How do I reconcile with thee? Let me count the ways

2016 presidential election by the numbers

In
4 minute read
The numbers don't lie. (Photo by Canadian Pacific via Creative Commons/Flickr)
The numbers don't lie. (Photo by Canadian Pacific via Creative Commons/Flickr)

Let's do the numbers.

Not the ones you already know: January 20; 45th president; five-letter word (rhymes with stump, slump, ka-thump). Let’s look at the numbers that tell a more complicated story, one that muddies tidy conclusions about a resurgent GOP, a country flushed red with working-class rage or a Democrat who failed to ignite her core constituencies.

Here goes:

  • Number of electoral college votes received by Donald J. Trump: 290
  • Number he would have received if only the votes of 18-25-year-olds were counted: 23
  • Size of the history-making gender gap in votes for Clinton and Trump: 24 points (Clinton won women by 12 points and lost men by 12 points, compared to Obama’s 20-point gap in 2012)
  • Number of votes (as of Monday) for Clinton: 61,039,676
  • Number of votes for Trump: 60,371,193
  • Clinton’s popular-vote margin of victory: 668,483
  • Number of Citizens Bank Park-size arenas it would take to hold that many people: 15
  • Of the past seven elections, number in which the GOP candidate for president has lost the popular vote: 6 (only exception: Bush in 2004)
  • Number of previous times in U.S. history that a candidate lost the popular vote but won the electoral college: four
  • Last time that happened: 2000 (Hanging chads, anyone?)
  • Time before that: 1888
  • Year our founding fathers created the electoral college, in part a bid by southern states for more heft in the electoral process (slaves could not vote, but were counted as part of a state’s population, boosting its total electoral votes): 1787
  • Worth of each slave in that population count: three-fifths of a person
  • Year in which Trump tweeted, “The electoral college is a disaster for democracy”: 2012
  • Percentage of eligible voters (as of Saturday’s count) who actually made it to the polls: 57.9
  • Percentage of eligible voters who did not vote: 42.1 (shame on every one of you)
  • Number of states in which voters approved hikes to the minimum wage: four (Washington, Arizona, Colorado and Maine)
  • Annual income of a Washington worker earning minimum wage once it rises to $13.50 in 2020: $28,080
  • Total campaign spending by both candidates as of mid-October: $689.5 million ($450.6 million by Clinton, $238.9 million by Trump)
  • Number of accusations of sexual assault, harassment and discrimination against Trump detailed by the New York Times in late October: 23
  • Number of times Trump has used the word “disgusting” to describe — sorry, no, not his behavior with women — everything from the Iran nuclear deal, to an attorney who needed to pump breast milk, to Clinton’s bathroom break during a debate: Too many to count (but you can watch the video here)
  • Number of people who have gained health insurance coverage because of Obamacare: 20 million
  • Number of times, during his second debate against Clinton, that Trump referred to Obamacare as a “disaster”: three (in case you missed the point, he also called it “a lie,” “horrible,” and “very bad”)
  • Number of Philadelphians who live under the federal poverty line: 400,000 (26 percent, the highest among the nation’s 10 largest cities)
  • Percentage of Philadelphia voters who chose Clinton: 82
  • Amount by which scientists expect sea levels to rise in this century due to global warming: two to seven feet
  • State most vulnerable to flooding due to rising sea levels: Florida
  • Number of presidential wannabes who have tweeted that climate change is a hoax created by the Chinese: one (extra credit if you guess which one)
  • Election returns in Florida: 49.1 percent for Trump, 47.8 percent for Clinton
  • Cost of a grande vanilla decaf soy latte at Starbucks: $5.05
  • Number of weeks in a presidential term: 208
  • Cost of drowning my rage and grief in a grande vanilla decaf soy latte once a week until November 3, 2020: $1,050.40
  • Cost of a letter mailed to any member of Congress: 47 cents
  • Cost of new soles on my favorite black clogs once I’ve worn them out marching in resistance and solidarity: $25

Cost of spending the next four years not standing up, in every way possible, for the dignity and rights of women, immigrants, people of color, LGBTQ folks, Muslims, the poor, and the unemployed, while simultaneously agitating to change a system stacked in favor of the wealthy and advantaged: HUGE.

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