It was a Tuesday in November that felt like it lasted a whole month. You remember the maps, right? Those flickering red and blue shapes on every screen in America while everyone held their breath. When the dust finally settled and the lawsuits stopped flying, the numbers were staggering. If you’re asking how many votes did joe biden get in 2020, the answer isn't just a single digit—it’s a massive record that changed the way we look at American turnout.
Honestly, the scale of it is hard to wrap your head around.
Joe Biden didn't just win; he pulled in 81,283,501 votes. That is the highest number of votes ever cast for a presidential candidate in the history of the United States. Period.
Breaking Down the 81 Million Number
To put that into perspective, he beat the previous record—held by Barack Obama in 2008—by more than 11 million votes. People were motivated. Whether it was the pandemic, the economy, or just the sheer polarization of the era, Americans showed up in ways we hadn’t seen since 1900. Biden ended up with 51.3% of the popular vote.
Donald Trump didn't exactly have a small showing either. He brought in 74,223,975 votes. That’s about 46.8% of the total. Even though he lost, he actually got more votes than any sitting president in history had before him. It was a high-stakes collision of two massive voter bases.
The gap between them? A solid 7,059,526 votes.
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The Electoral College Reality
Popular votes are great for the history books, but as we all know, they aren't what puts someone in the Oval Office. You've gotta win the states. In the end, Biden secured 306 electoral votes compared to Trump’s 232.
Funny enough, 306 was the exact same number Trump won with in 2016. Back then, he called it a "landslide." In 2020, the shoe was on the other foot.
How Many Votes Did Joe Biden Get in 2020 Across the Swing States?
The election wasn't really won by 7 million people. It was won by a few thousand people in very specific places. This is where things get kinda wild. If you look at the "Blue Wall" states that flipped back to the Democrats, the margins were razor-thin.
In Pennsylvania, Biden won by about 80,555 votes. In Michigan, it was a more comfortable 154,188. But then you look at Arizona and Georgia, and the numbers get scary small for a national election.
- Arizona: Biden won by 10,457 votes.
- Georgia: He took it by 11,779 votes.
- Wisconsin: The margin was 20,682.
If you add up the margins in those three states, you're looking at roughly 43,000 votes. If those had gone the other way, the Electoral College would have been a 269-269 tie. Think about that. Out of 158 million votes cast nationwide, the entire outcome hinged on a group of people that could barely fill a mid-sized football stadium.
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Why was turnout so high?
Basically, it was the perfect storm. 2020 was the year of the "mail-in ballot." Because of COVID-19, states scrambled to make it easier to vote without standing in a crowded line. According to the Census Bureau, about 66.8% of eligible citizens voted. That's a massive jump from 2016.
Early voting became the new normal. People weren't just voting on Tuesday; they were voting for weeks.
The Demographic Shift
It wasn't just how many people voted, but who they were. Biden’s 81 million votes came from a pretty diverse coalition. He did well in the suburbs—places that used to be safely Republican started trending blue. He also maintained strong support among Black voters, especially in cities like Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Detroit.
Interestingly, while Biden won the youth vote (ages 18-29) by a huge margin, Trump actually improved his standing with some Hispanic and Black male voters compared to 2016. It wasn't a total wash.
What the Critics Get Wrong
There has been a ton of noise about the 2020 results. You’ve probably heard the claims about "missing votes" or "voter fraud." However, after dozens of court cases and audits in states like Arizona and Georgia, the numbers held up.
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Official certifications from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) confirm the finality of the 81,283,501 count.
Even the Republican-led audit in Maricopa County, Arizona, ended up finding a few more votes for Biden than the original count showed. It’s one of those "truth is stranger than fiction" moments.
Why These Numbers Still Matter Today
Knowing how many votes did joe biden get in 2020 tells us a lot about where the country is headed. It showed that the "popular vote" winner can still face a incredibly close race in the Electoral College. It also proved that when you lower the barriers to voting—like using mail-in ballots—people actually show up.
The 2020 election set a new floor for what it takes to win. You can't just aim for 65 million votes anymore. The bar has been raised.
If you want to understand the current political landscape, look at those 81 million votes. They represent a massive, energized base, but they also highlight a deeply divided country where a few blocks in Milwaukee or a suburb in Phoenix can change the course of world history.
To stay informed on future election cycles, the best thing you can do is check your own voter registration status early. Sites like Vote.gov are the gold standard for making sure you're ready when the next big Tuesday rolls around. Understanding the math of 2020 is the first step in seeing how the 2024 and 2028 races will likely be won or lost in the margins.