No, Trump doesn't actually have an electoral mandate—here's why
As the last votes continue to get tallied across the country, one thing is clear: Donald Trump’s victory on Nov. 5 is nowhere near the “mandate” Republicans are claiming.
On Monday, CNN data reporter Harry Enten broke down Trump's incredibly weak popular vote victory.
"Look, if you look historically speaking, Donald Trump is now under 50% in the national popular vote, barely under 50%,” Enten told CNN anchor John Berman. “Compare his popular vote victory to those, historically speaking, over the last 200 years. His popular vote victory ranks 44th out of 51. That ain’t exactly strong," he explained.
Indeed, Trump has the shakiest popular vote win since George W. Bush was reelected in 2004, and the latest popular vote margin is the leanest since Al Gore’s win over Bush in 2000 (Bush won by a single Electoral College vote, while Gore won the popular vote by 543,895).
Americans also did not show much confidence in Republicans downballot.