The election is over and we’re all digging out from a rather surprising night. Here are five interesting facts you may have missed in all the hubbub:
1. Trump May Lose the Popular Vote
As of this writing, over 119 million votes have been counted, showing a gain in turnout from the 2012 election. In terms of those individual votes, Hillary Clinton held the majority by a margin of 200,000. If Clinton’s lead holds, Trump will be the fourth president to win the electoral college but lose the popular vote.
2. Decline of Mainstream Media
The Mainstream Media has been dying a slow death for a while. According to network numbers from last night, that slow death continues:
“Overall, all broadcast networks lost some ground vs. Election Night 2012. NBC posted the biggest decline (7.0, -1.0), followed by No.2 ABC (6.1, -0.6), CBS (4.8, -0.3) and Fox (3.0, -0.1). The combined metered market household rating for the four broadcast networks, 20.9, was down -8.7% from 2012 (22.9)….”
3. Money Didn’t Win the Election
According to the Washington Post, Donald Trump had only raised $795 million for his campaign by late October. Hillary Clinton raised $1.3 billion. Trump, however, had a knack for gaining free media coverage, a fact which Reuters believes was worth $5 billion.
4. Libertarians Played Spoiler
Third parties were much more visible during this election, so perhaps it’s not surprising that they played a significant role in the outcome of the election. According to The Hill:
“Libertarian Gary Johnson took more than 3.5 percent support in Wisconsin and Michigan, enough to make up the difference between Trump and Clinton. He took 2.5 percent support in Pennsylvania, which was decided by about 1 point.”
Johnson gained just under 1 percent of the vote in 2012.
5. Republicans Made Minority Gains
Exit polls conducted by The Washington Post show that Democrats saw a decline in votes from all races. Republicans, however, saw an increase in Black, Latino, and Asian voters, a fact rather surprising considering some of Trump’s off-color comments, which have been described as disparaging to minority groups.
Image Credit: Ken Shin bit.ly/1iowB8m
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