When the 2016 election began, there were 16 Republican candidates, six Democrats and a handful of third-party hopefuls. For almost two years, we have witnessed scandals, reacted to leaked videos, watched sordid debates and seen non-controversies turn into almost crushing headlines. Tomorrow, it ends (we hope)!
This election isn’t just about the US — it’s about all of us. The winner will have a long-lasting effect not only on American politics, but on the rest of the world.
And that's why we ran The UnConvention World Vote during the last three weeks — to give everyone a chance to state a preference, give reasons for their choice and share views in a text or video. It was an unscientific straw poll that allowed anyone with a Facebook account to vote just once from that account. More than 43,000 people from 88 countries participated.
Here's what they told us.
By Candidate:
Hillary Clinton won worldwide with 65 percent of the vote. Donald Trump received 24 percent of the vote.
You can see the full global poll results by country in our map:
And here is a look at just the US and its state-by-state breakdown:
By Age:
For our UnConvention project, in conjunction with 92Y and Mic, we spent the last three months studying the political preferences of millennials. The results of the World Vote are surprising, in that, while the media tends to paint millennials as third party worshippers, the truth is, they are overwhelmingly favoring the Democratic candidate.
Of the 19,010 millennials who participated in The World Vote, 24 percent voted for Trump, 58 percent voted for Clinton, and 5 percent voted for third party candidates, such as Gary Johnson or Jill Stein. The remainder said they wanted none of the people in the poll, or someone else completely.
By Gender:
Given her track record fighting for gender equality (and Donald Trump’s unfavorable standing with women,) it’s probably not surprising that women worldwide are #WithHer. About 76 percent of women who participated in The World Vote voted for Clinton, while only 17 percent voted for Trump.
Men are more of a wild card this election season — 55 percent voted for Clinton, and 31 percent sided with Trump in our straw vote.
READ MORE: Three reasons some young women are sticking with Trump
By Reason:
The reasons people gave for supporting or not supporting a candidate were a mixture of hopes and fears: 37 percent of people who voted for Clinton said they did so because of social issues, such as abortion rights and marriage equality. Those who supported Trump tended to be more interested in jobs and the economy, but chose their candidate for a broader range of issues. However, only 27 people who voted for Trump said they were doing it for his stand on climate/enviromental issues.
Perspective:
While the numbers say a lot, people's actual voices said much more. We asked folks to leave comments at the end of the poll, and here's a small selection of what they had to say.
"For the first time in 55 years, I'm afraid of how an election will turn out!” writes F.I. Benton, a middle-aged woman from Indiana. “If Mr. Sanders had not been cheated out of the nomination of his party, this nightmare would have been over."
Natasha Sonck, a millennial voter from Michigan shared a common sentiment: "This is my first election I am eligible to vote in and it upsets me that I have to pick the lesser of two evils and not a candidate that I truly support."
However, Mark Schneider, a middle-aged man from Virginia shared a more positive perspective on Clinton. "She's by far the most experienced candidate to run in decades,” wrote Schneider. “I'm voting for her because she never gives up and is fighting for values I believe in. Additionally, she's far more inclined to work together with other nations for a common good."
While Trump lost in our World Vote straw poll, he did have some fans who believe in his message. "In short, Donald Trump is not the ideal candidate but he exposes an extremely corrupt system and all of those involved,” wrote Hayden Cappelle, a millennial from Canada. “He also means a return to the style of government that actually cares what is best for the country and not just the political ruling class. He fights against centralizing power and control into the hands of the government."
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