Editor:
Donald Trump will be inaugurated president in January, because he won the majority of votes in the Electoral College where each state gets its own number of votes under specific rules including population.
I have seen writers claiming that Trump won the majority of the popular vote as well (Mailbox, Dec. 19), with Trump himself calling it an “unprecedented mandate.” Examining the numbers, however, one finds this is not the case.
Recent vote totals show that, out of approximately 156.3 million votes cast, Trump received 49.8 percent while Kamala Harris got 48.3 percent, a difference of a mere 1.5 percent of the total. Records reveal this is the fifth such smallest margin among the 32 elections held since 1900.
These results reveal two things. First, Trump received the plurality of the votes, but not the majority, i.e. he got more votes than anyone else, but failed to get over half.
Secondly, although Trump called this an “unprecedented mandate,” his relatively small margin in the popular vote as well as small GOP margins in Congress would dictate otherwise.
If one wanted to put a label on the election, one might be generous and call it a “mini-mandate,” but certainly nothing close to the unprecedented one Trump declared.
Sherman Schapiro, Eureka
Editor:
A letters submission states that Trump won a majority of votes. He actually won 49.9 percent. Close to a majority. Missed it by that much (holds two fingers 2″ apart). Still a win by 1.5 percent is a landslide and merits a mandate. Biden beat Trump by twice as much. Sorry just an idle musing. Trump clearly has a, um, mandate in a way Biden didn’t despite beating Trump by twice as much. See how helpful I am in making the case for Trump.
John Dillon, Eureka
This article appears in Through Mark Larson’s Lens 2025.