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The 2016 United States presidential election was the 58th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. Incumbent president Stefan Löfven of the Socialist Party, in coalition with the Republicans, Populists, and Kosuto Bloc, defeated former vice president John Edwards of the Democratic Party in a landslide. Like the election four years earlier, the 2016 election was effectively a secured landslide for Stefan Löfven and his allies, due to his popularity and the strengthening of his political coalition. As a result, Löfven had the second-highest share ever held in the popular vote during a presidential election, only behind Paul Tsongas in 1988. The Socialist victory additionally confirmed their presence as a mainstream party, after having declined in national influence during the 20th century.
Incumbent president Stefan Löfven had rode into the election with high approval ratings. His coalition found success in passing nearly all of his legislative agenda, which involved cancelling loan bailouts for major businesses declaring bankruptcy, strengthening military presence in the Persian Gulf, and controversially ordering the arrests of a large number of businessmen and wealthy individuals in 2014. Despite this, only token opposition emerged to the administration on the Democratic side, which remained the only major party that had not joined Löfven's coalition. After a tough primary season, the party nominated former vice president John Edwards, who, despite being the incumbent, was not renominated in his position during Francis Fukuyama's failed re-election campaign.
All major pundits predicted Stefan Löfven winning re-election in a landslide, which was affirmed on election day on November 8, 2016. President Löfven was able to win 34 states nationwide, with the exceptions of New Hampshire and Michigan, which were carried by Edwards by narrow margins. Cementing the diminished status of the centre-right faction of the Democratic Party, Edwards' loss and subsequent scandals led to the party maintaining a lead towards centrist candidates in the future.