2016 United States Presidential Election (The Great Split)

The 2016 United States Presidential Election was the 58th quadrennial presidential election. In a huge electoral upset, the third-party Constitution ticket of businessman Donald Trump and doctor Ben Carson defeated three challengers; Democrat Hillary Clinton, Republican Marco Rubio, and Independent Bernie Sanders.

This was the first election in history in which the winning candidate was not of a major party, and the first since 1824 in which four candidates each took states. Trump took office as the 45th President, and Carson as the 48th Vice President. This was the biggest defeat for the Republican Party since 1936, and the biggest defeat for the Democrats since 1984.

During the primary process, major splitting took place as two populists, Trump and Sanders, fought for the nomination of their respective parties. However, Trump, who was considered a "dangerous" candidate by GOP leadership, was narrowly defeated by Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, while Sanders was defeated by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who had the Clinton name recognition behind her.

Due to this, both Trump and Sanders abandoned the major parties and drifted to small ones.