Trump wins US election but loses popular votes

By Esra Kaymak Avci

WASHINGTON (AA) - Though he received 210,000 less votes than Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump became the president-elect by winning more than 270 electoral delegates, a must to become the president.

Trump is the first person in 60 years to become president without any political experience. He received 59.4 million to 59.4 million for Clinton.

Although Clinton had more votes, Trump became the president due to the winner-take-all system in the U.S., in which a candidate who receives the most votes in a state gets all of the electoral delegates from that state. The total number of electoral college delegates is 538. A candidate needs 270 delegates in order to become president.

Each state receives a number of delegates, depending on the number of congressional representatives in that state.

Trump's unexpected victory was facilitated by wins in swing states such as Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, but also in Arizona and Wisconsin where the race was tight. Some media reports said Trump succeeded in 29 states and increased his number of electoral delegates to 290.

On the other hand, Clinton won 19 states, including the U.S. capital, and received only 228 delegates.

Another important highlight of Trump's victory was that 58 percent of white Americans voted for the Republican, according to exit polls. On the other hand, Clinton received only 37 percent votes of the white Americans.

Trump received 29 percent of Hispanic support although he has proposed to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border do prevent undocumented immigrants from entering the country.