Joe Biden Breaks Barack Obama's Record With a Nationwide Popular Vote of More Than 70 Million

Former Vice President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump Delivered Remarks on Election Day

Joe Biden and Donald Trump struck different tones as Tuesday tipped into Wednesday and the results of the 2020 presidential election remained unclear while millions of ballots nationwide were still being counted

The 2020 presidential election has yet to be called, but Vice President Joe Biden has already broken the record for most votes ever received by a presidential candidate in United States history.

Biden, 77, has so far received the votes of 70,005,568 people, breaking the record set by his former running mate Barack Obama, who earned 66,862,039 votes during his successful presidential run in 2008, according to the Associated Press and The New York Times.

The numbers also dwarf those of President Donald Trump’s 2016 bid for the White House, in which he received 62,985,106 votes, according to the Times.

The staggeringly high numbers come after the United States recorded the highest voter turnout rate among eligible citizens in 120 years; at least 159.8 million people cast their ballots this year, CNBC reported, citing NBC News projections.

ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images Joe Biden

Many of those votes came in the form of early voting, which set records too, with 101.2 million people making their pick ahead of Election Day, USA Today reported, per U.S. Elections Project.

For comparison, just 47 million people voted early in 2016.

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Biden’s large numbers come as Trump trails him in popular votes by nearly 3 million. As of Wednesday afternoon, Trump has so far received 67,290,388 votes.

Winning the popular vote does not, of course, guarantee victory. Hillary Clinton also defeated Trump in the popular vote in 2016 by nearly 3 million votes, but he bested her in electoral college votes by nearly 80.

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This year’s race will not be called until a candidate has secured the 270 electoral college votes needed for a win, and many battleground states including Michigan and Pennsylvania were still counting ballots on Wednesday.

Many states, including Arizona, Florida, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, reported gains in voter registration this year, and in Georgia alone, 800,000 people have registered since 2018, according to the Times.