Donald Trump makes history in US elections

According to unofficial data released by the Associated Press (AP), election results have been finalized in all 7 states known as "swing states" in the country.

Republican Donald Trump has made history by becoming one of the rare leaders in US political history to win all swing states.

States considered "swing" states, which vary in political leanings and voter demographics across different periods, continue to hold critical importance in US elections.

Winning the elections in North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, and Nevada—which have recently been the scene of competition between Democrats and Republicans—Trump secured the election with a total of 93 delegates he added to his tally from these states.

Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, one of the rare figures to achieve similar success throughout the history of US presidential elections, became the 32nd president of the US by outperforming his rival Alf Landon in all states except Vermont and Maine in the 1936 elections. Thus, Roosevelt earned the title of the first president to win all of the critically important swing states.

Other figures with similar success include the 37th President of the US Richard Nixon, the 40th President Ronald Reagan, and the 44th President Barack Obama.

TRUMP RECEIVED APPROXIMATELY 5 MILLION MORE VOTES THAN HIS RIVAL

The vote gap between Trump, who was elected the 47th President of the country, and his rival Harris reached approximately 5 million. While Trump received a total of about 72 million 600 thousand votes, the number of votes received by his rival Harris remained at approximately 67 million 950 thousand.

In the 2020 elections, Trump received approximately 7 million fewer votes than his rival Joe Biden. In the 2016 presidential election, although Trump received a total of 3 million fewer votes than his rival Hillary Clinton, he won the election by reaching 304 delegates with his successful performance in critical states.

The candidate who achieved the largest vote margin over their rival in the country's presidential election history was recorded as Republican Richard Nixon, with a margin of approximately 17 million 900 thousand.

Competing for a second term in the 1972 presidential election, Nixon outperformed his Democratic rival George McGovern by winning all states except the Washington DC district and Massachusetts, and receiving approximately 46 million votes in the popular vote.

Nixon also secured 520 of the 538 delegates of the Electoral College, while McGovern's delegate count remained at 17.

Republican Ronald Reagan also received approximately 54 million 455 thousand votes in the 1984 presidential election, where he competed for a second term, and beat his Democratic rival Walter Mondale by a margin of approximately 17 million.

Another figure with a striking difference in the popular vote compared to their rival was the 36th President of the US, Lyndon B. Johnson.

In the 1964 elections, while Republican Barry Goldwater received about 27 million votes, Johnson became the winner of the elections by receiving approximately 16 million more votes than his rival.

Other US presidents who won by a wide margin over their rivals include Warren G. Harding in 1920, Calvin Coolidge in 1924, Herbert Hoover in 1928, Roosevelt in 1932 and 1936, Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984, George H. W. Bush in 1988, Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996, Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, and Joe Biden in 2020, all of whom were leaders who won with a vote margin of 5 million or more.

Trump, who earned the right to return to the White House after a one-term hiatus, became the first Republican candidate since 2004 to outperform his rival in the popular vote percentage.

Trump, who also became president in the 2016 elections, managed to outperform his rival due to the "Electoral College" system, despite receiving approximately 3 million fewer votes than Hillary Clinton.

At that time, Trump won 304 delegates with around 63 million votes, while Hillary, who received around 66 million votes, lost the race by receiving 227 delegates.

According to election data from the last 20 years, Obama declared his victory in 2008 with approximately 69 million votes. Obama secured his second term in the White House in the 2012 election despite a slight drop in his vote percentage.

Biden also outperformed his rival Trump in 2020 by winning 51.3 percent of the popular vote.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SWING STATES IN ELECTIONS

In US presidential elections, voters essentially cast their votes for the delegates of the party they support.

In this system called the "Electoral College," a total of 538 delegates distributed with different weights to each state are determined. The candidate who reaches 1 more than half of this number, i.e., 270 delegates, earns the right to become president.

The 7 critical states, called "swing" states because they can change hands between parties with a small vote margin, have the feature of determining the arithmetic of US presidential elections.

In this respect, it can be said that who will be the president in the US is decided by the critical states, which are home to only 18 percent of the population of over 337 million.

As the swing states of the 2024 election, Pennsylvania has 19, Georgia 16, Arizona 11, Nevada 6, Michigan 15, North Carolina 16, and Wisconsin 10 delegates.

According to unofficial data, Trump won 31 of the 50 states and added 312 delegates to his tally. The delegate count of his Democratic rival Kamala Harris remained at 226.