2020 U.S. Presidential Election
2020 U.S. Presidential Election
  • Reporter Park Eu-gene
  • 승인 2020.11.27 15:09
  • 댓글 0
이 기사를 공유합니다

▲Joe Biden (left) and Donald Trump / Reuters
▲Joe Biden (left) and Donald Trump / Reuters

 

Former Vice President and Democrat Joe Biden is the projected winner of the presidency over Donald Trump, the Republican incumbent president. Many media outlets reported that Joe Biden secured more than the requisite 270 out of 538 electoral votes needed to win the presidency on Nov. 7, when he won 20 electoral votes from Pennsylvania. However, Trump has claimed many times on Twitter that he should have won the election if not for election fraud.
The 2020 U.S. general election took place on Nov. 3. In the U.S., almost every state casts all its electoral votes to the candidate that receives the majority of votes from its citizens, an election process called the electoral college. The electors of each state will meet and cast their electoral votes on Dec. 14. On Jan. 6, 2021, the U.S. Congress will meet in joint session to count the electoral votes, and the next president and vice president will be inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2021.
This year’s U.S. election was unusual in several ways. Firstly, voter turnout was the highest since 1900. As of Nov. 21, Biden gained over 79 million votes compared to Trump’s 73 million. Biden set a record for the most votes ever cast for a candidate in a U.S. presidential election. Secondly, the COVID-19 pandemic caused the highest number of postal and early votes ever. Thirdly, almost 14 billion USD was spent on the presidential and congressional races, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. This is twice the amount spent during the 2016 U.S. election.
Experts predict Biden’s administration to implement key policy changes that will affect South Korea. A report published on Nov. 9 by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry summarized the predicted changes: a return to traditional, multilateral cooperation (bond with allies), an increase in oil prices, dollar decline due to a stimulus package, eco-friendly growth, and a bottom-up North Korea policy change.
However, Trump has refused to concede. He has filed lawsuits against several states disputing the election results and asking for vote recounts. Many Republicans support him, such as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who  claims that Trump is “100% within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options.” However, a group of U.S. federal agencies and election officials refuted Trump, saying, “there is no evidence that any voting system … was in any way compromised.”
Meanwhile, on Nov. 24, the General Services Administration (GSA) decided to start initial protocols to begin the presidential transition.