280.
A candidate can win the popular vote but lose the election if they receive more votes from the general public but fewer electoral votes from the Electoral College. The Electoral College system in the United States determines the winner of the presidential election based on the number of electoral votes each candidate receives, rather than the total number of popular votes nationwide.
Electoral votes determine the President of the United States. Every state and DC are awarded a certain number of electoral votes with which to elect the President. Each state has electoral votes equal to the total of the 2 representative the state has in the U.S. Senate plus the number of representative the state has in the House of Representatives. The electors in each state are elected in the presidential election and swear in advance to vote for the presidential candidate who wins the election in their state. When people vote for a presidential candidate they actually are voting for the electors in that state who have sworn in advance that they will vote for that candidate in the electoral college.
Electoral votes in the Electoral College determine the President of the United States. 270 electoral votes in the Electoral College are needed to win the U.S. presidency. The total number of electoral votes in the Electoral College is 538 - 100 (senators) + 435 (representatives) + 3 (for DC). A majority is 270 - one more than half of the total number of 538. It is possible that a candidate could win the "national" popular vote total but lose the electoral vote total. However, the electoral vote of every state accurately reflects the popular vote within that state. A candidate could win the electoral votes in a large state such as California winning the state by a huge margin. However, the opposing candidate could win the electoral votes in other states because a majority of the voters in those states vote for the opposing candidate.
543, but a candidate only needs 273 to win.
Democratic Party candidate incumbent President Barack Obama won reelection in the 2012 presidential election defeating Republican Party candidate Mitt Romney. In the 2012 presidential election Barack Obama received 332 electoral votes and Mitt Romney received 206 electoral votes. The popular vote totals were Obama 65,446,032 and Romney 60,589,084.
A person wins a Presidential election in America slightly different from what most people think. Most people would tell you that the citizens vote and all votes are accounted for and whichever candidate receives the most votes is the President. However, the President is in fact selected by the electoral college. This is an uncommon occurrence but in the event that the popular vote (the citizens vote) differs from the electoral college, then the President is selected by the electoral college. So in reality citizens votes don't mean anything.
There are a total of 538 electors in the Electoral College for the presidential election. New York State has 29 electors in the Electoral College.
Electoral votes determine the President of the United States. Every state and DC are awarded a certain number of electoral votes with which to elect the President. Each state has electoral votes equal to the total of the 2 representative the state has in the U.S. Senate plus the number of representative the state has in the House of Representatives. The electors in each state are elected in the presidential election and swear in advance to vote for the presidential candidate who wins the election in their state. When people vote for a presidential candidate they actually are voting for the electors in that state who have sworn in advance that they will vote for that candidate in the electoral college.
Electoral votes in the Electoral College determine the President of the United States. Every state and the District of Columbia are awarded a certain number of electoral votes with which to elect the President. Each state has electoral votes equal to the total of the 2 representative the state has in the U.S. Senate plus the number of representative the state has in the House of Representatives. The electors in each state are elected in the presidential election and swear in advance to vote for the presidential candidate who wins the election in their state.
In the 52 U.S. presidential elections that were after the vice presidential election was separated from the presidential election and in which the electoral college elected the president, the winning candidate received votes from an average of 71.9% of appointed electors. Multiplying that by the 538 electors we have had per election for the past 50 years gives 387 votes. The minimum is the lowest whole number that is greater than 50%. For the past 50 years, that minimum has been 270.
The electoral vote of every state accurately reflects the popular vote within that state. Therefore, every elector in the Electoral College is expected to cast the electoral vote for the candidate who won the popular vote in that elector's state.
Electoral votes in the U.S. Electoral College determine the President and Vice President of the United States. Every state and the District of Columbia are awarded a certain number of electoral votes with which to elect the President. Each state has electoral votes equal to the total of the 2 representative the state has in the U.S. Senate plus the number of representative the state has in the House of Representatives. The electors in each state are elected in the presidential election and swear in advance to vote for the presidential candidate who wins the election in their state.