After gaining 306 electoral votes, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have won the 2020 presidential election against President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. When comparing ethnicity, a higher percentage of people of color (POC) and Black Americans voted for Biden and Harris than for white Americans. 

According to BBC News, 87% of Black voters, 66% of Hispanic/Latino voters, 63% of Asian voters, and 58% of other voters voted for Biden. All of these statistics are larger than the percentage of white people who voted for Biden, which is 42 percent. 

aDVERTISEMENT

These groups also affected Donald Trump’s electoral votes. CNN reports that Trump was able to win Florida in the electoral college because he had a lead in Latino voters. BBC estimated that Latinos gave him 12 points this election. 

In comparison to the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton received a larger percentage of POC and Black voters than Biden did this year according to CNN.

Clinton averaged an 80-point margin between Black men & women and a 38-point margin from Latino men & women, whereas Biden averaged a 71-point margin from the former and a 31-point margin from the latter.

In terms of Trump’s statistics, 12% of Black voters, 32% of Hispanic/Latino voters, 31% of Asian voters, and 40% other voters selected him on their ballots. 57% of white people voted for him, BBC reports. 

Hills students were asked their opinions on how ethnicity affected the election. 

Sophomore Allanah Mednard stated, “I think POC across all ethnicities helped Biden become the President-elect through the promotion of getting people out to vote. Especially after the rise in the spring of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, I know for myself and many other POC that we wanted to make sure that peoples’ words weren’t performative and that people were actually trying to make a change.” 

Stephanie Ye, another sophomore, agreed that the BLM movement impacted the election because voters took each candidate’s ration to it into consideration. 

Ye also stated that “without POC and African Americans, the election results and issues would have been completely different.”  

Mednard disagreed, and instead commented on how they always feel affected. 

“I don’t think Black people and other POC uphold our democracy more, but they definitely feel more of a need to because they will always be affected by the results. So it’s important for us to make sure our voices are heard.” 

Both sophomores also discussed how POC and Black people received recognition in this year’s election, specifically Stacey Abrams and Harris. 

“I have been seeing a lot of recognition for African-American politics who got lots of people to vote like Stacey Abrams and it’s been really nice to see. Harris’s election is going to open a lot of doors in politics for women, especially women of color. Her election shows that this country is moving forward from its past mistakes,” Mednard said. 

“Kamala Harris’s role as a vice president proves that it is possible for people of any color and gender to be a part of our government. I think with Kamala Harris as vice president, many young girls and children of color can be inspired. This sets more opportunities for women and minorities in the future of our democracy,” Ye said. 

Statistics show that there is a correlation between different ethnicities and how they impacted the election results.