What were the final popular vote totals and percentages in the 2024 presidential election?

1. Final certified totals and the headline numbers

Post‑certification tallies reported by national trackers and election analysts put Donald Trump at about 77.3 million votes (reported as 49.81% by Cook Political Report) and Kamala Harris at about 75.0 million votes (48.33% in the same reporting), producing a 1.48‑point popular‑vote margin in Trump’s favor and a national total near 155.2 million votes cast for president ^[1]; independent compilations such as Brookings recorded near‑final totals of 77,266,801 (49.9%) for Trump and 74,981,313 (48.4%) for Harris ^[2], and summary references list the nationwide percentage around 49.8% for Trump ^[3].

2. What those numbers mean: narrow but decisive in popular‑vote terms

The raw totals — roughly 77.3 million to 75.0 million, a difference of roughly 2.3 million votes — represent a narrow nationwide plurality rather than a wide mandate: analysts emphasize the closeness (about a 1.5‑point gap) and note that three Midwestern swing states ultimately decided the Electoral College margin despite the close national popular vote ^{[1] [2]}.

3. Where these figures come from and how reliable they are

Major nonpartisan trackers and post‑election analysts (Cook Political Report, Brookings, Associated Press compilations reflected in tertiary summaries) drew their totals from the certified vote counts released by state officials; the Federal Election Commission also published an “Official 2024 Presidential General Election Results” document that aggregates state returns ^{[1] [2] [4]}. Sites that maintain historic election databases (The Green Papers, Dave Leip’s Atlas) provide corroborating tallies and breakdowns by party and district for researchers seeking the underlying state‑by‑state certified figures ^{[5] [6]}.

4. Competing framings and the political context of the totals

Media and partisan framings differed: some outlets foregrounded that Trump became the first Republican to carry the national popular vote since 2004 (a claim found in mainstream summaries) while others stressed how slim the margin was and the role of demographic and geographic shifts documented by polling and research organizations ^{[3] [7] [8]}. Analysts also flagged the “blue shift” effect — late counting trends that historically favor Democrats in heavily urban and mail‑ballot jurisdictions — which reduced Trump’s early post‑Election Day lead as provisional and absentee ballots were finalized ^[1].

5. What the numbers do not settle and reporting limits

While the cited trackers and think‑tank summaries report near‑final and certified totals, complete forensic questions about turnout dynamics, demographic shifts, or unusual precinct anomalies require deeper, state‑level review; some commentators have raised disputed or conspiratorial claims about “missing votes” and turnout comparisons with 2020 that are debated and not resolved by the aggregate totals alone ^[9]. The official FEC and state certified tallies are the baseline for any definitive claim, and those datasets should be consulted for vote‑by‑county and write‑in breakdowns beyond the national headline numbers ^{[4] [5]}.

6. Bottom line and where to confirm the record

The consolidated public record from trackers and post‑election analyses places the 2024 national popular‑vote outcome at roughly 77.3 million (49.8–49.9%) for Trump and about 75.0 million (48.3–48.4%) for Harris, a slim 1.5‑point margin; readers seeking the canonical certified returns should consult the FEC’s official report and state certification documents as the primary sources ^{[1] [2] [4]}.