Ex-VP sets record with 70 million votes: Joe will make history, even if he is not Prez

Ex-VP sets record with 70 million votes: Joe will make history, even if he is not Prez

Democratic nominee beats record set by Barack Obama in 2008

Yoshita Singh AgenciesUpdated: Thursday, November 05, 2020, 10:26 PM IST
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Democratic nominee Joe Biden has won more votes than any other presidential candidate in the US history, shattering a record set by former President Barack Obama, according to a media report.

As of November 4, Biden had got over 70.7 million votes, more than anyone who has ever run for president, the National Public Radio (NPR) reported.

This count includes 300,000 more votes than what Obama got in 2008, which was the previous record. Biden surpassed the popular vote record of 69,498,516 set by Obama in 2008.

Biden, in a tight electoral vote fight to the White House against incumbent President Donald Trump, is 2.7 million votes ahead of the Republican leader in the popular vote. His lead is growing as counting picks pace in key battleground states.

NPR said millions of votes are still being tabulated across the country, including in California, which has reported 64 per cent of the votes counted.

Trump was also nearing Obama's record with 67.32 million votes as of Wednesday. Given that over 100 million votes were received through early voting and mail-in ballots, NBC News reported that there were at least 23 million votes still to be tallied, giving Biden an opportunity to further increase his vote tally.

Meanwhile, Young electors in the US have been making their voices heard and although the votes are being counted, their choice could shape the outcome of the closely-fought 2020 presidential election and decide the presidency of the world's oldest democracy.

According to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University, voters aged between 18 to 29 are voting in record numbers, including more than eight million young people who voted early or absentee in the 2020 elections.

"I think with the recent happenings, racial injustice and the pandemic, it's kind of driving people to be more passionate about the things that are happening in our world as well as just passionate about electing leaders that have the same ideas and values that they do," Texas Southern University junior Mariah Campbell said.

Meanwhile, A wary China on Thursday hoped the presidential poll process in the US would end smoothly and successfully and said that there is a room for cooperation between the two nations despite "some differences," as observers forecast heightening of the rivalry between the top two economies no matter whoever emerges victorious.

"People are following closely, me included but it seems that the votes are still being counted and results have not come yet," China's Vice-Foreign Minister Le Yucheng said at a media conference in Beijing when asked to comment on the US Presidential poll.

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