President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris have made history yet again. As states continue to certify election results nationwide, the Cook Political Report has confirmed that the Biden-Harris ticket has earned more than 80 million votes. If this figure holds, the duo would become the first tandem to ever secure 80 million votes in a U.S. election.
Following behind Biden and Harris, President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence secured 73.4 million votes. Their vote total equates to 47.1% of the votes cast this year. Together, the opposing tickets garnered the most popular votes in U.S. history. Prior to this year's election, no ticket had garnered more than 70 million votes in election.
Voter turnout has steadily increased since the election of President Donald Trump in 2016. Both the 2018 midterm election and the presidential election of 2020 have seen records being broken nationwide. Many experts believe that the the driving force behind increased voter turnout is young Americans heading to the pools.
“The increase in turnout among younger voters was greater than the increase overall," Tom Bonier of TargetSmart Consulting said.
“What was unique about the youth vote is that we needed to share the president-elect’s vision and background to a generation that didn’t have a relationship with him when he was in the White House,” John Della Volpe of Harvard University explained.
“It was really about finding the time and the space to connect with the other wing of the party that hadn’t taken a look at him yet.”
Both Harris and Biden are set to be sworn in to office on January 20, 2021 in Washington, D.C.
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