Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon made a bold prediction Saturday that President Trump would accomplish something in 2020 that no presidential candidate has done in nearly 30 years.
“President Trump is not only going to finish this term, he’s going to win with 400 electoral votes in 2020,” Bannon told the crowd at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C.
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon: “Pres. Trump’s not only going to finish this term, he’s going to win with 400 electoral votes in 2020.” pic.twitter.com/rpK7tXfLLM— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) October 14, 2017
If that prediction were to come true Trump would receive nearly 100 more electoral votes in the Electoral College than he received in 2016, when he got 304 votes versus Hillary Clinton’s 227 votes. He was largely boosted by the close-call wins in swing states like Pennsylvania, Florida, and Michigan, which put him over the mark in the Electoral College while he lost the popular vote by nearly 2.9 million votes.
2016 electoral map pic.twitter.com/sBDDXfP8rD
— Mike (@Fuctupmind) September 4, 2017
If Trump were to reach the next centennial mark in 2020, he would achieve a feat not seen since the 1988 election, when George H.W. Bush crushed Democrat Michael Dukakis. That year, Bush carried 40 states and walked away with 426 electoral votes.
Since then, Bill Clinton got as high as 379 electoral votes in 1996 to get re-elected to the White House; George W. Bush never broke 300 electoral votes, getting up to 286 in 2004; and Barack Obama peaked in 2008 with 365 electoral votes.
(National Archives)
Despite the recent drought, winning presidential candidates commonly did reach 400 electoral votes in the decades preceding 1988. In fact, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, and Franklin D. Roosevelt each won an election with more than 500 electoral votes.
(National Archives)
Whether Trump, whose job approval rating average according to RealClearPolitics hovers a tick below 39 percent, can reach the 400 mark will likely be debated by pundits on both sides of the aisle now that Bannon has floated the idea.
