2016 United States presidential election in Alaska

Main article: 2016 United States presidential election

2016 United States presidential election in Alaska

←  2012 November 8, 2016 2020  →
Turnout	60.77%
Nominee Donald Trump Hillary Clinton Gary Johnson Party Republican Democratic Libertarian Home state New York New York New Mexico Running mate Mike Pence Tim Kaine Bill Weld Electoral vote 3 0 0 Popular vote 163,387 116,454 18,725 Percentage 51.28% 36.55% 5.88%
Borough results State house district results Precinct results Trump   30–40%   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90% Clinton   30–40%   40–50%   50–60%   60-70%   70–80%   80–90%   90-100%
President before election Barack Obama Democratic Elected President Donald Trump Republican

The 2016 United States presidential election in Alaska was held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, as part of the nationwide presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Alaska voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, businessman Donald Trump, and running mate Indiana Governor Mike Pence against Democratic Party nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and her running mate Virginia Senator Tim Kaine. Alaska has three electoral votes in the Electoral College. ^[1]

Trump carried the state with 51.28% of the vote, while Clinton received 36.55% of the vote. ^[2] This marked a return to Alaska's streak of giving Democrats under 40% of the vote share, after Barack Obama won just over 40% in 2012. Alaska has voted Republican in every election since 1968, and since its admission to the Union in 1959, it has only voted for the Democratic candidate on one occasion: Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. ^[3] Clinton was able to flip Haines Borough Democratic for the first time since 1992.

The state is known for strongly supporting third parties, including Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson in 2012; Alaska was his third-strongest state. He ran again as the Libertarian Party's 2016 nominee and appeared on the ballot in Alaska. On the day of the election, he garnered 5.88% of the vote, making Alaska his third-strongest state again after New Mexico and North Dakota. ^[4] Johnson's performance was the best for a Libertarian since 1980, and the best third party performance since Ralph Nader in 2000.

This is the first time since 1984 that a Republican won without Kusilvak Census Area, the first time since 1980 that they won without Nome, Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, Northwest Arctic Borough, and Dillingham Census Area. The first since 1972 to win without North Slope Borough. The first ever to win without Aleutians West Census Area, Haines Borough, and Lake and Peninsula Borough.

Caucuses

The two major parties held caucuses on different days: Republicans on March 1, and Democrats on March 26. ^[5]

Democratic caucuses

Main article: 2016 Alaska Democratic presidential caucuses

e  •  d   2016 Democratic Party's presidential nominating process in Alaska
– Summary of results –

Candidate	Popular vote		District delegates		Estimated delegates
	Count	Percentage	Count	Percentage	Pledged	Unpledged	Total
Bernie Sanders	8,447	79.61%	441	81.52%	13	1	14
Hillary Clinton	2,146	20.23%	100	18.48%	3	1	4
Rocky De La Fuente	1	<0.01%
Uncommitted	16	0.15%			0	2	2
Total	10,610	100%	541	100%	16	4	20
Source: The Green Papers

Republican caucus

Main article: 2016 Alaska Republican presidential caucuses

Alaska Republican legislative district conventions, March 1, 2016

Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Actual delegate count
			Bound	Unbound	Total
Ted Cruz	8,369	36.37%	12	0	12
Donald Trump	7,740	33.64%	11	0	11
Marco Rubio	3,488	15.16%	5	0	5
Ben Carson	2,492	10.83%	0	0	0
John Kasich	918	3.99%	0	0	0
Unprojected delegates:			0	0	0
Total:	23,010	100.00%	28	0	28
Source: The Green Papers and Alaska Republican Party

Controversy

At the Republican National Convention, Alaska's floor votes were all recorded for Donald Trump by the convention secretary, even though the Alaska delegation read their votes according to the results of the caucuses: 12 for Cruz, 11 for Trump and 5 for Rubio. An Alaska delegate challenged the results as recorded. ^[6] However, RNC chair Reince Priebus defended the actions of the convention secretary, saying that the delegates were bound to Trump. ^[7]

General election

Political landscape in Alaska

Main article: Political party strength in Alaska

The state of Alaska has given its electoral votes to the Republican ticket in every election year since 1968 and only once to a Democratic ticket since statehood. However, in 2012, it had the largest swing in favor of the Democratic Party with President Obama only losing by 14 points compared to his 2008 loss by 22 points. ^[8]

Alaska also has a history of supporting third-party candidates at the presidential level. Alaska was the second-best state for Ross Perot in the 1992 election, with Ross Perot garnering 28% of the vote. Alaska was Nader's strongest state in the 2000 presidential election, giving him 10% in his presidential bid. ^[9] Alaska was also the third-best state for Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson in the 2012 election, giving him 2.46% of the vote, behind Johnson's home state of New Mexico, and Montana. ^[10] For this reason, Alaska has been considered to be one of Libertarian party nominee Gary Johnson's strongest states in the 2016 election.

Turnout

According to the Alaska Division of Election, voter turnout was about 60.77%, 321,271 ballots were cast out of 528,671 voters. ^[11]

Predictions

The following are the final 2016 predictions from various organizations for Alaska as of Election Day.

Source	Ranking	As of
Los Angeles Times [12]	Safe R	November 6, 2016
CNN [13]	Safe R	November 8, 2016
Rothenberg Political Report [14]	Safe R	November 7, 2016
Sabato's Crystal Ball [15]	Likely R	November 7, 2016
NBC [16]	Lean R	November 7, 2016
RealClearPolitics [17]	Likely R	November 8, 2016
Fox News [18]	Lean R	November 7, 2016
ABC [19]	Lean R	November 7, 2016

Results

2016 U.S. presidential election in Alaska ^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Donald Trump	163,387	51.28%	−3.52%
	Democratic	Hillary Clinton	116,454	36.55%	−4.26%
	Libertarian	Gary Johnson	18,725	5.88%	+3.42%
	Green	Jill Stein	5,735	1.80%	+0.83%
	Constitution	Darrell Castle	3,866	1.21%	N/A
	Reform	Rocky De La Fuente	1,240	0.39%	N/A
	Write-in		9,201	2.89%	N/A
Total votes			318,608	100%	+1.17%

Swing by county

Legend

•   Democratic — +5-7.5%
•   Democratic — +2.5-5%
•   Democratic — +0-2.5%
•   Republican — +0-2.5%
•   Republican — +2.5-5%
•   Republican — +5-7.5%
•   Republican — +7.5-10%
•   Republican — +10-12.5%
•   Republican — +12.5-15%
•   Republican — +>15%

County flips

Legend

• Democratic   Hold   Gain from Republican

  Republican   Hold   Gain from Democratic

Boroughs and census areas that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Prince of Wales–Hyder Census Area (largest city: Craig) ^[21]

Boroughs and census areas that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Haines Borough (largest census-designated place: Haines) ^[21]

Results by Congressional District

Alaska has an at-large congressional equivalent to the statewide results.

Electors

Alaska had 3 electors in 2016; all of them voted for Donald Trump for president and Mike Pence for vice president.

The electors were:

• Sean R. Parnell
• Jacqueline F. Tupou
• Carolyn B. Leman

See also

• 2016 Democratic Party presidential debates and forums
• 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries
• 2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums
• 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries
• United States presidential elections in Alaska

References

1. "Distribution of Electoral Votes". National Archives and Records Administration . Archived from the original on January 9, 2019. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
2. "Alaska Election Results 2016 – The New York Times" . Retrieved November 29, 2016.
3. "Alaska has a long history of voting strongly Republican for president. Will it continue?". Anchorage Daily News. November 6, 2016. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
4. "2016 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
5. Kitchenman, Andrew (February 12, 2016). "How and when do Alaskans get to weigh in on presidential candidates?". Ktoo.org. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
6. Carlson, Emily. "Chairman of Alaska's Rep party said he doesn't know why 28 delegates went @realDonaldTrump but "it's going to be corrected in record" @ktva". Twitter . Retrieved July 23, 2016.
7. Kopan, Tal; Payson-Denny, Wade. "Why Alaska's delegates were counted for Donald Trump". CNN . Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
8. Silver, Nate (December 5, 2012). "Alaska: Future Swing State?". The New York Times . Retrieved July 31, 2016.
9. Azari, Julia. "The States That Love (And Hate) Third-Party Candidates". FiveThirtyEight . FiveThirtyEight . Retrieved July 15, 2016.
10. "2012 Presidential General Election Results - Alaska". Dave Leip's Atlas of US Elections. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
11. "Voters history by age report" (PDF). elections.alaska.gov. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
12. "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.
13. "Road to 270: CNN's general election map - CNNPolitics.com". Cnn.com. November 8, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
14. "Presidential Ratings". The Rothenberg Political Report. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
15. "Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball » 2016 President". Centerforpolitics.org. November 7, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
16. Todd, Chuck. "NBC's Final Battleground Map Shows Clinton With a Significant Lead". NBC News . Retrieved November 13, 2016.
17. "2016 Election Maps - Battle for White House". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
18. "Electoral Scorecard: Map shifts again in Trump's favor, as Clinton holds edge". Fox News. November 7, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
19. "The Final 15: The Latest Polls in the Swing States That Will Decide the Election". Abcnews.go.com. November 7, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
20. "GEMS ELECTION RESULTS". www.elections.alaska.gov.
21. "Alaska Presidential Results by County, 1960-2016|Maps". thecinyc. Retrieved August 31, 2020.

External links

• RNC 2016 Republican Nominating Process Archived 2016-11-08 at the Wayback Machine
• Green papers for 2016 primaries, caucuses, and conventions
• Decision Desk Headquarter Results for Alaska