Nov. 3 Election: Who Won the Popular Vote?

By Hunter Doyle

As the United States election carries into a second day, there are still significant races up for grabs. We likely won’t know the full results until the end of the week for both the electoral and popular vote.

Pennsylvania is expected to have the longest delay. There are still key battleground states that could go either way before it’s all said and done. This is a tight race and it’s anyone’s election at this point.

With the popular vote thus far, there has been a similar trend. In six of the past seven presidential elections, the Democratic nominee has won the it. Even in 2016 when Donald Trump was elected, he still lost the popular vote by just under three million votes. That number was pretty slim compared to years prior.

In recent elections, the Democratic nominee has won the popular vote by a significant margin. Barack Obama defeated Mitt Romney by just under five million votes in 2012. He also defeated John McCain by about 9.5 million votes in 2008. The margin is not expected to be that significant in 2020. Instead, it will probably end up being closer to the results in 2016 (three million vote margin) but not as slim as the 2000 election where George W. Bush only led by about 500,000 votes.

Biden ahead in the popular vote by 2 million

As of Wednesday morning, Joe Biden currently leads the popular vote by more than two million votes. However, that number could change a bit before the election concludes.

Pennsylvania is delaying their count and Philadelphia’s count specifically could sway the popular vote quite a bit. States like Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, and Georgia that are neck and neck still have to finish reporting. Even Arizona, a state that has been called by most news networks, only has a little over 80 percent of the votes reported.

Although Biden has the popular vote right now, Trump’s campaign manager, Jason Miller, still feels confident in their chances:

“The fact that Joe Biden had to go back to Minnesota — a state that Republicans haven’t won since 1972 – just the other day shows how they’re worried about states shifting,”.

On the other hand, Biden’s campaign manager, Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, is encouraged by the voter turnout and popular vote thus far:

“Joe Biden is on track to win this election, and he will be the next president of the United States”.

While the popular vote looks similar to the results in 2016, there is still a ways to go. It could shift in either direction depending on how the battleground states finish up or it could remain the same if both candidates receive a similar number of votes. This will be something to keep an eye on with how it affects the final results as the votes continue to be counted. This is going to be a battle that may not be settled for some time.

Homeschooler in the Real World

Emma Folts, a sophomore at Wheaton College, shares her experience about her transition into college and how homeschool has both helped and hindered her.
How has your homeschool experience benefitted you, especially in your transition into college?
I think the one thing that homeschooling did that was really helpful as I entered college was that it taught me time management. As a homeschooler I had the same freedom as a college student has to put things off during the day and go see a friend instead. Since I had that experience, I knew the cost of that.
Also, personal responsibility and accountability with assignments. I feel like a lot of the other students had more expectations for gentler grading and that the professor would give them retakes or extensions, but that wasn’t something that ever happened to me in school. That learning curve wasn’t added because I never had it the other way. I think another thing was that because I was homeschooled, I was familiar with the format of teaching and then studying on my own.
Did you see any issues with your transition socially?
I think that homeschooling had two ramifications for me socially. One was helpful, one was hurtful.
It was really helpful because as a homeschooler, I had spent a lot of time realizing and developing who I was as a person and learning to recognize people who were being themselves, and those were the people I sought out as friends. Friendship as a homeschooler takes a lot more investment. I knew I was choosier with my friends which made me a lot less anxious and a lot more content.
The only real negative impact of the social bit was that I was really used to getting to choose the time I got to spend with people. As a homeschooler I spent a lot of time with people, but that time was controlled by me. As a college student, I found that you can’t really control the time you spend with people and alone time is not really available. Learning to deal with that was a lot harder than anticipated.
Any last comments on homeschool and how it has affected your college experience?
I think homeschooling is really helpful, however it does take a slightly increased amount of advocacy with your peers when you’re entering into college. I think a lot of people come in with certain assumptions about homeschool, especially students. You’re going to get a lot of, ‘oh my gosh, you don’t seem like a homeschooled person!’ [You can’t] take that too personally and explain your experience so that friends can understand it’s an important piece of you, though it might not look like the homeschooling that they’ve seen.
My encouragement to anyone who is a homeschooler transitioning into college is to realize the benefit that you have having been homeschooled, and to realize that the bit of advocacy and explaining that you need to do with your peers is totally normal and that it’s not a big deal. Once they understand your experience, it’s not something I’ve experienced being looked down on for.