 3rd party nomination April 23, 2020 108,357 votes	W: November 12, 2019 4,258 votes
		{{{1}}}

Other parties and independent candidates

Main article: Third party and independent candidates for the 2020 United States presidential election

Libertarian Party nomination

Main articles: 2020 Libertarian Party presidential primaries and 2020 Libertarian National Convention

Jo Jorgensen, who was the running mate of author Harry Browne in 1996, received the Libertarian nomination at the national convention on May 23, 2020. She achieved ballot access in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Green Party nomination

Further information: 2020 Green Party presidential primaries and 2020 Green National Convention

Howie Hawkins became the presumptive nominee of the Green Party on June 21, 2020, and was officially nominated by the party on July 11, 2020. Hawkins has also been nominated by the Socialist Party USA, Solidarity, Socialist Alternative, and the Legal Marijuana Now Party. Hawkins secured ballot access to 381 electoral votes, and secured write-in access to 133 electoral votes.

Other third-party and independent candidates

Main article: Third party and independent candidates for the 2020 United States presidential election

Various other minor party and independent candidate campaigns are on the ballot in several states, among them activist and writer Gloria La Riva, businessman and perennial candidate Rocky De La Fuente, coal executive Don Blankenship, entrepreneur Brock Pierce, rapper Kanye West, and educator Brian Carroll.

General election campaign

Ballot access

Presidential candidate		Vice presidential candidate	Party or label	Ballot access (including write-in)
				States/DC	Electors	Voters
	Donald Trump	Mike Pence	Republican	51	538	100%
	Joe Biden	Kamala Harris	Democratic	51	538	100%
	Jo Jorgensen	Spike Cohen	Libertarian	51	538	100%
	Howie Hawkins	Angela Walker	Green	30 (46)	381 (511)	73.2% (95.8%)
	Gloria La Riva	Sunil Freeman	Socialism and Liberation	15 (33)	195 (401)	37.0% (76.1%)
style="background:Template:Alliance Party (United States)/meta/color"|	Rocky De La Fuente	Darcy Richardson	Alliance	15 (26)	183 (292)	34.7% (54.4%)
	Don Blankenship	William Mohr	Constitution	18 (30)	166 (305)	31.2% (56.8%)
	Brock Pierce	Karla Ballard	Independent	16 (30)	115 (279)	19.1% (49.2%)
	Kanye West	Michelle Tidball	Birthday	12 (28)	84 (237)	14.4% (41.8%)
style="background:Template:American Solidarity Party/meta/color"|	Brian Carroll	Amar Patel	American Solidarity	8 (39)	66 (463)	11.4% (87.7%)
	Jade Simmons	Claudeliah J. Roze	Becoming One Nation	2 (38)	15 (372)	2.7% (68.9%)

Party conventions

Milwaukee

Charlotte

Virtual

Virtual

  Democratic Party

  Republican Party

  Libertarian Party (virtual)

  Green Party (virtual)

The 2020 Democratic National Convention was originally scheduled for July 13–16 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but was delayed to August 17–20 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. On June 24, 2020, it was announced that the convention would be held in a mixed online-in person format, with most delegates attending remotely but a few still attending the physical convention site. On August 5, the in-person portion of the convention was scaled down even further, with major speeches including Biden's being switched to a virtual format.

The 2020 Republican National Convention took place from August 24–27 in Charlotte, North Carolina and various remote locations. Originally, a three-day convention was planned to be held in North Carolina, but due to North Carolina's insistence that the convention follow COVID-19 social distancing rules, the speeches and celebrations were moved to Jacksonville, Florida (official convention business was still contractually obligated to be conducted in Charlotte). However, due to the worsening situation with regards to COVID-19 in Florida, the plans there were cancelled, and the convention was moved back to Charlotte in a scaled-down capacity.

The 2020 Libertarian National Convention was originally going to be held in Austin, Texas, over Memorial Day weekend from May 22 to 25, but all reservations at the JW Marriott Downtown Austin for the convention were cancelled on April 26 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was eventually decided by the Libertarian National Committee that the party would hold two conventions, one online from May 22–24 to select the presidential and vice-presidential nominees and one at a physical convention in Orlando, Florida, from July 8–12 for other business.

The 2020 Green National Convention was originally to be held in Detroit, Michigan, from July 9 to 12. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead decided to conduct the convention online, without a change in date.

Democrat color revolution

See also: Color revolution

Biden announced that he didn't need voters to help him get elected, and boasted that he had "the most extensive voter fraud organization in history. Pennsylvania Attorney General said the election outcome was predetermined, and Lt. Gen. Tom McInerney warned that the Democrats and the CIA put in place a mechanism which can alter the voting results of electronic voting machines in states like Pennsylvania that will determine the outcome. The covert technology is called Operation Scorecard, and it was built by the CIA to surreptitiously steal elections in targeted countries. That technology is now being used against the people of the United States and will be activated on Election Day to steal the election for Biden.

After the closing of polls in Pennsylvania and other swing states, the voting machines will be intercepted and then altered using complex algorithms to alter the votes in a way that evades detection, handing a victory to the pre-designated “winner” (Joe Biden). A covert app called “Scorecard” steals votes by making sure Democrats always stay about 3% ahead of their Republican rivals. “Scorecard steals the elections by tampering with the computers at the transfer points,” McInerney said.

Meanwhile, Biden pledged cooperation with CCP. Some Washington D.C. civil servants, including members of the intelligence community, pledged their allegiance to Marxist insurrection effort. By Thursday November 5, they planned to shut down the White House. In a Color Revolution, after seizure of the media, the next step is to destroy confidence in the legitimacy of elections. The Shut Down DC group says it will “be in the streets before the polls even close,” asserting that Template:Quotebox-float In anticipation of the Democrat looting, Walmart and other stores took guns and ammunition off the store shelves.

Democrats' strategy was to undermine public confidence in the election. Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer planted the notion that President Trump wouldn't leave office if defeated. Nancy Pelosi insisted the president is Vladimir Putin’s “accomplice.” The mayor of San Francisco so casually called the president a “terrorist” and “dictator.” Kamala Harris was already blaming Joe Biden’s loss on “Russian interference” in September 2020. Hillary Clinton insisted that Biden should not concede the election until Democrats have a chance to throw state vote counts into chaos. Bill Clinton sold the idea that Trump will “stack sandbags” to stay in the White House, and certain “Washington insiders” have a plan to undertake “unprecedented” measures to overthrow Trump after he wins re-election. The Democratic Party was already threatening violence if Biden was defeated.

The United States saw 710 additional homicides and 2,800 more shootings, attributed to the ‘Minneapolis effect’.

Adbusters began executing its long-planned White House Siege on September 17, 2020. In just a 24 hour period of the Democrat's War on Cops two Los Angelos sheriffs deputies were ambushed while sitting in their car; a U.S. Marshall was ambushed and shot outside a federal courthouse in Phoenix; a police car was shot up in Suffolk, Virginia. Christian sites across the United States came under attack by Democrat extremists. No Democrats and their media surrogates gave even a token denunciation of the violence, mayhem, and murder until after more than 40 people had been killed, including at least 6 police, and more than $2 Billion in damages and arson from their supporters. With the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Democrats promised more riots if constitutional processes moved forward. Two more police officers were ambushed in New Orleans.

Black Lives Matter was engaged in voter suppression in North Carolina.

Biden Putsch

When Fox News called Arizona for Biden, suddenly counting stopped in at least five states (or parts of states): Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin; all but one with a Democratic governor. When the counting stopped in urban centers, Philadelphia, Detroit, Milwaukee, Las Vegas, Atlanta and others, it gave to time to count how many manufactured votes Biden would need to win in those states. Facebook shut down the StopTheSteal hashtag group.

General election debates

Main article: 2020 United States presidential debates

Case Western Reserve University

University of Utah

Belmont University

Sites of the 2020 general election debates

On October 11, 2019, the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) announced that three general election debates would be held in the fall of 2020.

The first, moderated by Chris Wallace took place on September 29, and was co-hosted by Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. The debate was originally to be hosted at the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana, but the university decided against holding the debate as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Biden was generally held to have won the first debate, with a significant minority of commentators stating that it was a draw.

The vice presidential debate was held on October 7, 2020, at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. The debate was widely held to have been won by Pence.

The second debate was initially set to be held at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, but the university withdrew in June 2020, reportedly over concerns regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. The debate was then relocated to take place on October 15 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, but due to Donald Trump contracting COVID-19, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced on October 8 that the debate would be held virtually, in which the candidates would appear from separate locations. However, Trump refused to participate in a virtual debate, and the commission subsequently announced that the debate had been cancelled.

The third scheduled debate took place on October 22 at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. The changes to the debate rules resulted in it being generally considered more civil than the first debate. Trump was generally held to have won the debate, though it was considered unlikely to alter the race to any considerable degree.

Debates for the 2020 U.S. presidential election sponsored by the CPD

No.	Date	Time	Host	City	Moderator(s)	Participants	Viewership (millions)
P1	September 29, 2020	9:00 p.m. EDT	Case Western Reserve University	Cleveland, Ohio	Chris Wallace	Donald Trump Joe Biden	73.1
VP	October 7, 2020	7:00 p.m. MDT	University of Utah	Salt Lake City, Utah	Susan Page	Mike Pence Kamala Harris	57.9
(P2)	October 15, 2020	9:00 p.m. EDT	Arsht Center (planned)	Miami, Florida	Steve Scully (planned)	Donald Trump Joe Biden	N/A
P2	October 22, 2020	8:00 p.m. CDT	Belmont University	Nashville, Tennessee	Kristen Welker	Donald Trump Joe Biden	63

The Free & Equal Elections Foundation held two debates with minor party and independent candidates, one on October 8, 2020, in Denver, Colorado, and another on October 24, 2020, in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Predictions and polls

See also: Fake news in the 2020 presidential election

Biden announced Kamala Harris as is running mate on August 11, 2020. The Biden/Harris ticket lost 10% support among "people of color" in a nationwide CNN poll of registered voters conducted in the following days after the announcement.

A Zogby Poll a few weeks before the convention found that a majority of voters believe Biden is in the early stages of dementia; 60% of younger voters think so, while swing voters are less likely to think Biden has dementia. A majority (55%) of likely voters surveyed thought it was more likely (much more and somewhat more likely combined) that Vice President Biden is in the early stages of dementia, while 45% thought it was less likely (much less and somewhat less likely combined). Overall, subgroups who normally approve of Trump’s job as president, were the most likely to believe Biden could be suffering from dementia. Thus, majorities of Republicans (77% more likely/23% less likely) and Independents (56% more likely/44% less likely) thought Joe Biden had early-onset dementia; while nearly a third of Democrats (32% more likely/68% less likely) thought this was the case.

Biden toasts CCP dictator Xi Jinping. According to the Black Book of Communism, the leftist regime of Beijing has murdered more than 60 million of its own people over its 70 years of existence in its lust to remain in power. Xi Jinping covered up the coronavirus pandemic from at least January 7, 2020 onward. Contrary to American intelligence assessments, Biden claims the CCP is not a threat. Biden's son was awarded a $1.5 Billion (billion with a "B") contract with the Chinese military 10 days after visiting China with his father in 2013.

A CBS Battleground Tracker Poll found that the moderate to conservative wing of the Democrat party consists mostly of blacks, Hispanics and other minorities, whereas the far left progressive wing is disproportionately white. Thomas Edsall writing in the New York Times noted, “What the data demonstrates is that the group containing the largest proportion of minority voters is the most skeptical of some of the most progressive policies embraced by Democratic candidates like Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris.” Nate Silver of Fivethirtyeight noted "nonwhite voters are no longer significantly more liberal than white Democrats. And research finds that many African American voters identify as conservative despite their strong collective identification with the Democratic Party. A Gallup Poll found that 81% of African Americans want more policing in their neighborhoods, not less.

A national poll finds the vast majority of Americans no longer trust Beijing. Seventy percent (70%) think the Chinese kept their Coronavirus data a secret from international healthcare professionals. In addition, 6 of 10 voters, or 59%, agree "As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, America should withdraw its manufacturing presence from China". One-third of all voters, 31%, "strongly agree" with this statement. Only 10% "strongly disagree."

Another poll found 65% of respondents agree with the view that “we should have less government regulation of our lives, and more freedom and economic opportunity to make the most of our lives.” Conversely, only 26% of respondents agree that “we should pursue a “socialist agenda” where government should have more control over things and balance out the inequalities between the wealthy and everyone else.” A solid majority of suburban women (57%), college graduate women (54%), and 18-34 year olds (54%) agree with less regulation and more opportunity, and this view is over 70% among both Independent respondents and Hispanic/Latino respondents.

Endorsements

Main articles: List of Donald Trump 2020 presidential campaign endorsements, List of Joe Biden 2020 presidential campaign endorsements, List of Jo Jorgensen 2020 presidential campaign endorsements, and List of Howie Hawkins 2020 presidential campaign endorsements

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State predictions

Most election predictors use:

• tossup: no advantage
• tilt: advantage that is not quite as strong as "lean"
• lean: slight advantage
• likely: significant, but surmountable, advantage (*highest rating given by CBS News and NPR)
• safe or solid: near-certain chance of victory

State	Electoral votes	PVI	2016 result	Cook October 28, 2020	Inside Elections October 28, 2020	Sabato November 2, 2020	Politico November 2, 2020	RealClearPolitics October 29, 2020	CNN November 2, 2020	The Economist November 3, 2020	CBS News November 1, 2020	270toWin November 3, 2020	ABC News November 2, 2020	NPR October 30, 2020	NBC News October 27, 2020	FiveThirtyEight November 2, 2020
Alabama	9	R+14	62.1% R	Solid R	Solid R	Safe R	Solid R	Solid R	Solid R	Safe R	Likely R	Safe R	Solid R	Likely R	Solid R	Solid R
Alaska	3	R+9	51.3% R	Likely R	Lean R	Likely R	Lean R	Likely R	Solid R	Likely R	Likely R	Likely R	Lean R	Lean R	Likely R	Likely R
Arizona	11	R+5	48.9% R	Lean D (flip)	Tilt D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup	Lean D (flip)	Tossup	Tossup	Lean D (flip)	Tossup	Tossup	Lean D (flip)
Arkansas	6	R+15	60.6% R	Solid R	Solid R	Safe R	Solid R	Likely R	Solid R	Safe R	Likely R	Safe R	Solid R	Likely R	Solid R	Solid R
California	55	D+12	61.7% D	Solid D	Solid D	Safe D	Solid D	Solid D	Solid D	Safe D	Likely D	Safe D	Solid D	Likely D	Solid D	Solid D
Colorado	9	D+1	48.2% D	Likely D	Solid D	Likely D	Likely D	Lean D	Lean D	Safe D	Likely D	Likely D	Solid D	Likely D	Likely D	Solid D
Connecticut	7	D+6	54.6% D	Solid D	Solid D	Safe D	Solid D	Likely D	Solid D	Safe D	Likely D	Safe D	Solid D	Likely D	Likely D	Solid D
Delaware	3	D+6	53.1% D	Solid D	Solid D	Safe D	Solid D	Solid D	Solid D	Safe D	Likely D	Safe D	Solid D	Likely D	Solid D	Solid D
District of Columbia	3	D+41	90.9% D	Solid D	Solid D	Safe D	Solid D	Solid D	Solid D	Safe D	Likely D	Safe D	Solid D	Likely D	Solid D	Solid D
Florida	29	R+2	49.0% R	Tossup	Tilt D (flip)	Lean R	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup	Lean D (flip)	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup	Lean D (flip)
Georgia	16	R+5	50.8% R	Tossup	Tilt D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup	Lean D (flip)	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup
Hawaii	4	D+18	62.2% D	Solid D	Solid D	Safe D	Solid D	Solid D	Solid D	Safe D	Likely D	Safe D	Solid D	Likely D	Solid D	Solid D
Idaho	4	R+19	59.3% R	Solid R	Solid R	Safe R	Solid R	Solid R	Solid R	Safe R	Likely R	Safe R	Solid R	Likely R	Solid R	Solid R
Illinois	20	D+7	55.8% D	Solid D	Solid D	Safe D	Solid D	Likely D	Solid D	Safe D	Likely D	Safe D	Solid D	Likely D	Likely D	Solid D
Indiana	11	R+9	56.8% R	Likely R	Solid R	Likely R	Likely R	Lean R	Solid R	Safe R	Likely R	Likely R	Solid R	Likely R	Likely R	Solid R
Iowa	6	R+3	51.2% R	Tossup	Tossup	Lean R	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup	Lean R
Kansas	6	R+13	56.7% R	Likely R	Lean R	Likely R	Likely R	Likely R	Solid R	Safe R	Likely R	Likely R	Solid R	Likely R	Likely R	Solid R
Kentucky	8	R+15	62.5% R	Solid R	Solid R	Safe R	Solid R	Solid R	Solid R	Safe R	Likely R	Safe R	Solid R	Likely R	Solid R	Solid R
Louisiana	8	R+11	58.1% R	Solid R	Solid R	Safe R	Solid R	Likely R	Solid R	Safe R	Likely R	Safe R	Solid R	Likely R	Likely R	Solid R
Maine	2	D+3	47.8% D	Likely D	Solid D	Likely D	Likely D	Lean D	Solid D	Safe D (only statewide rating given)	Likely D	Likely D	Solid D	Likely D	Likely D	Likely D
ME-1	1	D+8	54.0% D	Solid D	Solid D	Safe D	Solid D	Likely D	Solid D		Likely D	Safe D	Solid D	Likely D	Solid D	Solid D
ME-2	1	R+2	51.3% R	Tossup	Tossup	Lean R	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup		Tossup	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup
Maryland	10	D+12	60.3% D	Solid D	Solid D	Safe D	Solid D	Solid D	Solid D	Safe D	Likely D	Safe D	Solid D	Likely D	Solid D	Solid D
Massachusetts	11	D+12	60.1% D	Solid D	Solid D	Safe D	Solid D	Solid D	Solid D	Safe D	Likely D	Safe D	Solid D	Likely D	Solid D	Solid D
Michigan	16	D+1	47.5% R	Lean D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Tossup	Lean D (flip)	Likely D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Solid D (flip)
Minnesota	10	D+1	46.4% D	Lean D	Likely D	Likely D	Lean D	Tossup	Lean D	Likely D	Lean D	Likely D	Lean D	Lean D	Lean D	Solid D
Mississippi	6	R+9	57.9% R	Solid R	Solid R	Safe R	Solid R	Likely R	Solid R	Safe R	Likely R	Safe R	Solid R	Likely R	Likely R	Likely R
Missouri	10	R+9	56.8% R	Likely R	Lean R	Likely R	Likely R	Lean R	Solid R	Likely R	Likely R	Likely R	Lean R	Lean R	Likely R	Likely R
Montana	3	R+11	56.2% R	Likely R	Lean R	Likely R	Likely R	Lean R	Solid R	Likely R	Likely R	Likely R	Lean R	Lean R	Likely R	Likely R
Nebraska	2	R+14	58.8% R	Solid R	Solid R	Safe R	Solid R	Solid R	Solid R	Safe R (only statewide rating given)	Likely R	Safe R	Solid R	Likely R	Solid R	Solid R
NE-1	1	R+11	56.2% R	Solid R	Solid R	Safe R	Solid R	Solid R	Solid R		Likely R	Safe R	Solid R	Lean R	Solid R	Solid R
NE-2	1	R+4	47.2% R	Lean D (flip)	Tilt D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Tossup	Lean D (flip)		Lean D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Likely D (flip)
NE-3	1	R+27	73.9% R	Solid R	Solid R	Safe R	Solid R	Solid R	Solid R		Likely R	Safe R	Solid R	Likely R	Solid R	Solid R
Nevada	6	D+1	47.9% D	Lean D	Likely D	Lean D	Lean D	Tossup	Lean D	Likely D	Lean D	Lean D	Lean D	Lean D	Lean D	Likely D
New Hampshire	4	D+1	47.0% D	Lean D	Likely D	Likely D	Lean D	Lean D	Lean D	Likely D	Lean D	Lean D	Lean D	Likely D	Lean D	Likely D
New Jersey	14	D+7	55.0% D	Solid D	Solid D	Safe D	Solid D	Likely D	Solid D	Safe D	Likely D	Safe D	Solid D	Likely D	Likely D	Solid D
New Mexico	5	D+3	48.4% D	Solid D	Solid D	Likely D	Likely D	Lean D	Solid D	Safe D	Likely D	Likely D	Solid D	Likely D	Likely D	Solid D
New York	29	D+11	59.0% D	Solid D	Solid D	Safe D	Solid D	Solid D	Solid D	Safe D	Likely D	Safe D	Solid D	Likely D	Solid D	Solid D
North Carolina	15	R+3	49.8% R	Tossup	Tilt D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup	Lean D (flip)	Tossup	Tossup	Lean D (flip)	Tossup	Tossup	Lean D (flip)
North Dakota	3	R+16	63.0% R	Solid R	Solid R	Safe R	Solid R	Solid R	Solid R	Safe R	Likely R	Safe R	Solid R	Likely R	Solid R	Solid R
Ohio	18	R+3	51.7% R	Tossup	Tossup	Lean R	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup
Oklahoma	7	R+20	65.3% R	Solid R	Solid R	Safe R	Solid R	Solid R	Solid R	Safe R	Likely R	Safe R	Solid R	Likely R	Solid R	Solid R
Oregon	7	D+5	50.1% D	Solid D	Solid D	Safe D	Likely D	Lean D	Solid D	Safe D	Likely D	Safe D	Solid D	Likely D	Likely D	Solid D
Pennsylvania	20	EVEN	48.2% R	Lean D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Tossup	Lean D (flip)	Likely D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Likely D (flip)
Rhode Island	4	D+10	54.4% D	Solid D	Solid D	Safe D	Solid D	Likely D	Solid D	Safe D	Likely D	Safe D	Solid D	Likely D	Likely D	Solid D
South Carolina	9	R+8	54.9% R	Likely R	Likely R	Likely R	Solid R	Lean R	Solid R	Likely R	Likely R	Likely R	Solid R	Likely R	Likely R	Likely R
South Dakota	3	R+14	61.5% R	Solid R	Solid R	Safe R	Solid R	Solid R	Solid R	Safe R	Likely R	Safe R	Solid R	Likely R	Solid R	Solid R
Tennessee	11	R+14	60.7% R	Solid R	Solid R	Safe R	Solid R	Solid R	Solid R	Safe R	Likely R	Safe R	Solid R	Likely R	Solid R	Solid R
Texas	38	R+8	52.2% R	Tossup	Tossup	Lean R	Lean R	Tossup	Lean R	Lean R	Lean R	Lean R	Tossup	Tossup	Tossup	Lean R
Utah	6	R+20	45.5% R	Likely R	Likely R	Likely R	Likely R	Likely R	Solid R	Safe R	Likely R	Likely R	Solid R	Likely R	Likely R	Solid R
Vermont	3	D+15	56.7% D	Solid D	Solid D	Safe D	Solid D	Solid D	Solid D	Safe D	Likely D	Safe D	Solid D	Likely D	Solid D	Solid D
Virginia	13	D+1	49.7% D	Likely D	Solid D	Likely D	Likely D	Lean D	Solid D	Likely D	Likely D	Likely D	Solid D	Likely D	Likely D	Solid D
Washington	12	D+7	52.5% D	Solid D	Solid D	Safe D	Solid D	Likely D	Solid D	Safe D	Likely D	Safe D	Solid D	Likely D	Solid D	Solid D
West Virginia	5	R+19	68.5% R	Solid R	Solid R	Safe R	Solid R	Solid R	Solid R	Safe R	Likely R	Safe R	Solid R	Likely R	Solid R	Solid R
Wisconsin	10	EVEN	47.2% R	Lean D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Tossup	Lean D (flip)	Likely D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Likely D (flip)
Wyoming	3	R+25	67.4% R	Solid R	Solid R	Safe R	Solid R	Solid R	Solid R	Safe R	Likely R	Safe R	Solid R	Likely R	Solid R	Solid R
Overall	538		D: 232 R: 306	D: 290 R: 125 Tossup: 123	D: 350 R: 125 Tossup: 63	D: 321 R: 217 Tossup: 0	D: 279 R: 163 Tossup: 96	D: 216 R: 125 Tossup: 197	D: 279 R: 163 Tossup: 96	D: 334 R: 164 Tossup: 40	D: 279 R: 163 Tossup: 96	D: 279 R: 163 Tossup: 96	D: 321 R: 125 Tossup: 92	D: 279 R: 125 Tossup: 134	D: 279 R: 125 Tossup: 134	D: 334 R: 169 Tossup: 35

Voting process and results

Election night

File:Election Day 2020 (50564518207).jpg

Voters cast ballots at Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, Iowa

Election night, November 3, ended without a clear winner, as many state results were too close to call and millions of votes remained uncounted, including in half a dozen battleground states. In a victory declared after midnight, Trump won the swing state of Florida by three percentage points, an increase from his 1.2 percentage point margin in 2016, having seen significant gains in support among the Latino community in Miami-Dade County.

Shortly after 12:30 a.m. EST, Biden made a short speech in which he urged his supporters to be patient while the votes are counted, and said he believed he was "on track to win this election". Shortly before 2:30 a.m. EST, Trump made a speech to a roomful of supporters, falsely asserting that he had won the election and calling for a stop to all vote counting, saying that continued counting was "a fraud on the American people" and that "we will be going to the U.S. Supreme Court." The Biden campaign denounced these attempts, claiming that the Trump campaign was engaging in a "naked effort to take away the democratic rights of American citizens".

Election night aftermath

By the evening of November 4, the Associated Press reported that Biden had secured 264 electoral votes, with the closely contested states of Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, and Nevada remaining uncalled as votes were being counted. Results were delayed in these states due to local rules on counting mail-in ballots. In Pennsylvania, where the counting of mail-in ballots began on election night, Trump declared victory on November 4 with a lead of 675,000 votes. Trump also declared victory in North Carolina and Georgia.

On November 6, Biden assumed leads in Pennsylvania and Georgia as the states continued to count ballots. Due to the slim margin between Biden and Trump in the state, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced on November 6 that a recount would be held in Georgia.

OSCE election monitoring

On the invitation of the US State Department, the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), which has been monitoring US elections since 2002 (as it does for major elections in all other OSCE member countries), sent 102 observers from 39 countries. The task force consisted of long-term observers from the ODIHR office (led by former Polish diplomat Urszula Gacek) deployed to 28 states from September on and covering 15 states on election day, and a group of European lawmakers acting as short-term observers (led by German parliamentarian Michael Georg Link), reporting from Maryland, Virginia, California, Nevada, Michigan, Missouri, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was scaled down to a "limited election observation mission" from the originally planned 100 long-term observers and 400 short-term observers.

An interim report published by the OSCE shortly before the election noted that many ODIHR interlocutors "expressed grave concerns about the risk of legitimacy of the elections being questioned due to the incumbent President’s repeated allegations of a fraudulent election process, and postal vote in particular". On the day after the election, the task force published preliminary findings, with part of the summary stating:

The 3 November general elections were competitive and well managed despite legal uncertainties and logistical challenges. In a highly polarized political environment, acrimonious campaign rhetoric fuelled tensions. Measures intended to secure the elections during the pandemic triggered protracted litigation driven by partisan interests. Uncertainty caused by late legal challenges and evidence-deficient claims about election fraud created confusion and concern among election officials and voters. Voter registration and identification rules in some states are unduly restrictive for certain groups of citizens. The media, although sharply polarized, provided comprehensive coverage of the campaign and made efforts to provide accurate information on the organization of elections.

Link stated that "on the election day itself, we couldn’t see any violations" at the polling places visited by the observers. The task force also found "nothing untoward" while observing the handling of mail-in ballots at post offices, with Gacek being quoted as saying that "We feel that allegations of systemic wrongdoing in these elections have no solid ground" and that "The system has held up well". The OSCE's election monitoring branch is due to publish a more comprehensive report in early 2021.

Candidate table

Candidates are included in this table if they received any electoral votes, more than 0.05% of the popular vote, had ballot access to more than 15 electoral votes, or had ballot access in more than one state and had ballot plus write-in access in most states. Candidates are sorted first by electoral votes, then popular vote, then ballot access, then by their party's electoral vote in the 2016 election, and then alphabetically.

Electoral results

Presidential candidate	Party		Home state	Popular vote	Electoral vote	Vice presidential candidate	Home state	Electoral vote
Joe Biden		Democratic	Delaware			Kamala Harris	California
Donald Trump (incumbent)		Republican	Florida			Mike Pence	Indiana
Jo Jorgensen		Libertarian	South Carolina			Spike Cohen	South Carolina
Howie Hawkins		Green	New York			Angela Nicole Walker	South Carolina
Gloria La Riva		Socialism and Liberation	California			Sunil Freeman	District of Columbia
Rocky De La Fuente	style="background:Template:Alliance Party (United States)/meta/color"|	Alliance	California			Darcy Richardson	Florida
		American Independent				Kanye West	Wyoming
Don Blankenship		Constitution	West Virginia			William Mohr	Michigan
Brock Pierce		Independent	Puerto Rico			Karla Ballard	Pennsylvania
Kanye West		Birthday	Wyoming			Michelle Tidball	Wyoming
Brian Carroll	style="background:Template:American Solidarity Party/meta/color"|	Solidarity	California			Amar Patel	Illinois
Alyson Kennedy		Socialist Workers	Texas			Malcolm Jarrett	Pennsylvania
Bill Hammons		Unity	Texas			Eric Bodenstab	Colorado
Phil Collins		Prohibition	Nevada			Billy Joe Parker	Georgia
Dario Hunter		Progressive	Ohio			Dawn Neptune Adams	Maine
Jade Simmons		Independent	Texas			Claudeliah J. Roze	Texas
Other						Other
Total		538	Total	538

Results by state

Legend

States won by Biden/Harris
States won by Trump/Pence
EV	Electoral votes
†	At-large results (for states that split electoral votes)

Results by state

State or district	Biden/Harris Democratic			Trump/Pence Republican			Jorgensen/Cohen Libertarian			Hawkins/Walker Green			Others			Margin		Margin swing	Total votes
	Votes	%	EV	Votes	%	EV	Votes	%	EV	Votes	%	EV	Votes	%	EV	Votes	%	%
Ala.	849,624	36.57%	–	1,441,170	62.03%	9	25,176	1.08%	–			–	7,312	0.31%	–	−591,546	−25.46%	2.27%	2,323,282
Alaska	153,778	42.77%	–	189,951	52.83%	3	8,897	2.47%	–			–	6,904	1.92%	–	−36,173	−10.06%	4.67%	359,530
Arizona	1,672,143	49.36%	11	1,661,686	49.06%	–	51,465	1.52%	–	1,557	0.05%	–	475	0.01%	–	10,457	0.31%	3.81%	3,387,326
Ark.	423,932	34.78%	–	760,647	62.40%	6	13,133	1.08%	–	2,980	0.24%	–	18,377	1.51%	–	−336,715	−27.62%	−0.70%	1,219,069
Calif.	11,110,250	63.48%	55	6,006,429	34.32%	–	187,895	1.07%	–	81,029	0.46%	–	115,278	0.66%	–	5,103,821	29.16%	−0.95%	17,500,881
Colo.	1,804,352	55.40%	9	1,364,607	41.90%	–	52,460	1.61%	–	8,986	0.28%	–	26,575	0.82%	–	439,745	13.50%	8.59%	3,256,980
Conn.	1,080,831	59.26%	7	714,717	39.19%	–	20,230	1.11%	–	7,538	0.41%	–	541	0.03%	–	366,114	20.07%	6.43%	1,823,857
Del.	296,268	58.74%	3	200,603	39.77%	–	5,000	0.99%	–	2,139	0.42%	–	336	0.07%	–	95,665	18.97%	7.60%	504,346
D.C.	317,323	92.15%	3	18,586	5.40%	–	2,036	0.59%	–	1,726	0.50%	–	4,685	1.36%	–	298,737	86.75%	−0.03%	344,356
Florida	5,297,045	47.86%	–	5,668,731	51.22%	29	70,324	0.64%	–	14,721	0.13%	–	16,635	0.15%	–	−371,686	−3.36%	−2.16%	11,067,456
Georgia	2,473,633	49.47%	16	2,461,854	49.24%	–	62,229	1.24%	–	1,013	0.02%	–	1,231	0.02%	–	11,779	0.24%	5.37%	4,999,960
Hawaii	366,130	63.73%	4	196,864	34.27%	–	5,539	0.96%	–	3,822	0.67%	–	2,114	0.37%	–	169,266	29.46%	−2.72%	574,469
Idaho	287,021	33.07%	–	554,119	63.84%	4	16,404	1.89%	–	407	0.05%	–	10,063	1.16%	–	−267,098	−30.77%	1.00%	868,014
Illinois	3,471,915	57.54%	20	2,446,891	40.55%	–	66,544	1.10%	–	30,494	0.51%	–	17,900	0.30%	–	1,025,024	16.99%	−0.08%	6,033,744
Indiana	1,242,416	40.96%	–	1,729,519	57.02%	11	59,232	1.95%	–	989	0.03%	–	965	0.03%	–	−487,103	−16.06%	3.11%	3,033,121
Iowa	759,061	44.89%	–	897,672	53.09%	6	19,637	1.16%	–	3,075	0.18%	–	11,426	0.68%	–	−138,611	−8.20%	1.21%	1,690,871
Kansas	570,323	41.56%	–	771,406	56.21%	6	30,574	2.23%	–	669	0.05%	–	1,014	0.07%	–	−201,083	−14.65%	5.95%	1,372,303
Ky.	772,474	36.15%	–	1,326,646	62.09%	8	26,234	1.23%	–	716	0.03%	–	10,698	0.50%	–	−554,172	−25.94%	3.90%	2,136,768
La.	856,034	39.85%	–	1,255,776	58.46%	8	21,645	1.01%	–	–	–	–	14,607	0.68%	–	−399,742	−18.61%	1.03%	2,148,062
Maine †	435,072	53.09%	2	360,737	44.02%	–	14,152	1.73%	–	8,230	1.00%	–	1,270	0.15%	–	74,335	9.07%	6.11%	819,461
ME-1	266,376	60.11%	1	164,045	37.02%	–	7,343	1.66%	–	4,654	1.05%	–	694	0.16%	–	102,331	23.09%	8.28%	443,112
ME-2	168,696	44.82%	–	196,692	52.26%	1	6,809	1.81%	–	3,576	0.95%	–	576	0.15%	–	−27,996	−7.44%	2.85%	376,349
Md.	1,985,023	65.36%	10	976,414	32.15%	–	33,488	1.10%	–	15,799	0.52%	–	26,306	0.87%	–	1,008,609	33.21%	6.79%	3,037,030
Mass.	2,382,202	65.60%	11	1,167,202	32.14%	–	47,013	1.29%	–	18,658	0.51%	–	16,327	0.45%	–	1,215,000	33.46%	6.26%	3,631,402
Mich.	2,804,040	50.62%	16	2,649,852	47.84%	–	60,381	1.09%	–	13,718	0.25%	–	11,311	0.20%	–	154,188	2.78%	3.01%	5,539,302
Minn.	1,717,077	52.40%	10	1,484,065	45.28%	–	34,976	1.07%	–	10,033	0.31%	–	31,020	0.95%	–	233,012	7.11%	5.59%	3,277,171
Miss.	539,398	41.06%	–	756,764	57.60%	6	8,026	0.61%	–	1,498	0.11%	–	8,073	0.61%	–	−217,366	−16.55%	1.28%	1,313,759
Mo.	1,253,014	41.41%	–	1,718,736	56.80%	10	41,205	1.36%	–	8,283	0.27%	–	4,724	0.16%	–	−465,722	−15.39%	3.25%	3,025,962
Mont.	244,786	40.55%	–	343,602	56.92%	3	15,252	2.53%	–	–	–	–	34	0.01%	–	−98,816	−16.37%	4.05%	603,674
Neb. †	374,583	39.17%	–	556,846	58.22%	2	20,283	2.12%	–			–	4,671	0.49%	–	−182,263	−19.06%	5.99%	956,383
NE-1	132,261	41.09%	–	180,290	56.01%	1	7,495	2.33%	–			–	1,840	0.57%	–	−48,029	−14.92%	5.80%	321,886
NE-2	176,468	51.95%	1	154,377	45.45%	–	6,909	2.03%	–			–	1,912	0.56%	–	22,091	6.50%	8.74%	339,666
NE-3	65,854	22.34%	–	222,179	75.36%	1	5,879	1.99%	–			–	919	0.31%	–	−156,325	−53.02%	1.17%	294,831
Nev.	703,486	50.06%	6	669,890	47.67%	–	14,783	1.05%	–	–	–	–	17,217	1.23%	–	33,596	2.39%	−0.03%	1,405,376
N.H.	424,937	52.71%	4	365,660	45.36%	–	13,236	1.64%	–	217	0.03%	–	2,155	0.27%	–	59,277	7.35%	6.98%	806,205
N.J.	2,608,335	57.33%	14	1,883,274	41.40%	–	31,677	0.70%	–	14,202	0.31%	–	11,865	0.26%	–	725,061	15.94%	1.84%	4,549,353
N.M.	501,614	54.29%	5	401,894	43.50%	–	12,585	1.36%	–	4,426	0.48%	–	3,446	0.37%	–	99,720	10.79%	2.58%	923,965
N.Y.	5,230,985	60.86%	29	3,244,798	37.75%	–	60,234	0.70%	–	32,753	0.38%	–	26,056	0.30%	–	1,986,187	23.11%	0.62%	8,594,826
N.C.	2,684,292	48.59%	–	2,758,775	49.93%	15	48,678	0.88%	–	12,195	0.22%	–	20,864	0.38%	–	−74,483	−1.35%	2.31%	5,524,804
N.D.	114,902	31.76%	–	235,595	65.11%	3	9,393	2.60%	–			–	1,929	0.53%	–	−120,693	−33.36%	2.37%	361,819
Ohio	2,679,165	45.24%	–	3,154,834	53.27%	18	67,569	1.14%	–	18,812	0.32%	–	1,822	0.03%	–	−475,669	−8.03%	0.10%	5,922,202
Okla.	503,890	32.29%	–	1,020,280	65.37%	7	24,731	1.58%	–	–	–	–	11,798	0.76%	–	−516,390	−33.09%	3.99%	1,560,699
Oregon	1,340,383	56.45%	7	958,448	40.37%	–	41,582	1.75%	–	11,831	0.50%	–	22,077	0.93%	–	381,935	16.08%	5.10%	2,374,321
Pa.	3,458,229	50.01%	20	3,377,674	48.84%	–	79,380	1.15%	–			–			–	80,555	1.16%	1.88%	6,915,283
R.I.	307,486	59.39%	4	199,922	38.61%	–	5,053	0.98%	–			–	5,296	1.02%	–	107,564	20.77%	5.26%	517,757
S.C.	1,091,541	43.43%	–	1,385,103	55.11%	9	27,916	1.11%	–	6,907	0.27%	–	1,862	0.07%	–	−293,562	−11.68%	2.59%	2,513,329
S.D.	150,471	35.61%	–	261,043	61.77%	3	11,095	2.63%	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	−110,572	−26.16%	3.63%	422,609
Tenn.	1,143,711	37.45%	–	1,852,475	60.66%	11	29,877	0.98%	–	4,545	0.15%	–	23,243	0.76%	–	−708,764	−23.21%	2.80%	3,053,851
Texas	5,259,126	46.48%	–	5,890,347	52.06%	38	126,243	1.12%	–	33,396	0.30%	–	5,944	0.05%	–	−631,221	−5.58%	3.41%	11,315,056
Utah	560,282	37.65%	–	865,140	58.13%	6	38,447	2.58%	–	5,053	0.34%	–	19,367	1.30%	–	−304,858	−20.48%	−2.40%	1,488,289
Vt.	242,820	66.09%	3	112,704	30.67%	–	3,608	0.98%	–	1,310	0.36%	–	6,986	1.90%	–	130,116	35.41%	9.00%	367,428
Va.	2,413,568	54.11%	13	1,962,430	44.00%	–	64,761	1.45%	–			–	19,765	0.44%	–	451,138	10.11%	4.79%	4,460,524
Wash.	2,369,612	57.97%	12	1,584,651	38.77%	–	80,500	1.97%	–	18,289	0.45%	–	34,579	0.85%	–	784,961	19.20%	3.49%	4,087,631
W.Va.	235,984	29.69%	–	545,382	68.62%	5	10,687	1.34%	–	2,599	0.33%	–	79	0.01%	–	−309,398	−38.93%	3.14%	794,731
Wis.	1,630,866	49.45%	10	1,610,184	48.82%	–	38,491	1.17%	–	1,089	0.03%	–	17,411	0.53%	–	20,682	0.63%	1.40%	3,298,041
Wyo.	73,491	26.55%	–	193,559	69.94%	3	5,768	2.08%	–			–	3,947	1.43%	–	−120,068	−43.38%	2.92%	276,765
Total	81,268,924	51.31%	306	74,216,154	46.86%	232	1,865,724	1.18%	–	405,035	0.26%	–	627,566	0.40%	–	7,052,770	4.45%	2.35%	158,383,403
	Biden/Harris Democratic			Trump/Pence Republican			Jorgensen/Cohen Libertarian			Hawkins/Walker Green			Others			Margin		Margin swing	Total votes

Note that two states (Maine and Nebraska) allow for their electoral votes to be split between candidates by congressional districts. The winner within each congressional district gets one electoral vote for the district. The winner of the statewide vote gets two additional electoral votes.

Viewership

Legend

cable news network

broadcast network

Total television viewers
8:00 to 11:00 p.m. EST

Network	Viewers
FNC	13,638,000
CNN	9,084,000
MSNBC	7,310,000
ABC	6,095,000
NBC	5,633,000
CBS	4,344,000
Fox	3,278,000

Total cable TV viewers
6:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. EST

Network	Viewers
FNC	10,533,000
CNN	6,771,000
MSNBC	5,404,000

Television viewers 25 to 54
8:00 to 11:00 p.m. EST

Network	Viewers
FNC	4,901,000
CNN	4,444,000
NBC	2,510,000
MSNBC	2,381,000
ABC	2,283,000
CBS	1,663,000
Fox	1,608,000

Cable TV viewers 25 to 54
6:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. EST

Network	Viewers
FNC	3,853,000
CNN	3,312,000
MSNBC	1,739,000

See also

• 2020 United States gubernatorial elections
• 2020 United States presidential election in Guam
• Social media in the 2020 United States presidential election

External links

• General Elections, 3 November 2020 Reports and findings from the OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission