2016 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
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| Turnout | 60.2%[1]  0.6 pp | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 County Results
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 Municipality Results
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 Results by county showing number of votes by size and candidates by color | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Treemap of the popular vote by county.
| Elections in Rhode Island |
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 Federal government |
 Providence |
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.
Although a "safe blue state", Trump improved on Romney's performance; Romney lost the state by 27 points, whereas Trump lost by less than 16 points. In 2012, Mitt Romney won only three towns in Rhode Island.[2] Donald Trump won 14 towns and even narrowly flipped Kent County, making this the first time a Republican has won a county in the state since Ronald Reagan in 1984.
As of 2020, this was the last election in which the towns of Lincoln, Richmond, and West Warwick backed the Republican candidate for president. All three towns had a long history of voting for Democrats before Trump won them in 2016, but in 2020 they were won by Joe Biden. The other nine towns that Trump flipped in 2016 remained Republican in 2020, a sign that Republican gains in Rhode Island in 2016 marked the beginning of a small realignment in state politics, especially among white working class voters.
Primaries[]
Democratic primary[]
Four candidates appeared on the Democratic presidential primary ballot:[3]
- 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: The Green Papers, Rhode Island Board of Elections and Rhode Island Democratic Party - Official Pledged Delegates Allocation | |||||
Republican primary[]
Three candidates appeared on the Republican presidential primary ballot:[3]
- Ted Cruz
- John Kasich
- Donald Trump
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Actual delegate count | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bound | Unbound | Total | |||
| Donald Trump | 39,221 | 62.92% | 12 | 0 | 12 |
| John Kasich | 14,963 | 24.01% | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| Ted Cruz | 6,416 | 10.29% | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Uncommitted | 417 | 0.67% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Marco Rubio (withdrawn) | 382 | 0.61% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unprojected delegates: | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Total: | 62,331 | 100.00% | 19 | 0 | 19 |
| Source: The Green Papers | |||||
General election[]
Predictions[]
| Source | Ranking | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles Times[4] | Safe D | November 6, 2016 |
| CNN[5] | Safe D | November 4, 2016 |
| Cook Political Report[6] | Safe D | November 7, 2016 |
| Electoral-vote.com[7] | Safe D | November 8, 2016 |
| Rothenberg Political Report[8] | Safe D | November 7, 2016 |
| Sabato's Crystal Ball[9] | Safe D | November 7, 2016 |
| RealClearPolitics[10] | Likely D | November 8, 2016 |
| Fox News[11] | Safe D | November 7, 2016 |
Results[]
| 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% | ||
The pink municipalities voted for Barack Obama in 2012 and flipped to Donald Trump in 2016. Only East Greenwich voted for Mitt Romney in 2012 but flipped to Hillary Clinton in 2016. Dark blue and dark red municipalities did not flip from 2012 to 2016.
Results by county[]
| County | Clinton% | Clinton# | Trump% | Trump# | Others% | Others# | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bristol | 57.35% | 14,609 | 35.19% | 8,965 | 7.46% | 1901 | 25,475 |
| Kent | 46.05% | 37,788 | 46.72% | 38,336 | 7.23% | 5929 | 82,053 |
| Newport | 55.67% | 22,851 | 36.73% | 15,077 | 7.59% | 3117 | 41,045 |
| Providence | 57.78% | 143,571 | 36.31% | 90,210 | 5.91% | 14693 | 248,474 |
| Washington | 50.84% | 33,741 | 41.03% | 27,230 | 8.13% | 5398 | 66,369 |
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican[]
- Kent (largest city: Warwick) [14]
Municipalities that flipped from Democratic to Republican[]
- Burrillville (Providence County)
- Coventry (Kent County)
- Exeter (Washington County)
- Foster (Providence County)
- Glocester (Providence County)
- Hopkinton (Washington County)
- Johnston (Providence County)
- Lincoln (Providence County)
- North Smithfield (Providence County)
- Richmond (Washington County)
- Smithfield (Providence County)
- West Warwick (Kent County)
Municipalities that flipped from Republican to Democratic[]
- East Greenwich (Kent County)
See also[]
- 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[]
- ^ 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. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
- ^ "2012 Presidential Election Results - Rhode Island by City and Town". U.S. Election Atlas. David Leip. Retrieved 2016-11-25.
- ^ a b Patrick Anderson. "Candidates in both parties gear up for spot on R.I. primary ballot". The Providence Journal. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
- ^ "Our final map has Clinton winning with 352 electoral votes. Compare your picks with ours". Los Angeles Times. 2016-11-06. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
- ^ 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. 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 2016-11-13.
- ^ "Electoral Scorecard: Map shifts again in Trump's favor, as Clinton holds edge". Fox News. 2016-11-07. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
- ^ "Rhode Island Election Results". Retrieved December 12, 2016.
- ^ https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=2016&fips=44&f=0&off=0&elect=0&minper=0
- ^ Bump, Philip. "The counties that flipped parties to swing the 2016 election". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
External links[]
State and district results of the 2016 United States presidential election | ||
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Categories:
- 2016 United States presidential election by state
- United States presidential elections in Rhode Island
- 2016 Rhode Island elections