Alameda County Presidential Election Results: Trump Gains Votes

ALAMEDA COUNTY, CA — President Donald Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in California on Tuesday was completely expected, as the state is solidly blue. In fact, the entire West Coast is as blue as the Pacific Ocean.

Here in Alameda County, Trump received more votes against former Vice President Joe Biden than he did four years ago against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. But Biden also performed better than Clinton, as the major party candidates pulled more votes away from smaller parties such as the Green and Libertarian parties.

According to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters, the final vote in 2016 for the major candidates:

• Hillary Clinton, Democrat, 514,842 votes, 78.06 percent of the vote
• Donald Trump, Republican, 95,922 votes, 14.54 percent of the vote

In 2020, the uncertified totals at this point:

• Joe Biden, Democrat, 300,278 votes, 81.73 percent of the vote
• Donald Trump, Republican, 59,832 votes, 16.28 percent of the vote

So even though President Trump moved from 14 to 16 percent of the vote in this county, the gap between him and his Democratic challenger widened from a difference of 63.52 percent of the vote in 2016, to 65.45 percent of the vote this year.

Tuesday's vote climaxed a heated battle for control of the White House, unfolding during a pandemic that killed nearly a quarter of a million Americans before Election Day. At this writing, a clear winner has not been determined.

Trump had struggled to overcome polling deficits in key states in the campaign’s final days. He ran strong as expected in rural areas, but lost support among other critical voting groups, including suburban women in several battleground states.

CNN reported in October that polling put Biden up by 25 points among women voters. According to the final 2016 pre-election polls, Clinton won women voters by 13 points among likely voters and 14 points among registered voters.

Polls also showed that Biden was favored on the topic of coronavirus, while Trump was favored on the economy.

— Written by Patch editors Kara Seymour and Bea Karnes