<P> The 2016 presidential election featured Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton (former U.S. Senator from New York, Secretary of State, and First Lady to President Bill Clinton) and Republican nominee Donald Trump, a billionaire businessman (owner of the Trump Organization) from New York City, who had no prior political experience or service in the military . Both nominees had turbulent journeys in primary races, and were seen unfavorably by the general public . The election saw multiple third party candidates, and there were over a million write - in votes cast . </P> <P> Most national and swing state polls favored Clinton, who was strongly favored to win by most media outlets . However, Trump exceeded expectations on Election Day, especially in the Rust Belt where he won the traditionally Democratic states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin by narrow margins . Clinton recorded lopsided margins in large states such as California, Illinois and New York while coming closer to winning Texas, Arizona and Georgia than any Democratic nominee since the turn of the millennium . Clinton also won the safely Democratic medium - sized states such as Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Washington with vast margins . Clinton managed to edge out Trump in Virginia, a swing state where her running mate Tim Kaine had served as Governor . Trump also won the traditional bellwether state of Florida by a tight margin along with the recent battleground state of North Carolina, further contributing to the electoral flip of the popular vote . Trump won by a large margin in Indiana, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee with most of Trump's larger wins coming in smaller states . </P> <P> When the Electoral College cast its votes on December 19, 2016, Trump received 304 votes to Clinton's 227 with seven electors defecting to other choices, the most faithless electors (2 from Trump, 5 from Clinton) in any presidential election in over a hundred years . Clinton had nonetheless received almost three million more votes (65,853,516 to 62,984,825) in the general election than Trump, giving Clinton a popular vote lead of 2.1% over Trump . </P> <P> After the election, Trump claimed that he "won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally". This claim was judged untrue by multiple fact - checkers . </P>

How many presidents have won by the electoral college