NEW YORK—A trending story that claims Hillary Clinton won a total of 57 counties in the presidential election is untrue.
The Associated Press finds that Clinton won 487 counties nationwide, compared with 2,626 for President-elect Donald Trump.
The story appeared on several viral content sites.
It also falsely claimed that Clinton outpaced Trump by more than 2 million votes in the five counties that comprise New York City, which the story said accounted for the entirety of her lead in the national popular vote. An AP count finds that Clinton beat Trump by roughly 1.5 million votes in New York City. Nationwide, Clinton holds a popular vote lead of more than 2 million.
Why the electoral college is necessary in one map. Without it, a few heavily populated cities would determine each election. pic.twitter.com/XxOkKhuTRK
— Weaponized Pancakes (@aikaflip) November 30, 2016
2016 U.S. Presidential election map by county . #map #maps pic.twitter.com/SLTdJdUOjg
— OnlMaps (@onlmaps) November 26, 2016
The AP considers parishes in Louisiana as counties in election tallies. Washington, D.C., and Alaska have a single statewide reporting unit.
Virginia’s count includes 95 counties and 38 independent cities.