2016 Massachusetts Republican presidential primary

The 2016 Massachusetts Republican presidential primary was held on Tuesday March 1, as one of the Republican Party's 2016 presidential primaries. Massachusetts was one of eleven states that held both their Democratic and Republican presidential primaries on that day, dubbed "Super Tuesday". 42 delegates were allocated proportionally to all candidates who received at least 5 percent of the vote in the primary.

2016 Massachusetts Republican presidential primary

March 1, 2016 (2016-03-01)
42 pledged delegates to the Republican National Convention
Candidate Donald Trump John Kasich Home state New York Ohio Delegate count 22 8 Popular vote 311,313 113,783 Percentage 49.3% 18.0%   Candidate Marco Rubio Ted Cruz Home state Florida Texas Delegate count 8 4 Popular vote 112,822 60,473 Percentage 17.9% 9.6%
Donald Trump   20–30%   30–40%   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80-90%   90-100%   John Kasich   20–30%   30–40%   40–50%   50-60%   Marco Rubio   20-30%   30–40%   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   Ted Cruz   20-30%   30–40%   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   Tie

State of the Campaign

Donald Trump won the Massachusetts primary comfortably, in keeping with polls that had shown him with double-digit leads over his primary rivals in the state. Trump's victory also reflected his relative strength among Republicans in the Northeastern United States. Trump received about 49% of the vote statewide. John Kasich and Marco Rubio came in second and third, respectively, each with about 18% of the vote. Ted Cruz came in fourth with just under 10% of the vote. Of the state's 42 delegates, Trump received 22 of them, Kasich and Rubio each received eight, and Cruz received four.

Donald Trump enjoyed the endorsement of former Senator Scott Brown, who stumped for him in Massachusetts and New Hampshire ahead of the primary.

Endorsements

John Kasich

Newspapers

• The Boston Globe
• Daily Hampshire Gazette (Northampton)

Donald Trump

• Scott Brown, former U.S. Senator

Polling

Aggregate polls

Source of poll aggregation	Dates administered	Dates updated	Marco Rubio Republican	Donald Trump Republican	Ted Cruz Republican	John Kasich Republican	Margin
RealClearPolitics	until March 1, 2016	March 1, 2016	18.5%	45.3%	11.0%	15.3%	Trump +26.8
FiveThirtyEight	until March 1, 2016	March 1, 2016	19.2%	50.0%	9.9%	15.6%	Trump +30.8

Poll source	Date	1st	2nd	3rd	Other
Primary results	March 1, 2016	Donald Trump48.99%	John Kasich17.94%	Marco Rubio17.75%	Ted Cruz 9.50%, Ben Carson 2.57%, Jeb Bush 1.03%, Chris Christie 0.30%, Rand Paul 0.29%, Carly Fiorina 0.18%, Jim Gilmore 0.12%, Mike Huckabee 0.11%, Mike Huckabee 0.08%, George Pataki 0.08%, Rick Santorum 0.05%
Emerson College Margin of error: ± 4.8% Sample size: 408	February 26–28, 2016	Donald Trump 51%	Marco Rubio 20%	John Kasich 14%	Ted Cruz 10%, Ben Carson 1%, Undecided 1%
UMass Amherst/WBZ Margin of error: ± 6.3% Sample size: 292	February 24–26, 2016	Donald Trump 47%	Marco Rubio 15%	Ted Cruz 15%	John Kasich 11%, Ben Carson 2%, Other 7%, Don't Know 3%
Suffolk University Margin of error: ± 4.4% Sample size: 500	February 24–26, 2016	Donald Trump 42.6%	Marco Rubio 19.8%	John Kasich 17%	Ted Cruz 8.8%, Ben Carson 3.8%, Other 1%, Don't Know 7%
MassINC/WBUR Margin of error: ± 4.9% Sample size: 386	February 21–23, 2016	Donald Trump 39%	Marco Rubio 18%	John Kasich 17%	Ted Cruz 9%, Ben Carson 5%, Don't Know 12%
Emerson College Margin of error: ± 5.7% Sample size: 289	February 19–21, 2016	Donald Trump 50%	Marco Rubio 16%	John Kasich 13%	Ted Cruz 10%, Ben Carson 2%
Suffolk University Margin of error: ± ?% Sample size: 134	November 19–22, 2015	Donald Trump 32%	Marco Rubio 18%	Ted Cruz 10%	Jeb Bush 7%, Ben Carson 5%, Carly Fiorina 4%, Chris Christie 4%, John Kasich 2%, Rand Paul 1%, Mike Huckabee 0%, Rick Santorum 0%, Lindsey Graham 0%, George Pataki 0%, Jim Gilmore 0%, Undecided 14%
Emerson College Margin of error: ± 5.9% Sample size: 271	October 16–18, 2015	Donald Trump 47.8%	Ben Carson 13.9%	Marco Rubio 11.8%	Jeb Bush 7.1%, Carly Fiorina 6.5%, Ted Cruz 5.1%, John Kasich 2.8%, Chris Christie 2.3%, Lindsey Graham 0.9%, Mike Huckabee 0.4%, Rand Paul 0.1%, Undecided 1.4%
Emerson College Margin of error: ± ? Sample size: 216	March 14–19, 2015	Jeb Bush 19%	Scott Walker 19%	Ben Carson 13%	Rand Paul 7%, Chris Christie 6%, Ted Cruz 6%, Mike Huckabee 3%, Other/Undecided 28%
Suffolk University Archived 2014-08-26 at the Wayback Machine Margin of error: ± 4.9% Sample size: 400	August 21–24, 2014	Chris Christie 11%	Paul Ryan 11%	Jeb Bush 10.75%	Rand Paul 10.5%, Mike Huckabee 7%, Scott Walker 6.75%, Marco Rubio 5.75%, Rick Perry 4.75%, Ted Cruz 4.25%, Bobby Jindal 3.5%, Rick Santorum 2.75%, Jon Huntsman Jr. 1.75%, John Kasich 1%, Undecided 18.25%, Other 0.5%, Refused 0.5%
		Mitt Romney 48.62%	Chris Christie 7.69%	Paul Ryan 5.54%	Jeb Bush 5.23%, Ted Cruz 3.69%, Jon Huntsman Jr. 3.38%, Bobby Jindal 3.38%, Rand Paul 3.38%, Scott Walker 3.38%, Mike Huckabee 3.08%, Marco Rubio 2.77%, Rick Perry 1.54%, John Kasich 1.23%, Rick Santorum 1.23%, Undecided 4.92%, Refused 0.92%

Analysis

Massachusetts was Trump's best Super Tuesday state. According to exit polls by Edison Research, Trump's base were white non-college voters, whom he swept with 63% of the vote in a five-way contest.

According to Pew Research, Massachusetts has the lowest percentage of Evangelicals of any Super Tuesday contest, but the highest percentage of Catholics.

Aside from a few Kasich-voting towns in the Boston Metro, Trump swept every town in the state.

See also

• 2016 Massachusetts Democratic primary