Hillary Clinton's popular lead over U.S. President-elect Trump surpasses 2.5 million votes

U.S. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's popular lead over President-elect Donald Trump surpasses 2.5 million votes on Thursday as ballots are still being tallied after more than three weeks since the Nov. 8 general election.

Clinton's lead in total votes over Trump now is larger than the lead with which as many as ten U.S. presidents have won the general election, according to local media reports.

Converted into percentages, Clinton has won 48.1 percent of the vote so far, while Trump's share of the vote so far is 46.4 percent, said the reports.

However, it was Trump who prevailed on Election Day by clinching crucial 270 Electoral College votes. He has 306 Electoral College votes to Clinton's 232.

The Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson has got 3.3 percent of the vote so far, while Green Party candidate Jill Stein received 1.1 percent.

Trump tweeted on Sunday that he would have won the popular vote if millions of people didn't vote "illegally", but failing to offer any evidence to support his claim.

Stein has filed for vote recounts in three swing states -- Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, an effort supported by Clinton's campaign but called a "scam" by Trump.

Only in the highly unlikely event of overturning all three states can Clinton beat Trump to the White House.

Trump won all three states by a narrow margin in the presidential election, leading his major rival Democrat Hillary Clinton with just over 100,000 votes in all three states.

The Obama administration has repeatedly denied any major vote frauds, stressing that the election results "accurately reflect the will of the American people."

U.S. electors will meet on Dec. 19 to certify the results of the Electoral College. Endit