--- description: Hillary Clinton's lead in the popular vote of the 2016 presidential election was nearly three million votes more than Donald Trump title: Hillary Clinton Leads by 2.8 Million in Final Popular Vote Count image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd8a80e9cbac8777f/6988b39a8fd2ee27823553ce/hillary-clinton.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [2016 Election](/tag/2016-election/) ## 2016 Election Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Hillary Clinton Leads by 2.8 Million in Final Popular Vote Count by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 20, 2016 9:38 PM CUT  Former US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton is applauded before speaking at a portrait unveiling ceremony for outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), on Capitol Hill December 8, 2016 in Washington, DC. Former US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton is applauded before speaking at a portrait unveiling ceremony for outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), on Capitol Hill December 8, 2016 in Washington, DC.Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 20, 2016 9:38 PM CUT In the final count, [Hillary Clinton’s](http://time.com/4607933/clinton-trump-faithless-electors-precedent/ "undefined") lead in the popular vote of the 2016 presidential election was nearly three million votes. According to the independent, non-partisan [Cook Political Report](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/133Eb4qQmOxNvtesw2hdVns073R68EZx4SfCnP4IGQf8/htmlview?sle=true#gid=19 "undefined"), Clinton’s final tally came in at 65,844,610, compared to Donald Trump’s 62,979,636, with a difference of 2,864,974\. The total number of votes for other candidates was 7,804,213. Although Clinton captured nearly as many votes as Barack Obama did to win in 2012 ([65,915,795](https://twitter.com/Redistrict/status/809916754331836416 "undefined")), she lost the electoral college by a wide margin, clocking in at only 227 votes compared to Trump’s 304\. [Seven electors](http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/19/us/elections/electoral-college-results.html "undefined") who were pledged to vote for either Clinton or Trump defected to other options, like Colin Powell, Bernie Sanders and “Faith Spotted Eagle.” \[[_Cook Political Report_](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/133Eb4qQmOxNvtesw2hdVns073R68EZx4SfCnP4IGQf8/htmlview?sle=true#gid=19 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4608555/hillary-clinton-popular-vote-final/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4608555/hillary-clinton-popular-vote-final/"},"headline":"Hillary Clinton Leads by 2.8 Million in Final Popular Vote Count","datePublished":"2016-12-20T21:38:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:25:01.788Z","description":"Nearly 66 million Americans voted for the Democrat","url":"https://time.com/4608555/hillary-clinton-popular-vote-final/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd8a80e9cbac8777f/6988b39a8fd2ee27823553ce/hillary-clinton.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd8a80e9cbac8777f/6988b39a8fd2ee27823553ce/hillary-clinton.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Hillary Clinton And VP Biden Attend Portrait Unveiling For Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid","caption":"Hillary Clinton And VP Biden Attend Portrait Unveiling For Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4608555/hillary-clinton-popular-vote-final/","name":"Hillary Clinton Leads by 2.8 Million in Final Popular Vote Count"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Revolt Fizzles as Donald Trump Easily Wins the Electoral College Vote","description":"Despite weeks of lobbying and a day of protests, President-elect Donald Trump won all but two of the Electoral College votes he claimed on Election Day, ensuring he will become America’s 45th president.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/5zpxJAX1/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-12-19T20:43:56.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/5zpxJAX1.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4608555/hillary-clinton-popular-vote-final/","duration":"PT53S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4608555/hillary-clinton-popular-vote-final/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```