What were the official national popular vote totals for each candidate in the 2024 presidential election?
Executive summary
The near-final, certified national popular-vote totals from major post‑election trackers show Donald J. Trump leading with roughly 77.27 million votes to Kamala Harris’s roughly 74.98 million votes, a margin of about 2.29 million votes and just under a 1.5–2.0 percentage‑point spread depending on rounding (Brookings; Cook Political Report) [1] [2].
1. Official national popular‑vote totals reported
Authoritative post‑election compilations published after state certifications list Donald Trump at about 77,266,801 votes and Kamala Harris at about 74,981,313 votes in the 2024 general election, figures reported as the near‑final national totals by Brookings’ post‑election roundup [1]; independent trackers such as the Cook Political Report reported essentially the same totals in rounded form — roughly 77.3 million for Trump and about 75.0 million for Harris — and presented corresponding percentages (49.81% for Trump, 48.33% for Harris) as of their certification timeline [2].
2. The margin, share and total turnout context
Using the Brookings near‑final totals, the raw margin between the two major nominees was about 2,285,488 votes in Trump’s favor, which Brookings characterized as undermining claims of an overwhelming mandate even as it represented a decisive Electoral College outcome [1]; Cook’s tracker placed total national ballots cast at roughly 155.2 million, and reported the popular‑vote percentages above, noting that the post‑election “blue shift” and the pace of counting across different jurisdictions affected final percentages as provisional and mail ballots were tallied [2].
3. Third parties, write‑ins and what “official” counts include
The Federal Election Commission’s official compilation of the 2024 presidential general election results documented ballots for dozens of candidates and explicitly includes write‑in votes where applicable and the party labels used on ballots, indicating the national totals reported by media and trackers aggregate votes for major and minor candidates and write‑ins as certified by states [3]; electoral aggregators such as The Green Papers and Dave Leip’s Atlas provide party‑level and candidate‑level breakdowns that capture Libertarian, Green, independent and other votes alongside the two major nominees, which slightly affect the national vote‑share percentages depending on how “other” categories are grouped [4] [5].
4. Sources, methodologies and competing framings
The headline numbers cited here come from compilations that rely on state certifications and Associated Press/official feeds — Brookings used AP/state totals to publish near‑final counts and analysis, while the Cook Political Report maintained a live national popular‑vote tracker and provided final rounded totals once certifications were nearly complete [1] [2]; those independent outlets differ in presentation (raw integers versus rounded millions and percentages) but converge on the same basic result, and the FEC’s official results document remains the primary repository for certified ballot counts including write‑ins and ballot‑label nuances [3].
5. What this does and does not settle
These totals settle who won the national popular vote count as certified by states and aggregated by major trackers — Trump led the popular vote nationally in 2024 — but they do not address state‑level certification disputes, the detailed breakdown of third‑party impacts, or legal challenges to specific tallies beyond what state certificates and the FEC record show, and those granular matters require consultation of state certification documents and the FEC file itself [3] [1].