2020 US Presidential Election
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7correct to beat the crowd
50 free 2020 US Presidential Election trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The 2020 US presidential election was held in the middle of a pandemic, drew the highest turnout in more than a century and took days to call. Joe Biden unseated Donald Trump after a campaign of virtual conventions, socially distanced events and record numbers of postal ballots. This quiz follows the whole story: the crowded Democratic primaries and the candidates who stood out, the running mates, the debates and their viral moments, election night and the slow tally in the closest states, and the lawsuits, recounts and protests that came before inauguration day. It is written for anyone who followed the race closely, for students revising recent American history, and for quiz hosts who want a politics round that is fair to every side. Each answer comes with a short explanation, so you can play straight through or print it for a group.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Outside what kind of Philadelphia business did Rudy Giuliani hold a November 2020 press conference on the election?
A landscaping company
A landscaping company, Four Seasons Total Landscaping, hosted the event across the street from a crematorium. Many guessed the campaign had meant to book the upscale Four Seasons Hotel.
Q 02What landed on Mike Pence's head during the 2020 vice presidential debate and inspired a popular Halloween costume?
A fly
A fly settled on the vice president's white hair, and 'the fly' was tweeted and retweeted over 700,000 times. Joe Biden's campaign answered with a photo of him holding a fly swatter.
Q 03Which runner-up in the 2020 Democratic primaries became a meme for wearing mittens at Joe Biden's inauguration?
Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders wore mittens made by Vermont schoolteacher Jen Ellis, who then received thousands of requests for a pair. The photo was edited into historical pictures and countless jokes.
Q 04Which rapper ran for president in 2020 under the banner of his own newly formed 'Birthday Party'?
Kanye West
Kanye West picked the name because 'when we win, it's everybody's birthday'. He missed most states' ballot deadlines and conceded the morning after Election Day with roughly 70,000 votes.
Q 05Which line did Joe Biden snap at Donald Trump amid constant interruptions in their first 2020 presidential debate?
Will you shut up, man?
'Will you shut up, man?' followed repeated interruptions of Biden's answers, in a debate where the agreed speaking times were rarely kept. The two men met on a debate stage only once more that year.
Q 06A September 2020 newspaper investigation reported that Donald Trump paid how much federal income tax in 2016?
$750
$750 was all Donald Trump paid in 2016, and he paid another $750 in 2017, his first year in office. The report drew on more than two decades of his tax-return data.
Q 07Which 22-year-old poet recited 'The Hill We Climb' at Joe Biden's presidential inauguration?
Amanda Gorman
Amanda Gorman became the youngest poet ever to read at a presidential inauguration. Soon afterwards her two forthcoming books stood at the top of Amazon's bestseller list.
Q 08Which slogan, coined by Roger Stone in 2016, became the rallying cry of protests against the 2020 election result?
Stop the Steal
Stop the Steal was created in anticipation of election losses that could be portrayed as fraud. Facebook later said it would remove content containing the phrase from its platforms.
Q 09Which state's 2020 Democratic caucuses descended into chaos when a new app for reporting results failed?
Iowa
Iowa needed three days to publish even a preliminary statewide count, and the state party chair resigned. The app, built by a firm called Shadow Inc., had been reporting only partial data.
Q 10Which pop star sang the national anthem at Joe Biden's presidential inauguration in a custom Schiaparelli gown?
Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga shared the bill with Jennifer Lopez, who sang 'This Land Is Your Land', and Garth Brooks, who performed 'Amazing Grace' and asked the public to join in the final verse.
Q 11Which senator was elected America's first female vice president in 2020 after abandoning her own presidential run?
Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris was also the first African-American and first Asian-American vice president. A decade earlier she had become the first woman elected attorney general of California.
Q 12Joe Biden commuted by Amtrak to Washington for 36 years while serving as a senator for which state?
Delaware
Delaware sent Biden to the Senate from 1973 to 2009, and the daily rail journeys earned him the nickname 'Amtrak Joe'. As a senator he pushed for more funding for the railway.
Q 13Which state's 20 electoral votes put Joe Biden over the top when networks called the 2020 election on November 7?
Pennsylvania
Q 21Which former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, was the first openly gay candidate to win a presidential primary or caucus?
Pete Buttigieg
Pete Buttigieg took the opening contest of 2020 by a margin of just two delegates. He later joined Joe Biden's Cabinet as secretary of transportation.
Q 22Which 2020 Democratic candidate, a former Harvard law professor, was known for the catchphrase 'I have a plan for that'?
Elizabeth Warren
Elizabeth Warren's campaign store sold merchandise printed with the phrase. She left the race after Super Tuesday, when she came third in her home state of Massachusetts.
Q 23Which entrepreneur's 2020 Democratic campaign promised every American adult a 'Freedom Dividend' of $1,000 a month?
Andrew Yang
Pennsylvania took Biden past the 270 electoral votes he needed, roughly three and a half days after polls closed. ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and the Associated Press all made the call.
Q 14Which state did Fox News call for Joe Biden on election night 2020, ahead of its rivals, infuriating Donald Trump?
Arizona
Arizona was projected for Biden by Fox News at 11:20 p.m. Eastern, while several other outlets judged it too close to call. No Democrat had carried the state since 1996.
Q 15Before Joe Biden in 2020, who was the last Democratic presidential nominee to carry the state of Georgia?
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton carried Georgia in 1992, and no Democrat managed it again for 28 years. Biden's winning margin there was just 11,779 votes, or 0.23%.
Q 16Which Georgia secretary of state was asked by Donald Trump in a recorded phone call to 'find 11,780 votes'?
Brad Raffensperger
Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, held firm through the hour-long call. The figure Trump wanted was exactly one more vote than Joe Biden's winning margin in the state.
Q 17At which hospital was Donald Trump treated for COVID-19 in October 2020, a month before the presidential election?
Walter Reed
Walter Reed kept the president for three nights. During his stay he briefly left the building to wave at supporters from the back seat of an SUV, then went back inside.
Q 18Which judge was confirmed to the Supreme Court just eight days before the 2020 presidential election?
Amy Coney Barrett
Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed 52–48, only 30 days after her nomination. She filled the seat left empty by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg that September.
Q 19Donald Trump's first impeachment arose from pressing which country to investigate Joe Biden before the 2020 election?
Ukraine
Ukraine was waiting on withheld American military aid when its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, was asked to announce the inquiry. The Senate acquitted Trump nine months before polling day.
Q 20On which date, now shorthand for the event itself, did Trump supporters storm the US Capitol over the 2020 election?
January 6
January 6 was the day Congress met in joint session to count the Electoral College votes. The building was cleared by mid-evening and the count was completed by the next morning.
Andrew Yang argued the payments would cushion workers displaced by automation. He also ran on the slogan 'Make America Think Harder', shortened to MATH.
Q 24Which billionaire spent over $1 billion of his own money on a 2020 Democratic campaign that won only American Samoa?
Mike Bloomberg
Mike Bloomberg, mayor of America's largest city for twelve years, skipped the first four states to stake everything on Super Tuesday. He quit the next day and endorsed Joe Biden.
Q 25Which bestselling self-help author warned of a 'dark psychic force' during a 2019 Democratic presidential debate?
Marianne Williamson
Marianne Williamson rose to fame as Oprah Winfrey's spiritual adviser. Her debate line, aimed at Donald Trump, set off a spike in online searches for her name.
Q 26Which House Majority Whip endorsed Joe Biden three days before he won the 2020 South Carolina primary?
Jim Clyburn
Jim Clyburn's backing came after Biden had lost the first three contests. The win that followed, in every county of the state, was Biden's first ever in a presidential primary.
Q 27Joe Biden won the 2020 Democratic nomination despite finishing fifth in which state's primary?
New Hampshire
New Hampshire gave Biden fifth place and not a single delegate, even though he had been one of the leading contenders nationally.
Q 28Which Libertarian nominee finished third in the 2020 presidential election with about 1.9 million votes?
Jo Jorgensen
Jo Jorgensen was the first woman to head the Libertarian ticket. She was also the only woman in 2020 on enough state ballots to reach 270 electoral votes.
Q 29Which former Massachusetts governor won one delegate challenging Donald Trump in the 2020 Republican primaries?
Bill Weld
Bill Weld was the first Republican to win a delegate against a sitting president since Pat Buchanan in 1992. Four years earlier he had been the Libertarian nominee for vice president.
Q 30Which city's 2017 white nationalist rally did Joe Biden condemn in the video that launched his 2020 campaign?
Charlottesville
Charlottesville, and Donald Trump's remark that there were 'very fine people' on both sides, was the reason Biden gave for entering the race in April 2019.