The president-elect can’t stop winning. And the Left is freaking out.
Because Trump is grinning ear-to-ear after being handed a massive victory no one saw coming.
President-elect Donald Trump is poised for a strong popular vote finish, even if he doesn’t hit the 50% mark, solidifying his victory as a comfortable and historic win for the Republican Party.
Three weeks after Election Day, ballots are still being counted, but the scope of Trump’s success is coming into sharp focus. As of Tuesday morning, Trump had garnered approximately 77 million votes compared to Vice President Kamala Harris’s nearly 74.5 million. That gives Trump 49.9% of the popular vote versus Harris’s 48.3%, with the remaining votes split among Green Party, Libertarian, and independent candidates.
Harris is expected to close the gap slightly, as many outstanding ballots are from the liberal stronghold of the West Coast.
In the Electoral College, Trump’s commanding 312-226 victory is set to stand unless a faithless elector makes an unexpected move.
While Republicans’ claims of a sweeping mandate may be tempered by the close popular vote, Trump’s victory marks the most decisive win for a GOP presidential candidate in 36 years.
“It was a close election by historical standards, although not necessarily by recent standards,” observed Kyle Kondik from the University of Virginia Center for Politics. “This election was probably most comparable to 2004, the last time a Republican won the popular vote, although that was not a sweeping victory and neither was this.”
Trump’s vote total surpassed his 2020 performance of 74.2 million, but Harris failed to match the record-shattering 81.3 million votes President Joe Biden achieved in 2020.
On election night, early data showed Trump making gains across a wide range of voter demographics and regions. He significantly improved his performance with the growing Hispanic electorate and made strides in areas with high Asian American populations.
Trump also flipped the gender gap, winning men by a larger margin than Harris won women—contrary to predictions that suburban women would sink his chances.
Perhaps the most surprising outcome was Trump’s penetration into Democratic strongholds.
He carried Texas by nearly 14 points and Florida by 13—both exceeding Harris’s 11-point margin in deep-blue New York. Even traditionally safe Democratic states saw closer-than-expected results, with Harris winning New Jersey by just six points, nearly matching the tight battleground of Arizona, where Trump won by 5.5 points.
In nearly 90% of counties nationwide, Trump improved his performance over 2020, reflecting a broader and more inclusive appeal.
“Trump’s victory was narrow but broad-based, with indications of a breakthrough among non-White working-class voters,” noted William Galston of the Brookings Institution.
Trump’s win also seems to have brought a postelection boost in his approval ratings. According to an Emerson College poll, his approval has jumped six points to 54% since before the election. A YouGov/CBS News poll reported that 59% of respondents expressed optimism about Trump’s upcoming term, praising his handling of the election aftermath.
Beyond the presidency, Trump’s performance helped Republicans secure control of Congress.
The GOP gained critical Senate seats in West Virginia, Ohio, Montana, and Pennsylvania, flipping control with a 53-47 majority. This overturns the Democrats’ current 51-49 edge.
Republicans also maintained their majority in the House, though the final count is still being determined. Three races remain too close to call.
In Iowa, Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks is ahead by about 800 votes in a recount against Democrat Christina Bohannan.
In California, Republican Rep. John Duarte holds a slim 200-vote lead over Democrat Adam Gray, while Democrat Derek Tran leads Republican Rep. Michelle Steel by approximately 600 votes.
Should these results hold, Republicans are projected to control the House with a 221-214 majority, maintaining a similar balance to the current session.
This decisive victory across multiple fronts underscores a powerful Republican resurgence, with Trump at the helm, ready to begin a new chapter in the White House.
Stay tuned to The Federalist Wire.
