Joe Biden has galvanized such a groundswell of voter support that he broke former President Barack Obama’s all-time record.
Obama once held the popular vote record of 69,498,516 popular votes he set during his first presidential campaign in 2008, Newsweek reports. Biden has currently received almost 70 million votes (69,512,303) or 50.1 percent.
In 2008, Obama won 52.93 percent of the popular vote against the late Arizona Sen. John McCain. He also received 51.1 percent of the votes in 2012 in the race against Utah’s Mitt Romney, the magazine stated.
At the latest count according to Newsweek, the current president has accrued 67,069,982 votes, or 48.3 percent. Several highly-contested states are still outstanding. Therefore, both the president’s and Biden’s final vote counts will climb higher.
Don’t be fooled by the final numbers in the popular vote, however. The popular vote does not guarantee victory. A candidate is declared president once they have reached the required 270 Electoral College Votes.
For example, in 2016, former Sen. Hillary R. Clinton won the popular vote by more than three million people over the current president, but still lost the presidency. Clinton received 48.2 percent of the votes cast, compared to 45’s 46.1. However, the president won the White Hosue because he defeated Clinton in the final tally of Electoral College votes, 304 to Clinton’s 227.
