Biden and Trump weren’t the only two presidential candidates in 2020

As critics of President-elect Donald Trump come to terms with Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss, some have shifted the blame to voters for third-party candidates.

"It’s now official — in the 2024 election, more people voted against Donald Trump than voted for him," a Nov. 12 Threads post read, as Trump seems on track to win the popular vote.

In response, a Nov. 12 Threads post read, "There were 4 to 8 candidates running in states for President. Big reason Kamala didn’t topple him. It was just Biden and Trump in 2020."

(Screenshot from Threads)

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The claim that there were fewer candidates in the 2020 presidential race is incorrect; Biden and Trump were not the only ones on the ballot that year. According to the official 2020 results reported by the Federal Election Commission, there were 36 presidential candidates listed who were on at least one state ballot. This does not include miscellaneous write-in candidates, which collectively gained 179,740 votes.

Here are the top ten presidential candidates, according to popular vote totals:

1. Joe Biden (Democrat, Working Families) — 81,283,501 votes

2. Donald Trump (Republican, Conservative) — 74,223,975 votes

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3. Jo Jorgensen (Libertarian, Independent) — 1,865,535 votes

4. Howie Hawkins (Green, Green-Rainbow, Independent, Mountain, Pacific Green, Statehood Green) — 407,068 votes

5. Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente — (American Independent, Alliance, Independence-Alliance, Natural Law, Reform, Independent) — 88,241 votes

6. Gloria Estela La Riva (Liberty Union, Peace and Freedom, Socialism and Liberation, Independent) — 85,685 votes

7. ​​Kanye West (Independent, The Birthday Party, Unaffiliated) — 70,950 votes

8. Don Blankenship (American Constitution, Constitution, Independent American, U.S. Taxpayers) — 60,080 votes

9. Brock Pierce (American Shopping, Freedom and Prosperity, Independence, Independent, Unaffiliated) — 49,769 votes

10. Brian Carroll (American Solidarity) — 40,365 votes

Apart from Biden and Trump, Ballotpedia reported that Jorgensen appeared on the ballot in all 51 jurisdictions. Hawkins from the Green Party appeared on the ballot in 30 states and five others appeared on the ballot in more than 10 states, Ballotpedia said. 

We rate the claim that Biden and Trump were the only presidential options in the 2020 election False.