2020 United States presidential election in Wisconsin

2020 United States presidential election in Wisconsin

← 2016 November 3, 2020 2024 →
Turnout72.3% Increase
 
Nominee Joe Biden Donald Trump
Party Democratic Republican
Home state Delaware Florida
Running mate Kamala Harris Mike Pence
Electoral vote 10 0
Popular vote 1,630,866 1,610,184
Percentage 49.45% 48.82%


President before election

Donald Trump
Republican

Elected President

Joe Biden
Democratic

The 2020 United States presidential election in Wisconsin was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, as part of the 2020 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated.[1] Wisconsin voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, incumbent President Donald Trump, and running mate Vice President Mike Pence against Democratic Party nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, and his running mate California Senator Kamala Harris. Wisconsin has 10 electoral votes in the Electoral College.[2]

The 2020 Democratic National Convention was scheduled to be held at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, but it was moved to the nearby Wisconsin Center due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3][4]

Polls of Wisconsin in the lead-up to election day showed a clear Biden lead, averaging in the high single digits. Prior to election day, most news organizations considered that the state was leaning towards Biden. Wisconsin was ultimately won by Biden by a narrow 0.63% margin over Trump, a far closer margin than expected and the closest margin since 2004. Trump had won the state in 2016 by 0.77% against Hillary Clinton; however, Biden carried the state with a slightly larger margin than Al Gore or John Kerry did in either 2000 or 2004, respectively. Once again, Trump massively outperformed his polling average, which had Biden up 8.4 points in the state, but not enough to win the state. Trump held his own in counties in northern Wisconsin and in the WOW counties.[5]

Biden won the highest vote share for a Democrat in Waukesha County, at 38.8%, since Jimmy Carter in 1976.[6] Trump carried Brown County, which is Republican-leaning but competitive, though Biden won the city of Green Bay and improved on Clinton's margin in the county at large by about 3.7 points.[7] Biden won back Sauk County, a county in the driftless region of southwestern Wisconsin; Biden also flipped Door County, which has voted for the winning candidate in each election since 1980, save for 1992.

On November 18, Trump announced that he would request a recount in Milwaukee County and Dane County.[8][9] On November 29, both counties re-affirmed Biden's victory, giving him a net gain of 87 votes over Trump.[10]

With Ohio, Florida, and Iowa backing the losing candidate for the first time since 1960, 1992, and 2000 respectively, this election established Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania as the states with the longest bellwether streak still in effect today. The last time any of them voted against the winning candidate was 2004, when all three voted for losing Democrat John Kerry.

Wisconsin voted 3.8% more Republican than the nation in general. This is the first time since 2004 that Wisconsin did not vote for the same candidate as neighboring Iowa.

  1. ^ Kelly, Ben (August 13, 2018). "US elections key dates: When are the 2018 midterms and the 2020 presidential campaign?". The Independent. Archived from the original on January 3, 2019. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
  2. ^ "Distribution of Electoral Votes". National Archives and Records Administration. Archived from the original on January 9, 2019. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
  3. ^ "City of Milwaukee 1 of 3 finalists to host 2020 Democratic National Convention". FOX6Now.com. June 20, 2018. Archived from the original on July 1, 2018. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  4. ^ Glauber, Bill (August 22, 2018). "Selection committee for 2020 Democratic Convention will visit Milwaukee next week". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on August 23, 2018. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  5. ^ "Let's Take a Deep Dive Into How the WOW Counties Voted". Milwaukee Magazine. November 6, 2020. Archived from the original on November 18, 2020. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  6. ^ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  7. ^ BeMiller, Haley; Bollier, Jeff (November 4, 2020). "Green Bay pads Biden's lead in Wisconsin as Brown County overall goes for Trump". Green Bay Press Gazette. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  8. ^ "Trump Wisconsin recount can't start until counties canvass". AP NEWS. November 9, 2020. Archived from the original on November 18, 2020. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
  9. ^ Jeff Zeleny and Casey Tolan (November 18, 2020). "Trump campaign to seek partial recount in Wisconsin". CNN. Archived from the original on November 18, 2020. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
  10. ^ Helderman, Rosalind (November 29, 2020). "Wisconsin recount confirms Biden's win over Trump, cementing the president's failure to change the election results". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 30, 2020.

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