Republican nominee Donald Trump won the first-ever Tennessee Student Mock Election with an overwhelming margin of support from the more than 165,000 votes cast from students throughout Tennessee.
Trump earned 53.1 percent of the vote in the historic statewide mock election and would have been the next president of the United States had students been casting real ballots.
Student-voters represented 479 schools from 90 of the state’s 95 counties including Rutherford County.
Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett made the announcement at a press conference that was streamed live on Facebook from the school library at Thurman Francis Arts Academy in Smyrna.
“I’m thrilled that so many students and teachers from across our great state got behind this project with such passion,” Hargett said in a release that was made available following the press conference.
Hargett used the event to encourage Tennesseans to #GoVoteTN next Tuesday.
“Hopefully giving civics such an important role in the classroom translates into engaged citizens who continue exercising their right to vote when they are old enough to vote in real elections,” Hargett added.
Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton earned 34.3 percent of the vote, while Gary Johnson earned five percent and four others – Roque De La Fuente, Jill Stein, Alyson Kennedy and Mike Smith – earned no more than 2.3 percent.
Trump received 88,208 actual votes.
Clinton received 56,935 votes.
