Joe Biden won the 2020 popular vote by 7 million votes.
Posted by Platypus Economics with Justin Wolfers, Checked
- Sources
- 5 support1 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 90%
Platypus Economics with Justin WolfersAug 28, 2026
Multiple tier1 and tier2 sources (PolitiFact, NBC News, NPR, CFR, Britannica) confirm Biden won the 2020 popular vote by roughly 7.06 million votes (7,060,140 per CFR), so the claim's figure is accurate within rounding. The claimed figure is 'about 7 million' with 'I think' hedging, matching the passage, and no source contradicts it.
What was said
… As we say in the video, the reality is probably closer to zero, although there may be a handful of cases that the courts have found. How was that anywhere near enough to determine the 2020 election? Biden, at one level, won that election by, I think, 7 million votes, if you look at the popular vote, and so 24,000 gonna do some math 24,000 is smaller than 7 million. The other way that people count by how much you won the election was they look at the specific swing states, and so the important swing states in 2020 were Arizona, where Biden won by 10,000 …
Platypus Economics with Justin Wolfers · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. PolitiFact reports Biden led the popular vote tally by almost 7.06 million votes per the Cook Political Report's 2020 National Popular Vote Tracker.[1]
Supports. CFR reports Biden's margin was 7,060,140 votes, and Britannica states he won the popular vote by more than seven million ballots.[5][6]
Supports. NBC News and NPR both state Biden's popular vote margin was about 7 million votes.[3][4]
Context. Early counts in November 2020 showed a smaller margin (about 5 million), which grew as remaining ballots were counted; the claim reflects the final tally.[2]
Sources
6 sources: 2 fact-checkers, 2 tier 2, 2 not rated
- 1Joe Biden's win wasn't unusually close - PolitiFactpolitifact.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 2Democrats keep winning the popular vote. That worries them.apnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: context
- 3Did Biden win by a little or a lot? The answer is ... yes.nbcnews.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 45 Lessons Democrats Can Learn From The 2020 Electionsnpr.org · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 5The 2020 Election by the Numberscfr.org · not rated · cited for: supports
- 6U.S. presidential election of 2020 | Trump vs. Biden ...britannica.com · not rated · cited for: supports
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
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