As the presidential race inches agonizingly toward a conclusion, it might be easy to miss the fact that the results are not really close.
With many ballots still left to count in heavily Democratic cities, former Vice President Joe Biden was leading President Donald Trump on Friday by more than 4.1 million votes. Amid all the anxiety over the counts in Pennsylvania and Georgia, and despite Americans’ intense ideological divisions, there was no question that — for the fourth presidential election in a row, and the seventh of the past eight — more people had chosen a Democrat than a Republican.
Only once in the past 30 years have more Americans voted for a Republican: in 2004, when President George W. Bush beat John Kerry by about 3 million votes. But three times, a Republican has been elected.