Popular vote: How Trump’s 77.3 million ranks among past presidential candidates

As Congress certifies the 2024 election, we have a better idea of how this election’s total votes compare to previous years.

Voter turnout was down slightly from the record of 62.8% set in 2020. In 2024, 59.0% of the voting age population headed to the polls, with Donald Trump taking 77.3 million votes to Kamala Harris’ 75.0 million. 

List of candidates with the most-ever popular votes: 

10. 60.9 million, Mitt Romney (2012) 

Republican Mitt Romney took on incumbent President Barack Obama in 2012, with each garnering an impressive number of votes – though Romney’s 60.9 million votes didn’t win him the popular nor the electoral vote. 

9. 62.0 million, George W. Bush (2004)

The presidential election of 2004 was a contentious one, as foreign policy was in the forefront in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack. 

Both candidates that year got an impressive number of votes, with Democratic candidate John Kerry receiving 59 million and incumbent President George W. Bush receiving 62 million. 

ARLINGTON, TEXAS – NOVEMBER 12:Former U.S. President George W. Bush walks off the field after the coin toss before the game between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium on November 12, 2023 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Sam

Bush set a new record that year for the popular vote, taking away the title from Ronald Reagan’s 54.5 million votes in 1986. More on that below. 

In another historical tidbit to note, Kerry lost the popular vote that year – and was the last Democratic candidate to lose the popular vote until Kamala Harris in November 2024.  

Voter turnout among the voting age population for this election was also one of the highest in the last 20 years, at 55.7%, according to The American Presidency Project, an online historical archive hosted by the University of California at Santa Barbara. 

8. 62.9 million, Donald Trump (2016)

Former businessman Donald Trump saw an impressive number of votes during his first run at the White House with a major political party. 

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump smiles during Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center on December 22, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona. The annual four day conference geared toward energizing and connecting conservative youth hosts

He was nominated as the Republican presidential candidate in 2016 and received 62.9 million votes. It didn’t win him the popular vote that year, but he still won the term based on how the electoral votes added up. 

7. 65.8 million, Hillary Clinton (2016)

The 2016 election was one for the history books, as it saw the first female presidential nominee of a major American political party. 

Hillary Clinton received 

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 4: Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton returns to her seat after being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. President Joe Biden in the East Room of the White House on January 4, 2025 in Washington, DC.

the Democratic nomination and won the popular vote with an impressive 65.8 million votes, though she lost the electoral college. 

6. 65.9 million, Barack Obama (2012) 

2012 was the year incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and Joe Biden were elected to a second term. 

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – DECEMBER 05: Former President Barack Obama moderates a conversation with Manu Meel, Co-Founder and CEO of BridgeUSA, Ainka Jackson, Founding executive director of the Selma Center for Nonviolence, Truth, and Reconciliation and Nik

They defeated Republicans Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan in electoral and popular votes with 65.9 million, which at the time became the second-highest number of votes ever received. It came second only to Obama’s previous vote results in 2008.

5. 69.4 million, Barack Obama (2008)

Up until the 2020 election between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, former President Barack Obama held the record as the presidential candidate to ever receive the most votes. 

In 2008, his first year running, he received nearly 69.5 million votes.

The voter turnout that year was also the highest it had been in decades, according to The American Presidency Project, with 57.1% of the voting age population turning out to vote. That was the highest it had been since 1968, when 60.7% of the voting age population headed to the polls when former Vice President Richard Nixon ( R), incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey (D) and Independent former Alabama governor George Wallace were facing off. 

RELATED: Third-party presidential bids through the years: Who’s come closest to winning?

4. 74.2 million, Donald Trump (2020)

The presidential election of 2020 was one for the history books as the country was in the middle of the COVID pandemic and its related economic recession.

Not only did that election generate the highest voter turnout in modern history, but both major party candidates significantly beat the record for the number of votes received. 

Incumbent Republican President Donald Trump and Mike Pence received 74.2 million votes, which was nearly 5 million votes higher than Obama’s previous record of 69.4 million. But it didn’t win them the White House. 

The voter turnout also was the highest in more than 100 years, since 1900, with 62.8% of the voting age population casting a ballot, according to The American Presidency Project. 

3. 75.0 million, Kamala Harris (2024)

Though it didn’t win her the White House, Kamala Harris’ showing last year did earn her a spot among presidential candidates who have received the most votes, at 75,019,257 – 48.4% of the 2024 tally.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to preside over a joint session of Congress to ratify the 2024 Presidential election at the U.S. Capitol on January 06, 2025 in Washington, DC (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

2. 77.3 million, Donald Trump (2024)

In 2024, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump had a stronger showing than in 2020, winning both the electoral college and the popular vote. 

Trump’s victory in the popular vote marked a first for the GOP party in 20 years. He received 77,303,573 votes (49.9%) this past election. 

1. 81.2 million, Joe Biden (2020)

US President Joe Biden during a Presidential Citizens Medal ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. Biden presented Liz Cheney and Bennie Thompson with the Presidential Citizens Medal, honoring t

President Joe Biden talks on the phone with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico, Tuesday, May 9, 2023, in the Oval Office of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz) 

The highest turnout and overall vote total remains the 2020 election, which saw Joe Biden win both the electoral college and popular vote.  

Biden’s total that year swept away former President Barack Obama’s record by nearly 12 million votes – with his 81.2 million to Obama’s 69.4 million.  

Of course, Biden was technically on the 2008 ticket as well as Obama’s running mate. 

Notable mention: Ronald Reagan 

Although the number of votes Ronald Reagan received in 1984 doesn’t make it into today’s ranking, it stood the test of time for several elections. 

Reagan and his running mate, Vice President George H.W. Bush, were reelected to a second term in a landslide that year – receiving 54.4 million votes to challenger Walter Mondale’s 37.5 million. Reagan swept the electoral board with 525 votes from 49 states as well.   

US President Ronald W. Reagan speaking at a fundraiser for Senate Candidate Linda Chavez’s campaign. (Photo by Dirck Halstead/Getty Images)

For context, the popular vote Reagan received in 1984 was more than what got Bill Clinton elected both times (47.4 million in 1996 and 44.9 million in 1992), and than what both George W. Bush and Al Gore each received in the infamous 2000 election (Bush’s 50.4 million to Gore’s 50.9 million). 

RELATED: The 2000 presidential election and Florida recount: ‘Truly a crazy year’