2016 United States presidential election facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
United States presidential election, 2016

← 2012 November 8, 2016 2020 →

Nominee Donald Trump Hillary Clinton Party Republican Democrat Home state New York New York Running mate Mike Pence Tim Kaine Electoral vote 306 232 States carried 30 + ME-02 20 + DC Popular vote 62,352,375 64,429,062 Percentage 46.5% 48.1%

Presidential election results map. Red denotes states won by Trump/Pence. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state. Blue denotes states won by Clinton/Kaine.

President before election Barack Obama Democrat Elected President Donald Trump Republican

The 2016 election for President of the United States took place on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. On that day, voters had elected the 45th President and the 48th Vice President of the United States. Incumbent president Barack Obama could not seek re-election for a third term because of the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution.

After the election, Donald Trump was named President-elect of the United States while his running mate Mike Pence was named Vice President-elect of the United States.

Background

Article Two of the United States Constitution provides that for a person to be elected and serve as President of the United States, the individual must be a natural-born citizen of the United States, at least 35 years old, and a resident of the United States for a period of no less than 14 years.

Candidates for the presidency typically seek the nomination of one of the various political parties of the United States, in which case each party devises a method (such as a primary election) to choose the candidate the party deems best suited to run for the position. The party's delegates then officially nominate a candidate to run on the party's behalf.

Democratic Party

Nominees

Democratic Party Ticket, 2016
Hillary Clinton	Tim Kaine
for President	for Vice President
67th U.S. Secretary of State (2009–2013)	U.S. Senator from Virginia (2013-present)
Campaign

Withdrawn candidates

Candidates in this section are sorted by date of withdrawal from the primaries
Bernie Sanders	Rocky De La Fuente	Martin O'Malley	Lawrence Lessig	Lincoln Chafee	Jim Webb
U.S. Senator from Vermont (2007–present)	Entrepreneur (1979–present)	61st Governor of Maryland (2007–2015)	Harvard Law Professor (2009–2016)	74th Governor of Rhode Island (2011–2015)	U.S. Senator from Virginia (2007–2013)
Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign
LN: July 26, 2016 13,167,848 primary votes and 1,846 delegates	LN: July 26, 2016 67,457 primary votes	W: February 1, 2016 110,423 votes	W: November 2, 2015 4 write-in votes in New Hampshire	W: October 23, 2015 0 votes	W: October 20, 2015 2 write-in votes in New Hampshire

Republican Party

Republican Party Ticket, 2016
Donald Trump	Mike Pence
for President	for Vice President
Chairman of The Trump Organization (1971–present)	50th Governor of Indiana (2013-present)
Campaign

Withdrawn candidates

Candidates in this section are sorted by date of withdrawal from race
John Kasich	Ted Cruz	Marco Rubio	Ben Carson	Jeb Bush	Jim Gilmore	Carly Fiorina	Chris Christie
69th Governor of Ohio (2011–present)	U.S. Senator from Texas (2013–present)	U.S. Senator from Florida (2011–present)	Dir. of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Johns Hopkins Hospital (1984–2013)	43rd Governor of Florida (1999–2007)	68th Governor of Virginia (1998–2002)	CEO of Hewlett-Packard (1999–2005)	55th Governor of New Jersey (2010–present)
Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign
W: May 4	W: May 3	W: Mar 15	W: Mar 4	W: Feb 20	W: Feb 12	W: Feb 10	W: Feb 10
Rand Paul	Rick Santorum	Mike Huckabee	George Pataki	Lindsey Graham	Bobby Jindal	Scott Walker	Rick Perry
U.S. Senator from Kentucky (2011–present)	U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania (1995–2007)	44th Governor of Arkansas (1996–2007)	53rd Governor of New York (1995–2006)	U.S. Senator from South Carolina (2003–present)	55th Governor of Louisiana (2008–2016)	45th Governor of Wisconsin (2011–present)	47th Governor of Texas (2000–2015)
Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign
W: Feb 3	W: Feb 3	W: Feb 1	W: Dec 29, 2015	W: Dec 21, 2015	W: Nov 17, 2015	W: Sept 21, 2015	W: Sept 11, 2015

Major third parties

Green Party

Ballot access for the Green Party     On ballot     Not on ballot, write-in access     Not on ballot

Ballot access to 493(451) electoral votes: Ballot access currently in process: North Dakota, Rhode Island, Wyoming

States currently under litigation for ballot access: Nevada, Oklahoma

States with no ballot access: South Dakota
As write-in: Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina.

Nominees

Presumptive Green Party Ticket, 2016
Jill Stein	Ajamu Baraka
for President	for Vice President
Physician from Lexington, Massachusetts	Activist from Washington, D.C.
Campaign

Other active candidates

• Darryl Cherney, Earth First! organizer and musician from California
• Sedinam Curry, 29th People's National Convention organizer from California
• William Kreml, Professor Emeritus of University of South Carolina from South Carolina. Endorsed Jill Stein
• Kent Mesplay, Inspector at the Air Pollution Control District of San Diego County (2001-2015) from California. Endorsed Jill Stein

• 

  Musician
  Darryl Cherney
  of California
• 

  Activist
  Sedinam Curry
  of California
• 

  Professor
  William Kreml
  of South Carolina
  Endorsed Jill Stein
• 

  Inspector
  Kent Mesplay
  of California
  Endorsed Jill Stein

Withdrawn candidates

• Midge Potts, transgender peace activist from Missouri. Suspended campaign during primaries

• 

  Activist
  Midge Potts
  of Missouri

Libertarian Party

Ballot access for the Libertarian Party     On ballot

Ballot access to all 538 electoral votes

Nominees

Libertarian Party Ticket, 2016
Gary Johnson	William Weld
for President	for Vice President
29th Governor of New Mexico (1995–2003)	68th Governor of Massachusetts (1991-1997)
Campaign

Withdrawn candidates

• Robert David Steele, activist and author from Virginia; candidate for the Reform Party's nomination in 2012. Suspended campaign on January 6, 2016
• Marc Allan Feldman, Anesthesiologist at The Cleveland Clinic (since 1998). Suspended after convention
• John McAfee, businessman and computer scientist, founder of McAfee. Suspended after convention
• Austin Petersen, businessman and founder and CEO of Stonegait, LLC. Suspended after convention. Endorsed Gary Johnson
• Vermin Supreme, performance artist and activist; candidate for the Democratic Party's nomination in 2012 and 2016. Suspended after convention.

• 

  Activist
  Robert David Steele
  of Virginia
• 

  Anesthesiologist
  Marc Allan Feldman
  of Ohio
• 

  Businessman
  John McAfee
  of Tennessee
• 

  Businessman
  Austin Petersen
  of Missouri
  Endorsed Gary Johnson
• 

  Activist
  Vermin Supreme
  of New Hampshire

Other parties

American Freedom Party

Ballot Access to 6 electoral votes: Mississippi

• Bob Whitaker, white nationalist and paleoconservative political activist from South Carolina. Vice-presidential nominee: Tom Bowie, from Maryland

Independent American Party

Ballot Access to 18 Electoral Votes: New Mexico, Oregon, Utah

• Farley Anderson, activist from Utah. Vice Presidential nominee: Vacant

Party for Socialism and Liberation

Ballot Access to 29 electoral votes: Florida

• Gloria La Riva, newspaper printer and activist from New Mexico; 2008 presidential nominee; vice-presidential nominee: Eugene Puryear

Prohibition Party

Ballot Access to 21 electoral votes: Arkansas, Colorado, Mississippi

• James Hedges, Tax Assessor for Thompson Township, Fulton County, Pennsylvania 2002–2007; vice-presidential nominee: Bill Bayes of Mississippi

Peace and Freedom Party

Ballot Access to 84 electoral votes: California, Florida

• Gloria La Riva, newspaper printer and activist, from New Mexico

Socialist Party USA

Ballot Access to 0 electoral votes

• Mimi Soltysik, former National Co-chair of the Socialist Party USA from California; vice-presidential nominee: Angela Walker of Wisconsin

Nutrition Party

Ballot Access to 9 electoral votes: Colorado

• Rod Silva, restaurateur from New Jersey; Vice-presidential nominee: Vacant

Veterans Party of America

Ballot Access to 6 electoral votes: Mississippi

• Chris Keniston, reliability engineer from Texas; vice-presidential nominee: Deacon Taylor of Nevada

Workers World Party

Ballot Access to 0 electoral votes

• Monica Moorehead, perennial candidate and activist from New Jersey; vice-Presidential nominee: Lamont Lilly

Battleground states

Battleground states during the election were: Nevada, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida, New Hampshire, Maine, Ohio and North Carolina. Trump won Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Florida and a congressional district in Maine. Clinton won Nevada, New Hampshire and Maine. Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania were seen as likely 'Blue' states, but Trump won all three states in what was seen as a political upset.

Party conventions

• July 25–28, 2016: Democratic National Convention to be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Republican Party

• July 18–21, 2016: Republican National Convention to be held in Cleveland, Ohio.

Libertarian Party

• May 26–30, 2016: Libertarian National Convention to be held in Orlando, Florida.

Debates

On April 1, 2015, the Commission on Presidential Debates a (CPD) announced that each of the following 16 locations are under consideration to host one of the three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate:

• Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee
• Birmingham, Alabama
• Dominican University of California in San Rafael, California
• Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky
• Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, Georgia
• Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York
• Jacksonville University in Jacksonville, Florida
• Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia
• State University of New York Rockland Community College in Suffern, New York
• University of Nevada, Las Vegas
• Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri
• West Virginia University and West Virginia State University in Charleston, West Virginia
• Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio
• Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas
• Houston Community College in Houston, Texas
• McAllen, Texas

The three locations which will host the presidential debates and the one location selected to host the vice presidential debate are to be announced by the CPD in the fall of 2015.

Images for kids

• 

  The incumbent in 2016, Barack Obama. His second term expired at noon on January 20, 2017.

• 

  Campaign signs of third-party candidates Jill Stein and Gary Johnson, October 2016 in St. Johnsbury, Vermont

• 

  A general election ballot, listing the presidential and vice presidential candidates

• 

  President Barack Obama casting his vote early in Chicago on October 7, 2016

• 

  A continuous cartogram of the 2016 United States presidential election

See also

In Spanish: Elecciones presidenciales de Estados Unidos de 2016 para niños