Why this election map is sparking confusion in the US
A confronting, overwhelmingly red-coloured map of the US has been used to spread misinformation about the true results of the US election online, but it doesn’t tell the full story.
Conservative radio personality, Kevin McCullough, originally shared the map which claimed US President Donald Trump won 84 per cent of America in the 2020 election.
Trump later retweeted the map, which breaks the US election results down into votes by county.
“America is 50 states. Minus the states in question Trump won 25, Biden won 16,” McCullough tweeted.
“Those states house 2974 counties. Even with the ‘votes in question’ Trump won 2496, Biden on 477. Trump won 84 per cent of America, Biden “won” 16 per cent.”
While the map would look as though Trump won the election, it is missing a great deal of context.
In addition to winning 306 electoral college votes, Joe Biden won the popular vote with more than 81 million votes.
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However, Donald Trump did win more counties in the 2020 election.
According to the Associated Press, Biden won 527 of the 3113 counties in the US election, however as AP notes: “the number of counties won does not correlate with the number of votes received nationwide”.
Trump won the remaining counties but got less of the popular vote than Biden at 74 million ballots in his favour which translated to 232 electoral college votes.
DIIVIDED NATION: 🚨🚨
America is 50 states.
Minus the states in question Trump won 25, Biden won 16.
Those states house 2974 counties.
Even with the “votes in question” Trump won 2496, Biden on 477.
Trump won 84% of America, Biden “won” 16%.#PickSixCheatBigJoeDid pic.twitter.com/jvE07q8C91— Kevin McCullough (@KMCRadio) December 21, 2020
Counties across the United States vary dramatically in size, from populations of a few hundred people to several million.
This year, Trump won many smaller counties, while Biden pulled majorities in some of the nation’s largest counties, such as Los Angeles County in California and Maricopa County in Arizona.
Winning more counties does not win elections
Essentially, winning more counties does not equal an election win.
This is something many people were pointing out under McCullough’s tweet.
“Who's gonna tell them that the blue counties have a much higher population count than the red counties?” one person replied.
Given that land doesn't vote, here's what it looks like when we only count the actual people voting! Look different, huh? pic.twitter.com/8yyclboUG4
— OSadek52 (@thebigOh) December 21, 2020
“The fact that Trumpers so doubt their own country, their own system of government checks and balances, their scientists, their own democracy... is both shameful and appalling!” another person tweeted.
“This has been Trump VS America, and they’re not on America’s side... They are a danger to peace and democracy.”
Last week, the electoral college decisively confirmed Joe Biden on Monday as the nation’s next president.
The presidential electors gave Biden a solid majority of 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232, the same margin that Trump bragged was a landslide when he won the White House four years ago.
The results will be sent to Washington and tallied in a January 6 joint session of Congress over which Vice President Mike Pence will preside.
Trump continues to ramp up election doubt
Since the race was called for Biden, Trump has gone out of his way to cast doubt on the election results - launching unsuccessful lawsuits in several states and claiming voter fraud, a claim which has been disputed.
Just this week, Trump's campaign said it will again ask the US Supreme Court to overturn results from the 3 November election, its latest long-shot effort to subvert the electoral process.
In a statement issued by the campaign on Sunday, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani said the campaign had filed a petition asking the court to reverse three rulings by a Pennsylvania state court interpreting the state's rules for mail-in ballots.
The Supreme Court on December 11 rejected a lawsuit filed by Texas and backed by Trump seeking to throw out voting results in four states, including Pennsylvania, that went for Biden.
With Associated Press and Reuters.
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