Because of the way that various states counted the votes (some counted Election Day votes first and then mail ballots; some did it in the opposite order), 10 states saw the winner change after half of the vote was counted.
5 of these states were won by Biden and 5 by Trump.
As a matter of fact, the 5 states that had Biden leading at the point where half of the vote was counted that eventually were won by Trump were worth MORE electoral votes than the 5 that had Trump leading at the halfway point that shifted to Biden.
The following states had Trump leading when 50% of the votes had been counted but shifted to Biden after more votes were counted:
Georgia (16)
Michigan (16)
Pennsylvania (20)
Virginia (13)
Wisconsin (10)
The following states had Biden leading when 50% of the votes had been counted but shifted to Trump after more votes were counted:
Note that in many of these states, counting of the votes that had been legally cast on or before Election Day continued for some time after 11/3. In every election, it takes time to count votes.
But in this election, 56 million Americans voted by mail. And Trump encouraged his supporters to vote in person and told them to not trust mail voting (except in Florida).
Consequently, many Trump voters voted on Election Day. On the other hand, mail voting skewed toward Biden.
You can see all of the charts for how the leaders in each state changed as more of the vote came in at nytimes.com/interactive/20….
Click on a state, click on “Full Results,” “Full Race Results” and then see “Tracking the vote count.”
But if the vote counting had been stopped when only half the vote was in (which would have meant different things in different states), Trump would have won Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Virginia. And Biden would have won Iowa, Kansas, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas.
Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) of the Cook Political Report had been warning for at least a week before the election of "red mirages" and "blue mirages" in different parts of the country.
Meaning, some states looked like they were going to Trump but it was a mirage b/c the votes that would eventually swing the state to Biden hadn't yet been counted.
And some looked like they were going to Biden b/c the votes for Trump hadn't been counted yet.
All of this was made more complicated b/c:
- A partisan divide was created in the method of vote. Trump voters voted more in person (like he told them to). Biden voters voted more early and by mail.
- The fact states had different timing for counting different types of ballots.
Here's how the voting played out in the states where Trump was leading when half the vote was in but shifted to Biden (see the Tracking The Vote Count section):
And here are the states where Biden led when half the vote was in but which shifted to Trump after more votes were counted. Again, see the "Tracking The Vote Count" section.
Ironically, for all the "Stop The Count" craziness, had the count been stopped, say, when half the vote had been in, that would have worked to Trump's disadvantage. Not to his advantage.
Biden has won the election so far 279-214. If the counting had been cut off after 50% of the votes had been counted, yes, Trump would have won Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. But Biden would have still won and by an even greater electoral margin, 288-205.
Of the 30 states that Trump won in the 2016 election, he won 25 of them in 2020.
And of those 25, Trump's winning margin DECREASED in 20 of them!
Comparing Trump's winning margin in the states that he won in 2016 with his winning margin in THOSE SAME STATES in 2020 (for states he won twice):
Alabama - Trump's margin fell from 27.73% (2016) to 25.6% (2020)
Idaho - Trump's margin fell from 31.77% (2016) to 30.7% (2020)
Trump's margin in states he won: 2016 v 2020
Idaho - Trump's margin fell from 31.77% to 30.7%
Indiana - Trump's margin fell from 19.17% to 16.1%
Iowa - Trump's margin fell from 9.41% to 8.2%
Kansas - Trump's margin fell from 20.6% to 15.2%
Eleven US Presidents have been defeated in their bids for a second term.
Trump is the only one of them to, so far, refuse to concede.
Despite the fact that several of them did better in their re-election races than Trump did.
John Adams, the first President to lose a re-election contest, got a higher share of the electoral vote than Trump did (even if Trump wins all the states in which he's currently leading in). He also lost the electoral college by a smaller margin than Trump has. But he conceded.
Grover Cleveland lost in 1888 even though he WON the popular vote (he lost the Electoral College by a only two and a half percentage more than Trump will). But he conceded. And dealt with the loss like a winner. He got elected again in 1892, beating the guy who beat him.
Be like the Bereans. They listened to the preacher (Paul). But then they STUDIED THE WORD FOR THEMSELVES to make sure that what he said was actually true.
"Now these people were more noble and open-minded than those in Thessalonica, so they received the message [of salvation through faith in the Christ] with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so."
(Acts 17:11, Amplified)
In our generation and our culture, people tend to believe things without even questioning it because their Pastor says so. Or, even worse, because some guy in a big church on TV says so.
You know, sometimes humor can be a good way to both cover up pain and to soften poignant messages. And sometimes it can be sharp. Sometimes it needs to be.
Four years ago, even though I opposed Trump, I did not consider him to be a racist. My thinking had changed.
He has revealed himself to be the most racist President since Woodrow Wilson. And his administration has constantly soft peddled on any type of resistance to white supremacists. If anything, he’s sent positive signals to them. And he uses racial intolerance as political fuel.
Racism is a strange thing because some people’s threshold for it is way too high and others’ threshold is way too low.
Some people are dull to the idea of racism because some people are too quick to call everything racist
Other people wouldn’t recognize it if it bit them.