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04th Nov 2020

Joe Biden breaks record for most votes in a US presidential election

Joe Biden has received more votes than any other president in US history, exceeding Barack Obama's 2008 total thanks to an unprecedented turnout

Reuben Pinder

And he still hasn’t won

Joe Biden has now received more votes than any other president in the history of US elections, but he still hasn’t won.

An unprecedented turnout has seen Biden receive beat the record of 69,498,516 set by Barack Obama in 2008, when he beat John McCain to become the first black president of the United States.

At the time of writing, Biden has 69.6 million votes, according to Bloomberg’s live counter, but this election is set to go down to the wire, with several key states on a knife edge.

Even if Biden wins the popular vote, he may still not end up in the Oval Office, with the electoral college ultimately deciding who will lead the United States for the next four years.

270 electoral college votes are needed to win the presidency, with Florida and Texas the most important states to win due to the high number of votes they hold in the electoral college.

Donald Trump has won both Florida and Texas, a positive omen for the current president, given no president has taken office without winning the Sunshine State since 1924.

But Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia are still all to play for.