Who won 2020 usa president election

1. The bottom line: who won and by what margin

Official and widely cited post-election tallies show Joe Biden won the presidency with 306 electoral votes versus Donald Trump’s 232, and a national popular-vote share reported around 51.3% to 46.8% ^{[1] [2]}. Encyclopedic sources such as Britannica and Ballotpedia summarize the outcome the same way: Biden defeated the incumbent to become the 46th U.S. president ^{[5] [2]}.

2. Why the result took days to be projected

The 2020 race saw record early and mail voting because of the COVID-19 pandemic; many states counted mail ballots slowly or had rules delaying their tabulation, producing initial “red” leads on Election Night that later shifted as mail and provisional ballots were processed. Major outlets therefore waited and projected Biden’s victory on and shortly after November 7, 2020 ^{[4] [3]}.

3. Disputes, investigations and what reporting confirms

After the election, the Trump campaign and some allies pursued legal challenges and made fraud allegations. Multiple pieces of reporting and official statements cited in the sources note that Attorney General William Barr and state officials did not find evidence of widespread fraud, and federal election-security officials described the 2020 vote as highly secure; however, the preservation and adjudication of claims led to extended court fights and political controversy ^{[4] [3]}. The provided sources document both the challenges and the conclusion of authorities who reviewed claims ^[4].

4. How the Electoral College math worked in 2020

Biden reached the 270 electoral votes needed by carrying a set of states that flipped from 2016 and by holding states Democrats had won previously; sources list Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Nebraska’s 2nd district among the decisive pickups beyond Clinton-era states, contributing to Biden’s 306 total ^{[1] [6]}. Ballotpedia and other election trackers provide the state-by-state electoral map used to calculate that total ^{[2] [6]}.

5. Competing narratives and media projection timing

The sources show a notable difference between immediate Election Night perceptions and later media projections: early in-person votes in some states favored Trump, creating a “red mirage,” while later-counted mail ballots tended to favor Biden — a pattern explained by election analysts and referenced in reporting ^[3]. This difference in counting order fueled assertions of irregularity among some Trump supporters, while election experts and officials described it as an expected statistical and procedural phenomenon ^[3].

6. What reputable trackers and encyclopedias report

Authoritative references used by researchers and the public — including Wikipedia, Britannica, Ballotpedia, and election-data sites like 270toWin and the MIT Election Lab — consistently record Biden as the winner and provide detailed vote and precinct datasets for researchers ^{[3] [5] [2] [7] [6]}. Those sources document both the numerical outcome and the procedural context ^[1].

7. Aftermath and political consequences found in the record

The aftermath included prolonged legal challenges, a contentious post-election political environment, and, in reporting cited here, the January 6, 2021, events tied to efforts to disrupt certification; some sources note that after congressional certification and those events, former President Trump acknowledged the incoming administration ^[1]. The sources emphasize the institutional processes — certification, electoral vote counting, and legal adjudication — that followed the vote ^[1].

8. Limits of the present summary and what’s not in these sources

Available sources do not mention every detailed lawsuit, every state-level recount, nor the full breadth of investigative reporting about individual claims; they summarize the broad conclusions ^{[4] [3] [1]}. If you want granular, primary-source documents (court filings, state canvass certificates) or specific precinct-level returns, consult datasets like MIT Election Lab and the state election websites referenced by these trackers ^[7].

If you’d like, I can pull together a concise state-by-state electoral map from the election-trackers and data sources cited here or compile a timeline of key court decisions and certification milestones using the same sources ^{[6] [1] [2]}.