Each of the top two candidates for president of the United States has traveled at least 200,000 miles while on the campaign trail.
Put another way: They could have nearly made it to the moon by now — and there’s probably plenty of people who wish one, if not both, of them would have.
To determine how far Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton have traveled during the course of their respective campaigns, the Globe used information tracked by the National Journal. The Washington-based political news outlet has used press releases and news coverage to record the stops that presidential candidates have made since Nov. 4, 2014.
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The Globe shared the lists of places the candidates visited with GPS navigation company TomTom. Officials there calculated the mileage each candidate covered. Officials at MapQuest also ran the data and calculated virtually identical distance figures.
Some caveats: The data used for this story cover trips made through Monday. The mileage figures are based on publicly available information that does not reflect their every movement. The figures, at the same time, may somewhat overstate how far they actually traveled, because the distances calculated by TomTom were for driving only.
There will probably be many more trips for both candidates as Trump’s campaign, in the final days, tries to weather a raging firestorm of controversy and Clinton hopes to hold on to her lead in the polls.
But who has been winning the presidential (road) race so far?
In terms of estimated mileage, Trump is clearly in the lead, logging more miles than Clinton in a shorter period of time.
He’s racked up more than 276,000 miles since he officially announced he was running for president on June 16, 2015. She’s tallied 256,000-plus miles since April 12, 2015, when she formally announced her candidacy.
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In recent weeks, Trump has traveled considerably more miles — about double the distance Clinton has logged.
Trump has also taken fewer days off from traveling, according to the National Journal data. He’s traveled on just over half the days since he announced he was running. She’s traveled on about 39 percent of days since throwing her hat in the ring.
On the other hand, Clinton has made more stops on the campaign trail, 461 to Trump’s 362.
Clinton has had numerous days where she didn’t necessarily log a lot of miles, but made a series of stops in a relatively close area. On what was her busiest day in terms of stops, Clinton visited 24 different places. Trump’s busiest day included 7 stops.
She also logged an estimated 5,251 miles in a single day, while the most distance he covered in one day was 3,377 miles.
They have both visited about the same number of states (45 for Clinton and 47 for Trump) and cities (258 for her, 257 for him), according to the National Journal data.
They’ve both made more stops in Iowa than in any other state.
The most commonly listed reason for travel for Clinton was an “organizing event.” For Trump, it was a “rally.”
Trump has tried to make an issue of Clinton’s “stamina.” (He has also credited her with being a “fighter” who “doesn’t quit” and “doesn’t give up.”)
But both candidates have endured grueling campaigns. And they’re no strangers to frequent flying.
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Records show Clinton traveled nearly 1 million miles — or about 250,000 annually — during her four years as secretary of state, which ended in 2013.
Meanwhile, Trump’s two planes logged more than 500,000 miles in about a four-year span that ended shortly before he launched his presidential bid, according to a report by Time, citing records from the Federal Aviation Administration.
While the numbers are impressive, the two candidates are a long way from setting any world records.
For example, in 2012 alone, New Jersey resident Tom Stuker, then 59, logged more than a million miles of air travel — a mix of work and vacation trips via just one airline, according to The New York Times.
| Clinton | Trump | |
|---|---|---|
| Estimated mileage | 256,875 | 276,574 |
| Stops made | 471 | 362 |
| Avg. estimated miles per trip | 547 | 764 |
| Days campaigning | 548 (since April 12, 2015) | 483 (Since June 16, 2015) |
| % of days w. some travel | 39 | 51 |
| States visited | 45 | 47 |
| State most visited | Iowa (82) | Iowa (47) |
| Cities visited | 258 | 257 |
| City most visited | Washington, D.C. (14) | Washington, DC & Manchester, NH (T-8) |
| Most stops in a day | 24 | 7 |
| Most estimated miles in a day | 5,251 | 3,377 |
| Longest stretch of days without travel | 15 | 12 |
| Most commonly listed reason for travel | Organizing event | Rally |
Matt Rocheleau can be reached at matthew.rocheleau@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @mrochele.