Donald Trump did not win the popular vote in the election that led to his first term.
Posted by IHIP News, Checked
- Sources
- 7 support2 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 95%
IHIP NewsSep 20, 2026
The 2016 election led to Trump's first term, and multiple tier-1 and tier-2 sources report that Clinton won the nationwide popular vote (about 65.8 million to 63.0 million) while Trump won the Electoral College. The claim matches the post's wording, which refers to Trump 1.0, so the extraction is faithful.
What was said
… The current Supreme Court is a 6-3 conservative majority, and three justices that Trump appointed himself, and I want to remind everybody, it's really important that everybody understand this: those three justices were appointed by a president, and Trump 1.0, that didn't win the popular vote. So much of our government is a lie. We're a democracy. It's representative of the people. California has two senators, and North Dakota has two, two senators. …
IHIP News · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. Certified results show Clinton received about 65.85 million votes to Trump's 62.98 million, so Trump did not win the 2016 popular vote.[1][5][6]
Supports. Congress certified Trump's 304-227 Electoral College victory, and Reuters reported Clinton won the popular vote by nearly a million votes in the same election. Reuters' figure is less precise than the other sources, but the direction is the same.[2]
Supports. PolitiFact reports Trump lost the nationwide popular vote in 2016, and Trump's claim of having won it 'in a true sense' was found baseless with no evidence of cheating.[3]
Supports. Reference sources state that the 2016 election is one of five in US history where the popular-vote winner did not win the presidency, and that Clinton won the popular vote with 48% to Trump's 46%.[7][8]
Context. Trump's 2024 popular-vote win is a separate election that came after his first term and does not bear on the 2016 result.[4][9]
Sources
9 sources: 4 fact-checkers, 2 tier 2, 2 not rated, 1 tier 1
- 1On a doubt voiced about 2016 election resultapnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 2U.S. Congress certifies Trump's Electoral College victoryreuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 3Trump's baseless claim about 'tremendous cheating' in 2016politifact.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 4Trump Won the Popular Vote, Contrary to Claims Onlinefactcheck.org · fact-checker · cited for: context
- 5It's official: Clinton swamps Trump in popular votecnn.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 62016 Presidential Election Resultsnytimes.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 72016 United States elections - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org · not rated · cited for: supports
- 8US 2016 election final results: how Trump wontheconversation.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 9Trump won the presidential election, but not 'by a lot!' - The Hillthehill.com · tier 1 · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
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