<P> Voters selected members of the Electoral College in each state , in most cases by `` winner - takes - all '' plurality ; those state electors in turn voted for a new president and vice president on December 19 , 2016 . While Clinton received about 2.9 million more votes nationwide , a margin of 2.1 % , Trump won 30 states with a total of 306 electors , or 57 % of the 538 available . He won the four perennial swing states of Florida , North Carolina , Ohio , and Iowa , as well as the three `` blue wall '' stronghold states of Michigan , Pennsylvania , and Wisconsin , which had not been won by a Republican presidential candidate since the 1980s . Leading up to the election , a Trump victory was considered unlikely by almost all media forecasts . </P>
<P> Voters selected members of the Electoral College in each state , in most cases by `` winner - takes - all '' plurality ; those state electors in turn voted for a new president and vice president on December 19 , 2016 . While Clinton received about 2.9 million more votes nationwide , a margin of 2.1 % , Trump won 30 states with a total of 306 electors , or 57 % of the 538 available . He won the four perennial swing states of Florida , North Carolina , Ohio , and Iowa , as well as the three `` blue wall '' stronghold states of Michigan , Pennsylvania , and Wisconsin , which had not been won by a Republican presidential candidate since the 1980s . Leading up to the election , a Trump victory was considered unlikely by almost all media forecasts . </P>
who won the popular vote in the 2017 presidential election
who won the popular vote in the 2017 presidential election
Clinton
Clinton