2016 United States presidential election

=== Election night and the next day ===
The news media and election experts were surprised at Trump's winning the Electoral College. On the eve of the vote, spread betting firm [[Spreadex]] had Clinton at an Electoral College spread of 307–322 against Trump's 216–231.<ref>{{Cite web|date=7 November 2016|title=US Presidential Election 2016 Preview, Tuesday 8th November 2016|url=https://www.spreadex.com/financials/market-analysis/financial-trading-blog/us-presidential-election-2016-preview-tuesday-8th-november-2016/|access-date=2020-08-13|website=www.spreadex.com}}</ref> The final polls showed a lead by Clinton and in the end she did receive more votes.<ref>Fred Andrew Wright and Alec Aidan Wright, "How Surprising Was Trump's Victory? Notes on Predictions in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election" (January 16, 2017). {{SSRN|2900394}}</ref> Trump himself expected, based on polling, to lose the election, and rented a small hotel ballroom to make a brief concession speech, later remarking: "I said if we're going to lose I don't want a big ballroom."<ref name="bloomberg20161213">{{cite news |last1=Jacobs |first1=Jennifer |last2=House |first2=Billy |title=Trump Says He Expected to Lose Election Because of Poll Results |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-12-14/trump-says-he-expected-to-lose-election-because-of-poll-results |agency=[[Bloomberg L.P.]] |date=December 14, 2016 |access-date=December 15, 2016}}</ref> Trump performed surprisingly well in all [[Swing state|battleground states]], especially [[Florida]], [[Iowa]], [[Ohio]], and [[North Carolina]]. Even [[Wisconsin]], [[Pennsylvania]], and [[Michigan]], states that had been predicted to vote Democratic, were won by Trump.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://kansaspublicradio.org/blog/kpr-web-operations/live-coverage-election-night-2016?post=the-path-is-open-for-trump-72 |title=Live Coverage: Election Night 2016 |date=November 8, 2016 |newspaper=Kansas Public Radio|access-date=November 10, 2016}}</ref>

According to the authors of ''[[Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign]]'', the White House had concluded by late Tuesday night that Trump would win the election. Obama's political director [[David Simas]] called Clinton campaign manager [[Robby Mook]] to persuade Clinton to concede the election, with no success. Obama then called Clinton directly, citing the importance of continuity of government, to ask her to publicly acknowledge that Trump had won.<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Allen | first1 = Jonathan | last2 = Parnes | first2 = Amie | chapter = "I'm sorry" | chapter-url =https://books.google.com/books?id=QqvNDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT409 | title = Shattered: inside Hillary Clinton's doomed campaign | publisher = Crown | location = New York | year = 2017 | isbn = 9780553447095 }}</ref> Believing that Clinton was still unwilling to concede, the president then called her campaign chair [[John Podesta]], but the call to Clinton had likely already persuaded her.<ref name="press20170424">{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljkg-cRGfZo |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/ljkg-cRGfZo |archive-date=2021-12-15 |url-status=live|title=Inside Hillary Clinton's Hotel Room on Election Night 2016 |date=April 24, 2017 |last=Press |first=Bill |publisher=[[YouTube]] |others=Peter Ogburn, Amie Parnes, Jonathan Allen |time=1:45}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

The Associated Press called Pennsylvania for Trump at 1:35AM EST, putting Trump at 267 electoral votes. By 2:01AM EST, they called both Maine and Nebraska's second congressional districts for Trump, putting him at 269 electoral votes, making it impossible for Clinton to reach 270. One minute after this, John Podesta told Hillary Clinton's victory party in New York the election was too close to call. At 2:29AM, the Associated Press called Wisconsin, and the election, for Trump, giving him 279 electoral votes. By 2:37AM, Clinton had called Trump to concede the election.<ref>{{Cite web |title=AP Definitive Source {{!}} Calling the presidential race state by state |url=https://blog.ap.org/behind-the-news/calling-the-presidential-race-state-by-state%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8B |access-date=2023-01-20 |website=blog.ap.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/06/hillary-clinton-what-happened-book-excerpts-242372|title=Clinton shares how it felt calling Trump to concede|website=[[Politico]]|date=September 6, 2017 }}</ref>

On Wednesday morning at 2:30&nbsp;a.m. [[Eastern Time]] (ET), it was reported that Trump had secured Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes, giving him a majority of the 538 electors in the [[Electoral College (United States)|Electoral College]], enough to make him the [[president-elect of the United States]],<ref name="McCarthyPhipps2016">{{cite news |author1 = Ciara McCarthy |author2 = Claire Phipps |title = Election results timeline: how the night unfolded |url = https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/08/presidential-election-updates-trump-clinton-news |newspaper =[[The Guardian]] |date = November 9, 2016 |access-date = October 29, 2018}}</ref> and Trump gave his victory speech at 2:50 a.m.<ref name="McCarthyPhipps2016"/>

Later that day, Clinton asked her supporters to accept the result and hoped that Trump would be "a successful president for all Americans."<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/09/us/politics/donald-trump-won-now-what.html |title=Highlights of Hillary Clinton's Concession Speech and President Obama's Remarks |last1=Rappeport |first1=Alan |date=November 9, 2016 |last2=Burns |first2=Alexander |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |issn=0362-4331|access-date=November 9, 2016}}</ref> In his speech, Trump appealed for unity, saying "it is time for us to come together as one united people", and praised Clinton as someone who was owed "a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country."<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/09/us/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-president.html |title=Donald Trump Is Elected President in Stunning Repudiation of the Establishment |last1=Flegenheimer |first1=Matt |date=November 9, 2016 |last2=Barbaro |first2=Michael |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |issn=0362-4331|access-date=November 9, 2016}}</ref>