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2016 Election

The 2016 US presidential election between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump was marked by low satisfaction with candidates from both parties, and was viewed as excessively negative and focused on things other than policy issues. Despite this, interest in the campaign was high and polling revealed stark racial and ethnic differences in support for the candidates. 

As a candidate, Trump pushed false claims that "illegal" votes would be cast, and predicted that if he won the popular vote but failed to win the electoral college, his supporters would riot. Rumors of inappropriate ties to Russia on the part of Trump persisted, with Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham leading calls for investigation. (Those have since been substantiated.) Trump also said his opponent should be "locked up" for her use of a private email server. 

On November 8, 2016, Hillary Clinton won 48.03 percent of the popular vote. Trump received 45.94 percent of the votes. This meant Clinton won the popular vote by more than 2.8 million votes. Trump won the Electoral College, with 304-227.

Race was a decisive factor in voting. White men and women voted 63 and 53 percent respectively for Trump. All other races voted overwhelmingly for Clinton.

See Russian Meddling in Election and Trump Relationship with Russia.

Subtopics

Timeline

2016.06.26One month before Election Day, Jared Kushner’s real estate company finalized a $285 million loan as part of a refinancing package for its property near Times Square in Manhattan, just as the lender - Deutsche Bank - was working to settle money laundering cases against them, which then were settled shortly thereafter. washingtonpost.com (See also Jared Kushner, Conflicts of Interest, Corruption)
2016.07.15Trump selects Mike Pence as his running mate. nytimes.com (See also Mike Pence)
2016.07.20Pence accepts the nomination for Vice President at the Republican convention washingtonpost.com (See also Mike Pence)
2016.10.04In vice presidential debate, Pence repeatedly declines to defend controversial statements made by Trump, instead dodging or denying that Trump made the statements. npr.org (See also Mike Pence, Assaults on Facts)
2016.10.08Pence cancels an appearance in Wisconsin and expresses dismay over Trump's "grab 'em by the pussy" comments. nbcnews.com (See also Mike Pence, Misogyny)
2016.10.18Trump spokesperson, citing a debunked blog post, said that Obama only won in North Carolina in 2008 because of voter fraud. mediaite.com (See also Voter Fraud)
2016.12.01Trump kicks off a "Thank You" tour so he can revel in crowds, boast in person, and disparage Hillary Clinton and the media. nytimes.com (See also Unprecedented Actions, Narcissism, Attempts to Discredit Media)
2016.12.04Pence tries to defend Trump’s false claim that "millions" voted illegally. washingtonpost.com (See also Mike Pence, False Statements, Assaults on Facts)
It's an awkward 3-minute exchange.
2017.03.22FBI reviewing information that indicates Trump associates communicated with suspected Russian operatives, possibly to coordinate the release of information damaging to Hillary Clinton during election. cnn.com (See also Trump Relationship with Russia, Russian Meddling in Election, Russia, Corruption)
2017.06.01In the early weeks of the Trump administration, former Obama administration officials and State Department staffers fought an intense, behind-the-scenes battle to head off efforts by incoming officials to normalize relations with Russia. yahoo.com (See also Russian Meddling in Election)
2017.06.02The Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee asked U.S. spy agencies late last year to reveal the names of U.S. individuals or organizations contained in classified intelligence on Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election, engaging in the same practice that President Trump has accused the Obama administration of abusing. washingtonpost.com (See also Russian Meddling in Election, Hypocrisy)
2017.06.03The special counsel investigating possible ties between Trump’s campaign and Russia’s government has taken over a separate criminal probe involving former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and may expand his inquiry to investigate the roles of the attorney general and deputy attorney general in the firing of FBI Director James Comey. apnews.com (See also Corruption, Russian Meddling in Election, Trump Relationship with Russia, Legal Activity)
2017.06.05Russian Military Intelligence executed a cyberattack on at least one U.S. voting software supplier and sent spear-phishing emails to more than 100 local election officials just days before last November’s presidential election. theintercept.com (See also Russian Meddling in Election)
2017.06.06The nation’s top intelligence official told associates in March that Trump asked him if he could intervene with FBI Director James Comey to get the bureau to back off its focus on former national security adviser Michael Flynn in its Russia probe. washingtonpost.com (See also Russian Meddling in Election, Michael Flynn, Corruption, Russia)
2017.06.06The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee says that Russian attacks on election systems were broader and targeted more states than those detailed in an explosive intelligence report leaked to The Intercept. usatoday.com (See also Russian Meddling in Election)
2017.07.17House Republicans are pressing to defund the sole federal agency that exclusively works to ensure the voting process is secure. wsj.com (See also Assaults on Government)
2017.08.24Congressional investigators have unearthed an email from a top Trump aide, Rick Dearborn, who is now Trump's deputy chief of staff, that referenced a previously unreported effort to arrange a meeting last year between Trump campaign officials and Russian President Vladimir Putin. cnn.com (See also Russian Meddling in Election, Trump Relationship with Russia, Russia, Jeff Sessions)
2017.09.07Donald Trump Jr. said he was open to receiving information about Hillary Clinton's "fitness, character or qualifications" when he accepted a meeting with a Russian lawyer last year in his opening statement of about 15 to 20 minutes before taking questions behind closed doors from staff members of the Senate Judiciary Committee latimes.com (See also Russian Meddling in Election, Trump Relationship with Russia, Donald Trump Jr)
2017.09.11Russian operatives hiding behind false identities used Facebook’s event-management tool to remotely organize and promote anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim rallies. thedailybeast.com (See also Russian Meddling in Election, Russia, Trump Relationship with Russia, Immigration)
2017.09.11Russian politician Vyacheslav Nikonov, a member of the Duma, said U.S. "intelligence missed it when Russian intelligence stole the president of the United States," on a Russian panel television show. axios.com (See also Russia, Russian Meddling in Election)
2017.09.13Donald Trump's former national security adviser, retired Gen. Michael Flynn, has refused a new request to appear as a witness before the Senate intelligence committee, asserting his Fifth Amendment rights. cnn.com (See also Michael Flynn, Legal Issues, Russian Meddling in Election)
2017.09.25Nearly 17,000 registered Wisconsin voters — potentially more — were kept from the polls in November by the state’s strict voter ID law, according to a new survey of nonvoters by two University of Wisconsin political scientists. nytimes.com
Privately, some Republicans have allowed that the laws' main intent is to keep people who often vote Democratic - the poor, the young and minorities, from going to the polls.
2017.10.04A number of Russian-linked Facebook ads specifically targeted Michigan and Wisconsin, two states crucial to Donald Trump's victory last November - where Trump won by 10,700 and 22,700 votes respectively. cnn.com (See also Russian Meddling in Election)
2017.10.04At a rare bi-partisan news conference, Senators Richard M. Burr, Republican of North Carolina and the committee’s chairman, and Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia and its vice chairman, broadly endorsed the conclusions of American spy agencies that said President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia directed a campaign of hacking and propaganda to disrupt the 2016 presidential election. nytimes.com (See also Russian Meddling in Election)
2017.10.04Two former heads of the CIA said Russia probably didn’t have the ability to microtarget U.S. voters and districts in the 2016 presidential campaign on its own, meaning some sort of assistance would have been necessary. bloomberg.com (See also Russian Meddling in Election)