US History/2016 Vote

The 2016 election was an election to decide who would replace Barack Obama as president.

GOP
The GOP Primaries lasted from February 1st to June 7th, 2016.

Following an early polling lead in the run up to the primaries by Jeb Bush, he withdrew on February 20th, 2016.

John Kasich was the Governor of Ohio at the time of the election. Winning only Ohio, Kasich suspended his campaign on May 4th, 2016 when he was the only remaining major Republican challenger to Donald Trump.

Democratic
The Democratic Primaries lasted from February 1st to June 24, 2016.

The main candidates in the Democratic Primaries were Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

Main Candidates
The candidates after the primaries were:
 * 1) Hillary Clinton
 * 2) Donald Trump

Third Party Candidates
The two most notable third party candidates were
 * 1) Gary Johnson, of the Libertarian Party
 * 2) Jill Stein, of the Green Party

Controversies
The 2016 election was noted for a large amount of misinformation being spread during the election, labeled as Fake News.

Hillary Clinton made a statement in September of 2016, in which she called many of Trumps supporters as being deplorable, attracting criticism. Especially controversial was her use of a private email server for work purposes while serving as Secretary of State. Months after clearing Clinton of criminal conduct in the case, and less than two weeks before the election in late October Republican FBI director James B. Comey sent a letter to Congress which brought the issue back into the public view. Analysts would later debate if this action cost Hillary Clinton the Election.

Donald Trump made several controversial statements. His comment "I like people who weren't captured", regarding John McCain, who was captured while fighting in the Vietnam War was controversial. On October 7th, 2016 the Access Hollywood tapes were leaked, a 2005 recording of Trump where inappropriate comments were made.

Results
Voting took place on November 8, 2016.

Hillary Clinton got 65,853,516 votes, or 48.5% of the people who voted. She scored 232 electoral votes.

Donald Trump got 62,984,825 votes, or 46.4% of the people who voted. He scored 306 electoral votes, giving him the amount of electoral votes needed to become president-elect.

Reaction
The election results were widely seen as surprising, with many predictions made prior to the election giving a Clinton victory a 70%-99% chance of occurring. There was open speculation about if the Electoral College would elect a different person to the position of president. While a historic number of Electoral College votes did defect, most were from Clinton to a minor candidate. People began to question if the protections the Electoral College is supposed to offer was worth the disenfranchising trade offs caused by the system.