Four years later, and we're still talking about it. The 2020 election wasn't just a race; it was a stress test for the entire American democratic machine. If you’ve spent any time looking for the 2020 election results google probably showed you a neat little red-and-blue map, but maps can be kind of deceiving. They show land, not people.
Joe Biden won. That’s the baseline fact. He secured 306 electoral votes to Donald Trump’s 232. In terms of the raw human count—the popular vote—Biden brought in over 81.2 million votes, while Trump pulled about 74.2 million. It was the highest voter turnout by percentage since 1900. People weren't just voting; they were making a statement.
The "Blue Wall" and the States That Flipped
Basically, the 2020 election came down to a handful of states that decided they weren't happy with the status quo from 2016. Remember the "Blue Wall"? It's that trio of Rust Belt states—Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin—that Trump famously cracked in 2016. In 2020, Biden glued them back together.
But it wasn't just the North. The real shocks came from the Sun Belt. Arizona and Georgia flipped blue for the first time in decades. In Georgia, the margin was razor-thin—just 11,779 votes. That is roughly the capacity of a mid-sized college basketball arena. It’s wild to think that a group of people that small could shift the trajectory of the entire country.
The Numbers That Actually Mattered
- Pennsylvania: Biden won by about 80,555 votes.
- Michigan: A much wider gap here, roughly 154,188 votes.
- Wisconsin: Another nail-biter at 20,682 votes.
- Arizona: A tiny 10,457-vote margin.
Honestly, when you look at these numbers, you realize how close the Electoral College makes things, even when one candidate wins the popular vote by 7 million.
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Why 2020 Election Results Google Searches Spike During Scandals
You’ve probably noticed that whenever there’s a headline about "election integrity," people rush back to Google to verify the old 2020 data. There is a lot of noise out there. One of the biggest misconceptions is that the "red mirage" was evidence of something fishy.
It wasn't. It was just math and bureaucracy.
Because of the pandemic, a record number of people used mail-in ballots. In many states, like Pennsylvania, the law actually prevented officials from even opening those envelopes until Election Day. Since Democrats were more likely to use mail-in voting and Republicans were more likely to show up in person, the "in-person" votes (which leaned red) were counted and reported first. The mail-in "blue" votes took days to process. It looked like a shift, but it was just a queue.
The Demographic Shifts Nobody Talks About
We always hear about "the suburban woman" or "the working-class voter," but the 2020 data shows some nuances that sort of break the typical narrative.
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For example, while Biden won, Trump actually improved his standing with Hispanic and Black voters compared to 2016. According to Pew Research, Trump’s share of the Hispanic vote grew by about 10 points. On the flip side, Biden made massive gains with White men and suburbanites who had previously leaned Republican.
It’s a reminder that voters aren't a monolith. You can’t just put a group in a box and assume you know how they'll swing.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Audits
After the results were certified, we saw a wave of audits. The most famous was probably the Cyber Ninjas audit in Maricopa County, Arizona. People expected a bombshell. Instead, the audit actually ended up finding more votes for Biden than the original count did.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) both labeled the 2020 election as the "most secure in American history." Every single state certified their results. Dozens of court cases—over 60, actually—were brought to challenge the results, and they almost all failed for a lack of evidence.
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Practical Steps for Verifying Election Data
If you’re still digging through the 2020 election results google search pages, don't just rely on a random blog post or a grainy screenshot from social media.
- Go to the Source: The Federal Election Commission (FEC) publishes the "Official Presidential General Election Results" as a PDF. It is the gold standard for raw data.
- Use the National Archives: They maintain the official record of the Electoral College votes, including the actual certificates sent by each state.
- Look at Secretary of State Websites: Every state has a dedicated election division. If you want to know the exact breakdown of a specific county in Wisconsin, that's where you'll find the most granular, audited data.
Stop looking at the maps and start looking at the certified totals. The 2020 election was a marathon of data, and while the political arguments never seem to end, the numbers have been settled for years.
Next Steps for You:
If you want to understand the current political landscape, your best bet is to compare the 2020 turnout data with the 2022 midterms. This shows you where voter enthusiasm is actually holding steady versus where it’s dropping off. You can find these comparative datasets on the U.S. Census Bureau website under their "Voting and Registration" tables.