Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has won more votes than any other president in American history. Mr Biden broke the previous record – held by Barack Obama – on Wednesday afternoon after earning more than 67.7m votes.
Mr Obama set the record in 2008 when he received 69.4m votes. The former vice president’s record-setting numbers are likely a result of this year’s especially high voter turnout. The US is on course to have its largest voter turnout in the last century.
More than 102 million people voted prior to Election Day.
Mr Biden’s popular vote count will continue to grow over the coming days as states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada and Georgia continue to count mail-in votes. Mail-in votes are expected to skew in favour of Mr Biden.
Mr Biden’s popularity may come from genuine fans of the former vice president, but it is likely that many voters were motivated to the polls for the opportunity to cast a vote against Donald Trump.
Exit polls showed that the economy and the coronavirus were among the top concerns for voters. Supporters of Mr Trump tended to rank the economy as the more pressing issue, while Mr Biden’s supporters ranked the coronavirus as most important.
Whether or not Mr Biden’s popularity translates to electoral votes remains to be seen. In 2016, Democrat Hillary Clinton defeated Mr Trump in the popular election by 3m votes, but ultimately lost the electoral college and the election.
Mr Biden maintains narrow leads in Wisconsin, Nevada and Michigan and is narrowing Mr Trump’s lead over him in Pennsylvania and Georgia.