Did Donald Trump Win The Popular Vote? 52 Percent Of Republicans Think So

The nearly two-year-long journey that culminated in the election of Donald Trump as the president of the United States was not necessarily the smoothest one. The decision to vote Trump into office was divisive, causing rifts all across the country, especially considering the shocking popular vote — the majority of those votes went to Democratic party nominee Hillary Clinton, who lead the field by nearly 3 million ballots in the end. Still — for some strange reason, a large number of Republicans are currently wondering: Did Donald Trump win the popular vote? I hate to break it to you (again), but the answer is a resounding "No."

Regardless, many people — specifically, as mentioned, a majority of Republicans — actually believe that Trump did indeed win the popular vote. According to The Washington Post, a new poll conducted by Qualtrics between Dec. 6 and Dec. 12 asked 1,011 American respondents the question, "Who won the popular vote in the election?" As it turns out, some 52 percent of Republicans who responded claimed Donald Trump won the popular vote, and not Hillary Clinton.

This is false. Trump won the electoral vote — the vote that ultimately determines who becomes president and is based on a winner-take-all system in some states — not the popular vote. The popular vote, which represents the majority of people who went out to the polls in the election and voted for their chosen candidate, belongs to Clinton. Don't believe me? In the weeks since the election, the popular vote has continued to grow for Clinton, placing a huge margin between herself and the incoming president-elect.

The vote margin between the two candidates was not that small, either. As of Dec. 17, Clinton has a secure hold on the popular vote by 2.86 million votes. According to The New Civil Rights Movement, this is the second largest margin of victory for any losing candidate in history. Her raw total vote is the third highest of any presidential candidate, behind both of President Barack Obama's victories. Seriously impressive. These numbers could be the reason why there was a huge demand for voters asking for a recount in swing states at the end of November — but does not explain why Republicans believe Trump won the popular vote.

So why do 52 percent of Republicans believe that Trump won the popular vote if he so clearly didn't? It could be because he has lied about winning the popular vote in past, claiming he would have won the popular vote. On Nov. 27, Trump Tweeted that "he won the popular vote, if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally." Members of Trump's campaign had also been adamant about Trump's victory, according to Mother Jones.

But despite Trump still winning the election and becoming our next president of the United States, the numbers do not lie. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in the 2016 presidential election — and that is a fact.