2016 United States presidential election in Rhode Island

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.

2016 United States presidential election in Rhode Island

← 2012 November 8, 2016 2020 →
Turnout60.2%[1] Decrease 0.6 pp
 
Nominee Hillary Clinton Donald Trump
Party Democratic Republican
Home state New York New York
Running mate Tim Kaine Mike Pence
Electoral vote 4 0
Popular vote 252,525 180,543
Percentage 54.41% 38.90%



President before election

Barack Obama
Democratic

Elected President

Donald Trump
Republican

Treemap of the popular vote by county.

Although a "safe blue state", Trump improved on Mitt Romney's performance four years prior; Romney had lost the state by 27 points, whereas Trump lost by less than 16 points. This makes it the smallest win by a Democrat since Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis in 1988. In 2012, Romney won only three towns in Rhode Island.[2] Donald Trump won 14 towns and even narrowly flipped Kent County, making this the first (and only as of the 2024 election) time a Republican has won a county in the state since Ronald Reagan in 1984.

Primaries

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Democratic primary

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Four candidates appeared on the Democratic presidential primary ballot:[3]

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: [4][5][6]

Republican primary

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Republican primary results by county(left) and municipality(right).
  Donald Trump
  •   50–60%
  •   60–70%
  •   70–80%
  John Kasich
  •   40–50%

Three candidates appeared on the Republican presidential primary ballot:[3]

Rhode Island Republican primary, April 26, 2016
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

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Predictions

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Source Ranking As of
Los Angeles Times[7] Safe D November 6, 2016
CNN[8] Safe D November 4, 2016
Cook Political Report[9] Safe D November 7, 2016
Electoral-vote.com[10] Safe D November 8, 2016
Rothenberg Political Report[11] Safe D November 7, 2016
Sabato's Crystal Ball[12] Safe D November 7, 2016
RealClearPolitics[13] Likely D November 8, 2016
Fox News[14] Safe D November 7, 2016

Results

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2016 United States presidential election in Rhode Island [15][16]
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

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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
 
County Flips:
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

By congressional district

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Clinton won both congressional districts.[18]

District Clinton Trump Representative
1st 60.5% 34.9% David Cicilline
2nd 51.1% 44.02% James Langevin

By municipality

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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.

Analysis

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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.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ "2012 Presidential Election Results - Rhode Island by City and Town". U.S. Election Atlas. David Leip. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
  3. ^ a b Patrick Anderson. "Candidates in both parties gear up for spot on R.I. primary ballot". The Providence Journal. Retrieved February 5, 2016.
  4. ^ The Green Papers
  5. ^ Rhode Island Board of Elections
  6. ^ Rhode Island Democratic Party - Official Pledged Delegates Allocation
  7. ^ "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.
  8. ^ Chalian, David (November 4, 2016). "Road to 270: CNN's new election map". CNN. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  9. ^ "2016 Electoral Scorecard". The Cook Political Report. November 7, 2016. Archived from the original on March 1, 2019. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  10. ^ "2016 Electoral Map Prediction". Electoral-vote.com. November 8, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  11. ^ "Presidential Ratings". The Rothenberg Political Report. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
  12. ^ Sabato, Larry J. (November 7, 2016). "2016 President". University of Virginia Center for Politics. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  13. ^ "2016 Election Maps - Battle for White House". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  14. ^ "Electoral Scorecard: Map shifts again in Trump's favor, as Clinton holds edge". Fox News. November 7, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  15. ^ "Rhode Island Election Results". The New York Times. Retrieved December 12, 2016.
  16. ^ "2016 Presidential General Election Results - Rhode Island".
  17. ^ Bump, Philip. "The counties that flipped parties to swing the 2016 election". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
  18. ^ "Daily Kos Elections' statewide election results by congressional and legislative districts". Daily Kos. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
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