2016 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
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| Elections in Rhode Island |
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The 2016 United States presidential election in Rhode Island took place on November 8, 2016, as part of the 2016 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Rhode Island voters chose four electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote.
Prior to the election, Rhode Island was considered to be a state Clinton would win or a safe blue state. Rhode Island, like most of New England, is strongly Democratic. Its voters tend to be liberal on social issues, most of its population lives in urban cities, its voting age population skews younger, and the Democratic Party has been regarded as the state's dominant party since the 1930's.[2][3][4]
Although Clinton easily won Rhode Island, her 15.5% margin was significantly weaker than Obama's 27% margin 4 years earlier. Trump notably became the first Republican nominee for president to win a county since Reagan won the state in 1984.
Primaries
[edit]Democratic primary
[edit]Four candidates appeared on the Democratic presidential primary ballot:[5]
- Bernie Sanders
- Hillary Clinton
- Rocky De La Fuente
- Mark Stewart
| Rhode Island Democratic primary, April 26, 2016 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Popular vote | Estimated delegates | |||
| Count | Percentage | Pledged | Unpledged | Total | |
| Bernie Sanders | 66,993 | 54.71% | 13 | 0 | 13 |
| Hillary Clinton | 52,749 | 43.08% | 11 | 9 | 20 |
| Mark Stewart | 236 | 0.19% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rocky De La Fuente | 145 | 0.12% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Write-in | 673 | 0.55% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Uncommitted | 1,662 | 1.36% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 122,458 | 100% | 24 | 9 | 33 |
| Source: [6][7][8] | |||||
Republican primary
[edit]
- 50–60%
- 60–70%
- 70–80%
- 40–50%
Three candidates appeared on the Republican presidential primary ballot:[5]
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Actual delegate count | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bound | Unbound | Total | |||
| Donald Trump | 39,221 | 63.7% | 12 | 0 | 12 |
| John Kasich | 14,963 | 24.3% | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| Ted Cruz | 6,416 | 10.4% | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Uncommitted | 417 | 0.7% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Marco Rubio (withdrawn) | 382 | 0.6% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Write-in | 215 | 0.3% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unprojected delegates: | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Total: | 61,614 | 100.00% | 19 | 0 | 19 |
| Source: Rhode Island Board of Elections | |||||
General election
[edit]Predictions
[edit]| Source | Ranking | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles Times[9] | Safe D | November 6, 2016 |
| CNN[10] | Safe D | November 4, 2016 |
| Cook Political Report[11] | Safe D | November 7, 2016 |
| Electoral-vote.com[12] | Safe D | November 8, 2016 |
| Rothenberg Political Report[13] | Safe D | November 7, 2016 |
| Sabato's Crystal Ball[14] | Safe D | November 7, 2016 |
| RealClearPolitics[15] | Likely D | November 8, 2016 |
| Fox News[16] | Safe D | November 7, 2016 |
Results
[edit]| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Hillary Clinton | 252,525 | 54.41% | |
| Republican | Donald Trump | 180,543 | 38.90% | |
| Libertarian | Gary Johnson | 14,746 | 3.18% | |
| Green | Jill Stein | 6,220 | 1.34% | |
| Write-in | Evan McMullin | 759 | 0.16% | |
| American Delta | Rocky De La Fuente | 671 | 0.14% | |
| Write-in | Mike Maturen | 46 | 0.01% | |
| Write-in | Darrell Castle | 30 | 0.01% | |
| Write-in | Other write-ins | 8,604 | 1.85% | |
| Total votes | 464,144 | 100.00% | ||
By county
[edit]| County | Hillary Clinton Democratic |
Donald Trump Republican |
Various candidates Other parties |
Margin | Total votes cast | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Bristol | 14,609 | 57.35% | 8,965 | 35.19% | 1,901 | 7.46% | 5,644 | 22.16% | 25,475 |
| Kent | 37,788 | 46.05% | 38,336 | 46.72% | 5,929 | 7.23% | -548 | -0.67% | 82,053 |
| Newport | 22,851 | 55.67% | 15,077 | 36.73% | 3,117 | 7.60% | 7,774 | 18.94% | 41,045 |
| Providence | 142,899 | 57.51% | 90,882 | 36.58% | 14,693 | 5.91% | 52,017 | 20.93% | 248,474 |
| Washington | 33,741 | 50.84% | 27,230 | 41.03% | 5,398 | 8.13% | 6,511 | 9.81% | 66,369 |
| Totals | 252,525 | 54.41% | 180,543 | 38.90% | 31,076 | 6.69% | 71,982 | 15.51% | 464,144 |
| Democratic Hold | Republican Gain from Democratic |
- Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
By congressional district
[edit]Clinton won both congressional districts.[20]
| District | Clinton | Trump | Representative |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 59% | 34% | David Cicilline |
| 2nd | 50% | 43% | James Langevin |
By municipality
[edit]
Analysis
[edit]Donald Trump flipped several municipalities that had not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since the 1980s including Burrillville, Coventry, Exeter, Foster, Glocester, Hopkinton, Johnston, Lincoln, North Smithfield, Richmond, Smithfield, and West Warwick. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton was able to flip East Greenwich which voted for Mitt Romney in 2012. This was the worst Democratic performance in Burrillville since 1920 and the worst Democratic performance in Johnston since 1924.
As of the 2024 United States presidential election, this is the solitary election since 1984 where any county in Rhode Island voted Republican (Kent County narrowly voted for Trump), and the most recent election where Lincoln voted Republican.
See also
[edit]- United States presidential elections in Rhode Island
- 2016 Democratic Party presidential debates and forums
- 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries
- 2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums
- 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries
References
[edit]- ^ This figure is calculated by dividing the total number of votes cast in 2016 (464,144) by an estimate of the number of registered voters in Rhode Island in 2016 (770,875).
- For the number of votes cast, see "Official 2016 Presidential General Election Results". Rhode Island Board of Elections. February 27, 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
- For the estimated number of registered voters, see "STATEWIDE - VOTER REGISTRATION SUMMARY" (PDF). Rhode Island Board of Elections. October 9, 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 25, 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
- ^ Quinn, Sean (September 29, 2008). "Road to 270: Rhode Island". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved April 25, 2025.
- ^ "Demographic and Economic Profiles of Rhode Island's Electorate". Census.gov. Retrieved April 25, 2025.
- ^ "New Year's Day marks 78 years since RI 'Bloodless Revolution' | WPRI.com Blogs". web.archive.org. January 7, 2013. Retrieved April 25, 2025.
- ^ a b Patrick Anderson. "Candidates in both parties gear up for spot on R.I. primary ballot". The Providence Journal. Retrieved February 5, 2016.
- ^ The Green Papers
- ^ Rhode Island Board of Elections
- ^ Rhode Island Democratic Party - Official Pledged Delegates Allocation
- ^ "Our final map has Clinton winning with 352 electoral votes. Compare your picks with ours". Los Angeles Times. November 6, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
- ^ Chalian, David (November 4, 2016). "Road to 270: CNN's new election map". CNN. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
- ^ "2016 Electoral Scorecard". The Cook Political Report. November 7, 2016. Archived from the original on March 1, 2019. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
- ^ "2016 Electoral Map Prediction". Electoral-vote.com. November 8, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
- ^ "Presidential Ratings". The Rothenberg Political Report. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
- ^ Sabato, Larry J. (November 7, 2016). "2016 President". University of Virginia Center for Politics. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
- ^ "2016 Election Maps - Battle for White House". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
- ^ "Electoral Scorecard: Map shifts again in Trump's favor, as Clinton holds edge". Fox News. November 7, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
- ^ "Rhode Island Election Results". The New York Times. Retrieved December 12, 2016.
- ^ "2016 Presidential General Election Results - Rhode Island".
- ^ Bump, Philip. "The counties that flipped parties to swing the 2016 election". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
- ^ https://davesredistricting.org/maps#viewmap::413e574e-0568-48f4-8e4e-0a31aefa65c2
External links
[edit]- RNC 2016 Republican Nominating Process Archived 2016-11-08 at the Wayback Machine
- Green papers for 2016 primaries, caucuses, and conventions
