2016 Alaska Democratic presidential caucuses

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2016 Alaska Democratic presidential caucuses
Flag of Alaska.svg
  2008 March 26, 2016 (2016-03-26) 2020  
  UT
HI  
  Bernie Sanders September 2015 cropped.jpg Hillary Clinton by Gage Skidmore 2.jpg
Candidate Bernie Sanders Hillary Clinton
Home state Vermont New York
Delegate count144
Popular vote8,4472,146
Percentage79.6%20.2%

Shaded Alaska Democratic Presidential Caucuses Election Results by State House District, 2016.svg
Results by state house district
Sanders:     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90%     100%

The 2016 Alaska Democratic presidential caucuses were held on March 26 in the U.S. state of Alaska as one of the Democratic Party's primaries ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Contents

On the same day, Democratic caucuses were held in Hawaii and in the state of Washington. The Republican Party did not hold any primaries that day; their own Alaska caucuses took place on March 1, 2016.

Opinion polling

Five-year-old Courtney Skinner holds up a "Bernie Sanders for President" sign while sitting on Tom Skinner's shoulders at the Juneau Democratic Caucus on Saturday, March 26, 2016, in Centennial Hall's Sheffield Ballroom. Sanders won the majority of Juneau's votes and those across Alaska. (James Brooks photo) Juneau Democratic Caucus (25962305752).jpg
Five-year-old Courtney Skinner holds up a "Bernie Sanders for President" sign while sitting on Tom Skinner's shoulders at the Juneau Democratic Caucus on Saturday, March 26, 2016, in Centennial Hall's Sheffield Ballroom. Sanders won the majority of Juneau's votes and those across Alaska. (James Brooks photo)
Poll sourceDate1st2ndOther
Caucus results [1] March 29, 2016Bernie Sanders
79.6%
Hillary Clinton
20.2%
Other
0.2%
Alaska Dispatch News/Ivan Moore Research [2]

Margin of error: ± ≈3.8%
Sample size: 651

Published January 23, 2016 [2] Bernie Sanders
48%
Hillary Clinton
34%
Martin O'Malley 6%
Undecided 14%

Results

e    d   2016 Democratic Party's presidential nominating process in Alaska
– Summary of results –
CandidatePopular voteDistrict delegatesEstimated delegates
CountPercentageCountPercentagePledgedUnpledgedTotal
Bernie Sanders 8,44779.61%44181.52%13114
Hillary Clinton 2,14620.23%10018.48%314
Rocky De La Fuente 1<0.01%
Uncommitted160.15%022
Total10,610100%541100%16420
Source: [3]

Analysis

Kim Metcalfe tallies votes at the Juneau Democratic Caucus on Saturday, March 26, 2016, in Centennial Hall's Sheffield Ballroom as voters hold up their cellphones to capture the results. (James Brooks photo) Juneau Democratic Caucus 5 (25988502241).jpg
Kim Metcalfe tallies votes at the Juneau Democratic Caucus on Saturday, March 26, 2016, in Centennial Hall's Sheffield Ballroom as voters hold up their cellphones to capture the results. (James Brooks photo)

Alaska gave Sanders his largest win outside of his home state of Vermont. He won 80% of the vote and 82% of the state convention delegates, and carried every borough and census area in the state by landslide margins. [4] He swept Democratic strongholds - including sparsely populated areas in the Bush - as well as GOP strongholds such as Fairbanks and surrounding Interior Alaska, Anchorage on the Kenai Peninsula, and Juneau in the Southeast.

A Sanders win in Alaska was expected, since he generally performed well in caucus states, in majority white electorates, and in the Pacific Northwest. Also, Clinton had lost the state eight years before to Barack Obama, and she did not campaign personally in the state (Sanders did not either, but he sent his wife Jane to campaign for him in Anchorage). [5]

At a rally in Wisconsin on March 26, Sanders told supporters “We knew from day one that politically we were going to have a hard time in the Deep South, but we knew things were going to improve when we headed west.” [6]

References

  1. "Alaska Democratic Delegation 2016". www.thegreenpapers.com.
  2. 1 2 "ADN poll: Alaskans like Trump, Sanders for president". January 23, 2016.
  3. The Green Papers
  4. "Alaska Caucus Election Results". The New York Times . Retrieved August 7, 2016.
  5. "Jane Sanders holding Anchorage rally Thursday evening for husband Bernie". Alaska Dispatch News. Retrieved August 7, 2016.
  6. Chozick, Amy (March 26, 2016). "Bernie Sanders Seizes 3 States, Sweeping Democratic Contests". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved August 7, 2016.