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Fact Check:
Counties won and votes received don’t correlate in presidential race

Counties across the United States vary dramatically in size, from populations of a few hundred people to several million. Trump won many smaller counties this year, while Biden pulled majorities in some of the nation’s largest counties, such as Los Angeles County in California and Maricopa County in Arizona.

Biden did win fewer small counties than Obama won in 2008, but he won by higher margins than Obama did in urban areas such as Los Angeles County and Washington’s King County, data shows.

The total number of votes Biden received doesn’t correlate with the number of counties he won.

His higher total vote tally compared to Obama is instead more likely related to higher voter turnout, fueled both by a growing population and a larger portion of the electorate voting in 2020 than in 2008.

About 27 million more people voted for president in 2020 than in 2008, according to the United States Elections Project. Both President Donald Trump and Biden received record numbers of votes this year.