Fact check: Who won the 2020 election

1. How the Vote Totals and Electoral College Tilted the Balance

The certified national totals show Joe Biden with roughly 81.28 million votes (51.3%) and Donald Trump with roughly 74.22 million votes (46.8–46.9%), figures that underpin the official outcome. Those popular‑vote totals are accompanied by an Electoral College split of 306–232 in Biden’s favor, which exceeded the 270 threshold required to win the presidency and thus constitutes the constitutional path to victory. Multiple post‑election tabulations and national trackers converge on these numbers and label Biden the winner, reflecting aggregated state canvasses and the Electoral College result that determined the presidency ^{[3] [1]}.

2. When and How the Win Was Called and Formalized

Major outlets and election trackers publicly called the race for Biden on November 7, 2020, after key mail‑in and late counts in battleground states were completed; the state certification processes concluded later, with all states and DC completing formal certification by December 11, 2020. Certification is the administrative step that verifies canvassed returns and locks in the official statewide tallies; the fact that every jurisdiction certified its results means the nationwide record was finalized before the Electoral College electors met in December to cast their votes, and Congress later certified the Electoral College outcome in January 2021 ^{[2] [4]}.

3. Legal Challenges, Recounts, and What They Did — and Didn’t — Change

After the election, the Trump campaign and allied parties pursued numerous legal challenges and recounts in several states. These processes produced litigation and audit activity but did not change the certified statewide results in a way that altered the Electoral College outcome. Courts dismissed or resolved major challenges, and the Electoral College result stood; the congressional certification of the Electoral College votes in early January 2021 finalized the transition despite the disputes and the January 6 Capitol attack that followed political objections ^[2].

4. The Record Turnout and Historical Context Behind the Numbers

The 2020 election reached a turnout rate not seen since 1900, with roughly two‑thirds of eligible voters participating and Biden’s vote total setting a new high for a presidential candidate at about 81 million votes. The combination of unprecedented mail‑in voting, pandemic‑era election administration changes, and high civic engagement produced both the record totals and the intense scrutiny of counting methods. These contextual factors explain why the margins, battleground shifts, and post‑election processes drew exceptional public attention even as the certified numbers and Electoral College outcome remained decisive ^{[2] [3]}.

5. What the Official Record Recognizes and What Remains Contested in Public Debate

The official, certified record recognizes Joe Biden as the winner and the 46th president, based on state certifications, Electoral College votes, and congressional certification. Public debate and partisan narratives continued after certification, with ongoing claims of irregularities on one side and strong emphasis on the legal and administrative confirmations on the other. The factual record — certified tallies, the 306–232 Electoral College result, and the documented popular‑vote totals — stands as the basis for who won; ancillary disputes and rhetorical lineages remain part of political discussion but did not overturn the official outcome ^{[1] [2] [5]}.