The 2020 election was wild. Everyone remembers the late nights, the maps flickering between red and blue, and that long wait for Pennsylvania to finally report. But now that the dust has long since settled and the official Federal Election Commission (FEC) records are set in stone, we can look at the raw, massive numbers without the noise.
So, let's get right to it. 81,283,501 people.
That is the official number of Americans who cast their ballot for Joe Biden. It wasn't just a win; it was a record-shattering total that made him the first presidential candidate in U.S. history to blow past the 80 million mark. For context, he received about 7 million more votes than Donald Trump, who brought in 74,223,975.
Numbers that big are hard to visualize. Basically, it’s like every single person in California, Texas, and Pennsylvania decided to vote for one guy.
Breaking Down How Many People Voted for Biden 2020
The popular vote total is one thing, but the 2020 election was really a story of turnout. We saw a 66.8% turnout rate among eligible voters. That hasn't happened in over a century. People were motivated, and they used every method available to get their voice heard.
Because of the pandemic, 2020 was the year of the mail-in ballot. Nearly 46% of voters used the mail, and Biden's supporters were significantly more likely to use this method than Trump's. This created that "red mirage" early in the night where it looked like the race was leaning one way, only for the "blue shift" to happen as the mail-in votes—which take longer to process—were finally tallied.
Where the Votes Came From
Biden's path to 81 million wasn't just about winning big cities. It was about clawing back the "Blue Wall" in the Midwest and making inroads in the Sun Belt.
Take a look at these certified margins:
In Pennsylvania, Biden won by 80,555 votes.
In Michigan, the gap was wider, at 154,188.
Wisconsin was a nail-biter, with a margin of just 20,682.
But the real shockers were Georgia and Arizona. Biden became the first Democrat to win Georgia since Bill Clinton in 1992, squeaking by with a 11,779-vote lead. In Arizona, it was even tighter—just 10,457 votes separated the two candidates.
When you add it all up, Biden secured 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232. Ironically, that’s the exact same score Trump won with back in 2016, which he famously called a "landslide" at the time.
Why the Numbers Matter Today
Honestly, people still argue about these totals, but the certification process is about as rigorous as it gets. Each state's Secretary of State had to sign off, followed by the Electoral College meeting, and finally, the Congressional certification.
One of the biggest misconceptions is that the popular vote doesn't matter. While it's true the Electoral College decides the winner, the popular vote margin of 4.5% gave the Biden administration a specific kind of political capital at the start of the term. It showed a broad, national consensus that was reflected in suburban shifts.
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Pew Research Center later found that Biden actually improved on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 performance in the suburbs by about 9 points. He won 54% of suburban voters. That's a huge deal because these areas were traditionally Republican strongholds.
The Independent Factor
Another reason the 2020 Biden vote count was so high? He won the middle.
Independents broke for Biden by a 13-point margin (54% to 41%), according to network exit polls. In 2016, Trump had actually won that same group. Changing the minds of those "swing" voters in places like Maricopa County, Arizona, and the "WOW" counties (Waukesha, Ozaukee, and Washington) in Wisconsin was the secret sauce.
Actionable Takeaways from the 2020 Totals
Looking back at these stats isn't just a history lesson; it tells us how American elections have fundamentally changed. If you are tracking future elections or trying to understand the current political climate, keep these points in mind:
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- Watch the "Blue Shift": Mail-in voting is here to stay in many states. Expect "Election Day" to remain "Election Month" in terms of getting final, certified counts.
- Suburbs are the Battleground: The shift in suburban voting patterns in 2020 wasn't a fluke; it's a trend that both parties are now obsessively chasing.
- Turnout is Everything: High turnout generally changed the math for both sides. When 158 million people show up, the old "likely voter" models often go out the window.
- Margin of Error is Thin: Despite the 7-million-vote lead nationally, the election was decided by fewer than 45,000 votes across three key states. Every single local get-out-the-vote effort matters.
If you want to verify these numbers yourself, the best place to go is the FEC’s official "Federal Elections 2020" report. It’s a dry, 100-plus page PDF, but it is the definitive source of truth for every single vote cast in that historic cycle.