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Who Won the Popular Vote: Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton?

UPDATE 12/11 10:55 a.m. ET: More than one month after the November 8 presidential elections, Hillary Clinton’s popular vote count continues to go up, now at 65,746,544, with President-elect Donald Trump’s votes totaling 62,904,682. This marks a more than 400,000-vote increase in Clinton’s popular vote count, giving her a lead ahead of Trump by 2.83 million votes. 

UPDATE 12/5 10:55 a.m. ET: Hillary Clinton’s lead in the popular vote has continued to grow unwaveringly since Election Day. According to the latest figures by the Cook Political Report, Clinton has 65,316,724 votes, while Donald Trump has 62,719,568, giving the former secretary of state a lead of nearly 2.6 million votes.

Green Party candidate Jill Stein initiated a Wisconsin recount in late November after she raised millions of dollars to have votes counted again the state. Clinton’s campaign announced on November 26 that it would participate in the recount, stating that it planned to “take the same approach” in Michigan and Pennsylvania as Stein pursued additional recounts. Trump called the effort “a scam by the Green Party for an election that has already been conceded.” On December 3, Stein wrote on Twitter that she plans to “escalate” the Pennsylvania recount through a federal lawsuit, hours after she stated that she’d drop the request.

Original story below:

The results are (mostly) in… President-elect Donald Trump captured the threshold 270 electoral college votes on Election Day, November 8, earning him the title of the 45th president of the United States. Trump’s rival, Hillary Clinton, however, is handily winning the popular vote, and her lead is only growing.

Votes are still being counted, but the Associated Press’ election results show the Democratic candidate, 69, leading the Republican nominee, 70, by 797,724 votes (0.62 percent of voters). According to the AP’s tally, she earned 61,324,576 votes (47.85 percent) and he garnered 60,526,852 votes (47.23 percent). CNN reported that Trump is likely to lose the popular vote “by anywhere from 500,000 to over a million votes.” Numbers tallied by the Cook Political Report suggest Clinton’s lead may already be over 990,000.

Related: PHOTOS: Hillary Clinton’s A-List Supporters

Many major news outlets, including CNN and Politico, have varying tallies as the final numbers come in, but Clinton leads Trump in the popular vote in all of them, despite losing the overall election.

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton during the presidential debate at Hofstra University on Sept. 26, 2016. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The former Celebrity Apprentice host took to Twitter on Tuesday, November 15, to address the popular vote results, writing, “If the election were based on total popular vote I would have campaigned in N.Y. Florida and California and won even bigger and more easily. The Electoral College is actually genius in that it brings all states, including the smaller ones, into play. Campaigning is so much different!”

Related: PHOTOS: Celebrities Supporting Donald Trump for President

In a shocking victory, Trump received 290 electoral college votes, thanks to states like Florida (29) and Pennsylvania (20). The former secretary of state, meanwhile, won 232 electoral votes with the help of California (55), New York (29) and Illinois (20).

This is the second time in the past five elections that the popular vote victor didn’t win in the electoral college. In 2000, President George W. Bush lost the popular vote to Democratic opponent Al Gore but took home more electoral votes.

In the wake of the recent results, more than 4.3 million people, including stars such as Lady Gaga and Pink, have signed a Change.org petition to ask Republican electors to honor the popular vote and declare Clinton the next POTUS.

Related: PHOTOS: Celebrities' Political Affiliations

“We are calling on the Electors to ignore their states’ votes and cast their ballots for Secretary Clinton,” the petition reads. “Why? Mr. Trump is unfit to serve. His scapegoating of so many Americans, and his impulsivity, bullying, lying, admitted history of sexual assault, and utter lack of experience make him a danger to the Republic.”

However, Ohio Northern University political science professor Robert M. Alexander wrote an op-ed for CNN stating that the petition will likely be ineffective.

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