President-elect
Joe Biden was nominated by Democratic primary voters in large part because of his perceived electability in the general election. Biden proved primary voters right by winning and by doing considerably better than Democratic House candidates. Yet Biden has won in a way that was perhaps surprising to some. He was the first candidate to win without taking at least Florida or Ohio since 1960. Biden did considerably worse with Hispanics than Hillary Clinton in municipalities throughout the country.
And Biden won the presidency even as President Donald Trump's base largely stuck with him.
So how'd he do it? Biden's pathway to victory intensified the gains Clinton made in 2016. In doing so, he became the seventh Democrat in eight times to win the popular vote, which is the first time since 1828 that one party won the popular vote that often in eight straight elections.
Biden wins in the center, proving Trump's solid base isn't enough
During Trump's presidency, the idea of his unmovable base was spoken about so often that it almost became a joke. Trump himself would tweet out (often false numbers) about how well he was doing with Republican voters.
