Trump won Pennsylvania by 44,292 votes, which is the narrowest margin in a presidential election since 1860 between William Henry Harrison and Martin Van Buren. He was the first Republican nominee for president to win the state since George H. W. Bush in 1988. Trump ended up winning the "Blue Wall" of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan in 2016.

Most election forecasters ahead of the election considered Pennsylvania the most likely tipping-point state, or the one that would push the race in either candidate's favor. If history holds, the remaining "blue wall" states — Michigan and Wisconsin — may also go the same way.