Dave Wasserman, House editor of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, told USA TODAY that Trump has no path to victory.
"The case for Trump having won the election is so preposterous that the only explanation is that the losing side does not like the results," he said.
Trump falls short in popular, electoral votes; lawsuits fail
Despite efforts to convince the country and the courts otherwise, Trump did not win reelection.
Trump broke President Barack Obama’s popular vote record with over 74 million votes, but still fell short of Biden, who surpassed Trump – and all previous presidential candidates – by racking up a record-shattering 81 million votes. The Biden-Harris ticket gained roughly 51% of the popular vote to the Trump-Pence ticket’s 47%, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
But as the 2000 and 2016 elections showed, the popular vote is not the sole determinant of presidential elections; the Electoral College makes the final call.
Each state is allowed a number of electors, which is determined by adding its number of senators (always two) to its number of House representatives (varies by state). Nationwide, there are 538 electoral votes to cast.
On Election Day, people vote for their preferred candidate's electors, who are chosen by political parties or independent candidates before the election. Those individuals, collectively the Electoral College, then cast votes for president and vice president, usually representing the choice their state's voters made.
Candidates have to win at least half of the country's electoral votes (270 votes) to be elected president.
Biden is projected to receive 306 electoral votes to Trump’s projected 232, thanks to wins in key states like Georgia (16 electoral votes), Michigan (16 votes), Wisconsin (10 votes), Pennsylvania (20 votes) and Arizona (11 votes). Trump won by the same Electoral College breakdown in 2016, which he called a “massive landslide victory” at the time.
The Trump campaign and its allies flooded state and federal courts after the election, filing over 40 lawsuits, primarily in battleground states, according to a running tally by Marc Elias, a Democratic elections expert and founder of Democracy Docket. The lawsuits claimed ballots had errors because voters were required to use Sharpies, observers didn't have enough access to monitor ballot counting and late-arriving mail ballots were improperly mixed with legal votes.
None has gotten very far; just one case has been won and at least eight are pending.
"The case for Trump having won the election is so preposterous that the only explanation is that the losing side does not like the results," he said.
Trump falls short in popular, electoral votes; lawsuits fail
Despite efforts to convince the country and the courts otherwise, Trump did not win reelection.
Trump broke President Barack Obama’s popular vote record with over 74 million votes, but still fell short of Biden, who surpassed Trump – and all previous presidential candidates – by racking up a record-shattering 81 million votes. The Biden-Harris ticket gained roughly 51% of the popular vote to the Trump-Pence ticket’s 47%, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
But as the 2000 and 2016 elections showed, the popular vote is not the sole determinant of presidential elections; the Electoral College makes the final call.
Each state is allowed a number of electors, which is determined by adding its number of senators (always two) to its number of House representatives (varies by state). Nationwide, there are 538 electoral votes to cast.
On Election Day, people vote for their preferred candidate's electors, who are chosen by political parties or independent candidates before the election. Those individuals, collectively the Electoral College, then cast votes for president and vice president, usually representing the choice their state's voters made.
Candidates have to win at least half of the country's electoral votes (270 votes) to be elected president.
Biden is projected to receive 306 electoral votes to Trump’s projected 232, thanks to wins in key states like Georgia (16 electoral votes), Michigan (16 votes), Wisconsin (10 votes), Pennsylvania (20 votes) and Arizona (11 votes). Trump won by the same Electoral College breakdown in 2016, which he called a “massive landslide victory” at the time.
The Trump campaign and its allies flooded state and federal courts after the election, filing over 40 lawsuits, primarily in battleground states, according to a running tally by Marc Elias, a Democratic elections expert and founder of Democracy Docket. The lawsuits claimed ballots had errors because voters were required to use Sharpies, observers didn't have enough access to monitor ballot counting and late-arriving mail ballots were improperly mixed with legal votes.
None has gotten very far; just one case has been won and at least eight are pending.
