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 Turnout 60.2%[ 1] 0.6 pp
County results
Municipality results
Clinton
40–50%
50–60%
60–70%
70–80%
80–90%
Trump
40–50%
50–60%
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 .
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 results by county(left) and municipality(right).
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Marco Rubio (withdrawn)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
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: Democratic Hold
Republican Gain from Democratic
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
By congressional district
edit
Clinton won both congressional districts.[ 18]
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.
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.
^ 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).
^ "2012 Presidential Election Results - Rhode Island by City and Town" . U.S. Election Atlas . David Leip. Retrieved November 25, 2016 .
^ 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 .
^ "Daily Kos Elections' statewide election results by congressional and legislative districts" . Daily Kos . Retrieved August 11, 2020 .