United States presidential election, 2016 (Shattered)

The United States presidential election of 2016 was the 58th quadrennial American presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Democratic ticket of former Secretary of State and U.S. Senator from Virginia  defeated the Republican ticket of businessman  and Indiana Governor. Clinton took office as the 45th President, and Kaine as the 48th Vice President, on January 20, 2017. Concurrent with the presidential election, Senate, House, and many gubernatorial and state and local elections were also held on November 8.

Voters selected members of the in each state, in most cases by "winner-takes-all" plurality; those state electors in turn voted for a new president and vice president on December 19, 2016. Clinton managed to win 3.3 million more votes than her opponent, however failed to get a majority in the popular vote. Numerous states switched parties from the. Trump managed to win and, both of which were won by Barack Obama, while Clinton managed to win  and , both of which were won by. Leading up to the election, most media outlets predicted a victory for Secretary Clinton.

Clinton is the first woman and former to win the the nomination of a major political party, the popular vote, the electoral vote, and the presidency. She also became the second oldest person to win the presidency.

This was the first time since that Georgia voted for a Democrat and the first time since 1988 that the Republican nominee won Maine's second congressional district. It was also the first time since the 1828 election of Andrew Jackson that an electoral vote split occurred in Maine. This was also the first time since that the winning candidate failed to win.

Background
of the provides that the  and  must be natural-born citizens of the United States, at least 35 years old, and residents of the United States for a period of at least 14 years. Candidates for the presidency typically seek the nomination of one of the political parties, in which case each party devises a method (such as a primary election) to choose the candidate the party deems best suited to run for the position. Traditionally, the primary elections are indirect elections where voters cast ballots for a slate of party delegates pledged to a particular candidate. The party's delegates then officially nominate a candidate to run on the party's behalf. The general election in November is also an indirect election, where voters cast ballots for a slate of members of the ; these electors in turn directly elect the President and Vice President.

President, a and former  from , was ineligible to seek reelection to a third term due to the restrictions of the ; in accordance with Section I of the , his term expired at noon on January 20, 2017.

Primary process
The series of presidential primary elections and caucuses took place between February and June 2016, staggered among the 50 states, the and. This nominating process was also an indirect election, where voters cast ballots for a slate of delegates to a political party's nominating convention, who in turn elected their party's presidential nominee.

Speculation about the 2016 campaign began almost immediately following the 2012 campaign, with  magazine declaring the race had begun in an article published on November 8, two days after the 2012 election. On the same day, ' released an article predicting the 2016 general election would be between Clinton and former Florida Governor, while a ' article named  and Senator  from  as potential candidates.

Primaries
Former, who also served in the  and was the , became the first woman to formally launch a major candidacy for the presidency. Clinton made the announcement on April 12, 2015, via a video message. While nationwide opinion polls in 2015 indicated that Clinton was the front-runner for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, she faced extreme challenges from Independent Senator of, who became the second major candidate when he formally announced on April 30, 2015, that he was running for the Democratic nomination. September 2015 polling numbers indicated a narrowing gap between Clinton and Sanders. On May 30, 2015, former  was the third major candidate to enter the Democratic primary race, followed by former Independent Governor and Republican Senator of Rhode Island  on June 3, 2015, former Virginia Senator  on July 2, 2015, and former Harvard law professor  on September 6, 2015.

On October 20, 2015, Webb announced his withdrawal from the Democratic primaries, and explored a potential Independent run. The next day Vice-President decided not to run, ending months of speculation, stating, "While I will not be a candidate, I will not be silent." On October 23, Chafee withdrew, stating that he hoped for "an end to the endless wars and the beginning of a new era for the United States and humanity". On November 2, after failing to qualify for the second DNC-sanctioned debate after adoption of a rule change negated polls which before might have necessitated his inclusion in the debate, Lessig withdrew as well, narrowing the field to Clinton, O'Malley, and Sanders.

On February 1, 2016, in an extremely close contest, Clinton won the by a margin of 0.2 points over Sanders. After winning no delegates in Iowa, O'Malley withdrew from the presidential race that day. On February 9, Sanders bounced back to win the with 60% of the vote. In the remaining two February contests, Clinton won the with 53% of the vote and scored a decisive victory in the  with 73% of the vote. On March 1, 11 states participated in the first of four "Super Tuesday" primaries. Clinton won, , , , , , and and 504 pledged delegates, while Sanders won , ,  and his home state of  and 340 delegates. The following weekend, Sanders won victories in, and  with 15–30-point margins, while Clinton won the  with 71% of the vote. On March 8, despite never having a lead in the primary, Sanders won by a small margin of 1.5 points and outperforming polls by over 19 points, while Clinton won 83% of the vote in. On March 15, the second "Super Tuesday", Clinton won in, , , and. Between March 22 and April 9, Sanders won six caucuses in, , , , and , as well as the  primary, while Clinton won the. On April 19, Clinton won the primary with 58% of the vote. On April 26, in the third "Super Tuesday" dubbed the "Acela primary", she won contests in, , and , while Sanders won in. Over the course of May, Sanders accomplished another surprise win in the primary and also won in  and, while Clinton won the  caucus and  primary.

On June 4 and 5, Clinton won two victories in the caucus and  primary. On June 6, 2016, the and  reported that Clinton had become the presumptive nominee after reaching the required number of delegates, including pledged delegates and superdelegates, to secure the nomination, becoming the first woman to ever clinch the presidential nomination of a major United States political party. On June 7, Clinton secured a majority of pledged delegates after winning primaries in, , and , while Sanders only won in  and. Clinton also won the final primary in the on June 14. At the conclusion of the primary process, Clinton had won 2,204 pledged delegates (54% of the total) awarded by the primary elections and caucuses, while Sanders had won 1,847 (46%). Out of the 714 unpledged delegates or "superdelegates" who were set to vote in the convention in July, Clinton received endorsements from 560 (78%), while Sanders received 47 (7%).

Although Sanders had not formally dropped out of the race, he announced on June 16, 2016, that his main goal in the coming months would be to work with Clinton to defeat Trump in the general election. On July 8, appointees from the Clinton campaign, the Sanders campaign, and the negotiated a draft of the party's platform. On July 12, Sanders formally endorsed Clinton at a rally in New Hampshire in which he appeared with her. On July 22, three days before the start of the, the Clinton campaign announced that Virginia Senator had been selected as her running mate.

Other major candidates

 * Main article: 

The following candidates were frequently interviewed by major broadcast networks and cable news channels, or were listed in publicly published national polls. Lessig was invited to one forum, but withdrew when rules were changed which prevented him from participating in officially sanctioned debates.

Clinton received 16,849,779 votes in the primary.

Primaries
With seventeen major candidates entering the race, starting with on March 23, 2015, this was the largest presidential primary field for any political party in American history.

Prior to the on February 1, 2016, Perry, Walker, Jindal, Graham and Pataki withdrew due to low polling numbers. Despite leading many polls in Iowa, Trump came in second to Cruz, after which Huckabee, Paul and Santorum withdrew due to poor performances at the ballot box. Following a sizable victory for Trump in the, Christie, Fiorina and Gilmore abandoned the race. Bush followed suit after scoring fourth place to Trump, Rubio and Cruz in. On March 1, 2016, the first of four "Super Tuesday" primaries, Rubio won his first contest in, Cruz won , and his home of  and Trump won the other seven states that voted. Failing to gain traction, Carson suspended his campaign a few days later. On March 15, 2016, the second "Super Tuesday", Kasich won his only contest in his home state of and Trump won five primaries including. Rubio suspended his campaign after losing his home state.

Between March 16 and June 7, 2016, only three candidates remained in the race: Trump, Cruz and Kasich. Cruz won the most delegates in four Western contests and in Wisconsin, keeping a credible path to denying Trump the nomination on first ballot with 1,237 delegates. Trump then augmented his lead by scoring landslide victories in New York and five Northeastern states in April. Despite being mathematically eliminated from securing the nomination, Cruz won the primary and took all 56 delegates. Cruz went on to win the primary, while Trump won  the same day. On June 7, 2016, Trump managed to surpass the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the nomination, making him the presumptive nominee.

General election campaign
Hillary Clinton focused her candidacy on several themes, including raising middle class incomes, expanding women's rights, instituting campaign finance reform, working with both sides of the aisle, and improving the. In March 2016, she laid out a detailed economic plan basing her economic philosophy on, which proposed a "clawback" which would rescind tax relief and other benefits for companies that move jobs overseas; with provision of incentives for companies that share profits with employees, communities and the environment, rather than focusing on short-term profits to increase stock value and rewarding shareholders; as well as increasing collective bargaining rights; and placing an "exit tax" on companies that move their headquarters out of America in order to pay a lower tax rate overseas. Clinton promoted equal pay for equal work to address current alleged shortfalls in how much women are paid to do the same jobs men do, promoted explicitly focus on family issues and support of, expressed support for the right to same-sex marriage, and proposed allowing undocumented immigrants to have a path to citizenship stating that it "[i]s at its heart a family issue." Along with adopting some of her primary rival's positions, Clinton also ran to work with Republicans on key issues facing the nation.

Donald Trump's campaign drew heavily on his personal image, enhanced by his previous media exposure. The primary slogan of the Trump campaign, extensively used on campaign merchandise, was. The red baseball cap with the slogan emblazoned on the front became a symbol of the campaign, and has been frequently donned by Trump and his supporters. Trump's positions—reported by  to be, , and semi-—differ in many ways from traditional conservatism. He opposed many free trade deals and military interventionist policies that conservatives generally support, and opposed cuts in and  benefits. Moreover, he has insisted that Washington is "broken" and can only be fixed by an outsider. Trump support was high among working and middle-class white male voters with annual incomes of less than $50,000 and no college degree. This group, particularly those with less than a high-school education, suffered a decline in their income in recent years. According to , support for Trump is higher in areas with a higher mortality rate for middle-age white people. A sample of interviews with more than 11,000 Republican-leaning respondents from August to December 2015 found that Trump at that time found his strongest support among Republicans in, followed by , and then followed by six Southern states.

Clinton had an uneasy, and at times adversarial relationship with the press throughout her life in public service. Weeks before her official entry as a presidential candidate, Clinton attended a political press corps event, pledging to start fresh on what she described as a "complicated" relationship with political reporters. Clinton was initially criticized by the press for avoiding taking their questions, after which she provided more interviews.

In contrast, Trump benefited from free media more than any other candidate. From the beginning of his campaign through February 2016, Trump received almost $2 billion in free media attention, twice the amount that Clinton received. According to data from the Tyndall Report, which tracks nightly news content, through February 2016, Trump alone accounted for more than a quarter of all 2016 election coverage on the evening newscasts of, and , more than all the Democratic campaigns combined. Observers noted Trump's ability to garner constant mainstream media coverage "almost at will". However, Trump frequently criticized the media for writing what he alleged to be false stories about him and he has called upon his supporters to be "the silent majority". Trump also said the media "put false meaning into the words I say", and says he does not mind being criticized by the media as long as they are honest about it.

Both Clinton and Trump were seen very unfavorably by the general public. In consequence, the controversial nature of both main parties' campaigns marked the road to the election.

Clinton's practice of using her own private email address and server during her time as Secretary of State, in lieu of State Department servers, gained widespread public attention back in March 2015, however the attention faded when it was revealed that Clinton had followed federal laws allowing such a server to be used. However, Clinton had to fight off attacks regarding the and other accusations.

On the other side, on October 7, 2016, video and accompanying audio were released by The Washington Post in which Trump referred obscenely to women in a while they were preparing to film an episode of. The audio was met with a reaction of disbelief and disgust from the media. Following the revelation, Trump's campaign issued an apology, stating that the video was of a private conversation from "many years ago". The incident was condemned by numerous prominent Republicans like, , , and the Speaker of the House. By October 8 several dozen Republicans had called for Trump to withdraw from the campaign and let Pence head the ticket. Trump insisted he would never drop out.

With strong divisions in the following a , Clinton reorganized her campaign to appeal to Republicans who were skeptical of Trump and helping. Clinton also followed the advise of her husband to campaign in many of the states Trump was targeting, namely and. Along with this, Clinton refrained from extensive attacks on Trump unless he would attack her first, and ran a much more positive campaign than that of her opponent.