<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 three perennial swing states of Florida , Ohio , and Iowa , as well as the three `` blue wall '' stronghold states of Michigan , Pennsylvania , and Wisconsin . He also won Maine 's 2nd congressional district , which had not been won by a Republican presidential candidate since 1988 . Leading up to the election , a Trump victory was considered unlikely by almost all media forecasts . After his victory was assured , some commentators compared the election to President Harry S. Truman 's victorious campaign in 1948 as one of the greatest political upsets in modern American history . </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 three perennial swing states of Florida , Ohio , and Iowa , as well as the three `` blue wall '' stronghold states of Michigan , Pennsylvania , and Wisconsin . He also won Maine 's 2nd congressional district , which had not been won by a Republican presidential candidate since 1988 . Leading up to the election , a Trump victory was considered unlikely by almost all media forecasts . After his victory was assured , some commentators compared the election to President Harry S. Truman 's victorious campaign in 1948 as one of the greatest political upsets in modern American history . </P>
who won the most states in the 2016 presidential election
who won the most states in the 2016 presidential election
Trump
Trump