Mississippi's 40 Republican delegates were contested. Donald Trump won the primary, receiving 47.24% of the vote, while Ted Cruz came in second, with 36.12% of the vote. Trump received 25 of the state's delegates, while Cruz received the remaining 15.[1]
The state of the campaign
Trump had already become the Republican front-runner before the Mississippi primary. He was favored to win Mississippi partly because he had already done well in Southern states' primaries, including Alabama's, which he won with 43.4% of the vote on Super Tuesday.[2]
A poll of 995 likely Republican Mississippi voters, conducted on February 29, 2016, by Magellan Strategies, gave Trump 41% of the vote, 24% more than second-place Cruz.[3]
Trump's double-digit victory in Mississippi was seen as solidifying his status as the Republican front-runner, shortly after his disappointing performance in the Louisiana primary. Another unusual aspect of the Mississippi primary results was Marco Rubio's exceptionally poor showing: Rubio came in fourth despite having finished second in several other primaries in the South.[4] Overall, Trump's victory was part of his generally strong performance in the South, where, as a whole, he performed better than either John McCain in 2008 or Mitt Romney in 2012.[5]
Exit polls showed that Trump beat Cruz in virtually every demographic group.[6] They also showed that Trump got an especially large share of the vote among Mississippi voters looking for a candidate who "tells it like it is".[7] Trump also won among white evangelicals, the voters who Cruz had hoped would form his coalition.[8] However, Trump came in second (behind Cruz) among Republican voters who decided whom to vote for in the primary within the previous week.[5]
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