2020 United States Presidential Election (Pax Americana)

The 2020 United States presidential election was the 59th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. Incumbent President Donald Trump and incumbent Vice President Mike Pence defeated the Democratic ticket of Senator Bernie Sanders and Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Trump received the highest popular vote total of an incumbent president in American History, beating George W. Bush's record. Bernie Sanders received the highest popular vote total for a challenger to an incumbent president.

In a competitive Democratic Primary with the most candidates for any political party in the modern era, Sanders pulled off an upset victory over his closest primary rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, to secure the nomination. Biden was seen as the frontrunner early on in the race but was unable to gain momentum in early primaries. A sexual assault allegation leveled by former staffer Tara Reede and underperformance in the South Carolina primary forced Biden to drop out.

The central issues of the election were the economy, civil unrest in the wake of George Floyd's death, healthcare, and the Supreme Court following the death of Ruth Bater Ginsburg.

Sanders outpolled Trump in almost every single poll leading up to election day. Most pundits and election analysts predicted that Trump would be defeated.

Background
In the aftermath of Trump's upset victory in the 2016 Presidential Election, the Democratic Party struggled to find leadership. However, Democrats were seen as having momentum going into the 2020 Election cycle due to their victories in the 2018 Midterm Elections. President Trump's low approval ratings and the ongoing investigation into possible collusion with the Russian government in their interference in the 2016 Presidential Election motivated Democratic supporters as well.

Going into the election, Republicans were hopeful that positive economic growth would lead Trump to a reelection victory. During Trump's presidency, it was reported that a record number of Republican voters now distrusted both public polling and media outlets. Trump enjoyed high approval ratings among Republicans, topping 95 percent in some polls. Republican voters were also more likely to disregard the ongoing Russia investigation, with only 13 percent believing that Trump had colluded with the Russian government according to polling conducted by the New York Times.

Primaries
President Trump faced little opposition to the Republican nomination. Prominent critics of Trump, such as Senator Mitt Romney and former Senator Jeff Flake, declined to challenge Trump. Former Governor Bill Weld and former congressman Joe Walsh were the two most prominent candidates, but both had little support.

Democratic Party
Bernie Sanders became the presumptive nominee on June 5, 2020, when he secured enough delegates to win the nomination at the Democratic National Convention. He was officially nominated on July 14.