Biden breaks record for most votes in history for any presidential candidate

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Joe Biden - now declared the 46th president of the United States - has won more votes than any other candidate in American history. 

Mr Biden broke the previous record - held by Barack Obama - on Wednesday afternoon. His total count now stands above 74.8 million votes in the 2020 election, as of Saturday evening.

Mr Obama set the record in 2008 when he received 69.4 million votes.  

Mr Biden's record-setting numbers reflect this year's especially high voter turnout. 2020 is on track to have the largest voter turnout in the past 100 years.  

The Democrate was declared the next president after winning the key states of Pennsylvania and Nevada on Saturday.

Follow live: 2020 election results, updates and analysis

More than 102 million people voted prior to Election Day. 

The Democrat currently has 51 per cent of all votes counted nationwide against Trump's 48 per cent. Expect those figures to change as the vote count progresses. 

Mr Biden's popularity may come from genuine fans, but it is also likely that many voters were motivated to cast a ballot against Donald Trump.  

Exit polls showed that the economy and the Covid-19 pandemic were among the top concerns for voters. Supporters of Mr Trump tended to rank the economy as the more pressing issue, while Mr Biden's supporters ranked the coronavirus as most important.  

Whether or not Mr Biden's popularity translates to electoral college votes remains to be seen. In 2016, Democrat Hillary Clinton defeated Mr Trump in the popular vote by 3 million votes, but ultimately lost the electoral college and the election.