Politics Hillary Clinton on Track to Win the Popular Vote – Despite Losing to Trump in Electoral College Votes Hillary Clinton is now leading the popular vote as officials continue to tally ballots, though Trump claimed the election with a win in the electoral college By Julie Mazziotta Julie Mazziotta Twitter Julie Mazziotta is the Sports Editor at PEOPLE, covering everything from the NFL to tennis to Simone Biles and Tom Brady. She was previously an Associate Editor for the Health vertical for six years, and prior to joining PEOPLE worked at Health Magazine. When not covering professional athletes, Julie spends her time as a (very) amateur athlete, training for marathons, long bike trips and hikes. People Editorial Guidelines Updated on November 9, 2016 01:23 PM Share Tweet Pin Email Nightmarish memories of the 2000 election are surfacing again for democrats, as Hillary Clinton takes a lead in the popular vote Wednesday morning. Though Donald Trump won the election with a victory in electoral college votes, earning 276 to Clinton’s 218, the former Secretary of State currently holds 59,385,603 of the overall vote to Trump’s 59,213, 188. If Clinton does win the popular vote, she would be the fifth presidential candidate to take the overall vote but not the electoral college. This comes just 16 years after fellow democrat Al Gore similarly lost the election in 2000 to George W. Bush. The voter turnout is estimated to end up around 118 million, a major decrease from the last eight years. In the historic 2008 election, which saw the country’s largest-ever turnout, 129 million Americans came out to vote. Even in the 2012 election, Obama’s reelection campaign, 127 million people voted. The razor-thin margin between Clinton and Trump may be even slimmer than the one Bush and Gore saw in 2000. Just 170,506 votes separate the two candidates today, while Gore won 543,895 more votes than Bush. Though Trump won thanks to the electoral college, he wasn’t a big fan in 2012 after Mitt Romney lost to incumbent President Barack Obama. “The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy,” he tweeted.