2016 United States presidential election in Rhode Island

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2016 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
Flag of Rhode Island.svg
  2012 November 8, 2016 2020  
Turnout60.2% [1] Decrease2.svg 0.6 pp
  Hillary Clinton by Gage Skidmore 2.jpg Portrait of President-elect Donald Trump (cropped).jpg
Nominee Hillary Clinton Donald Trump
Party Democratic Republican
Home state New York New York
Running mate Tim Kaine Mike Pence
Electoral vote40
Popular vote252,525180,543
Percentage54.41%38.90%

Rhode Island Presidential Election Results 2016.svg
Rhode Island Presidential Election Municipality Results 2016.svg
2016 United States presidential election in Rhode Island by congressional district.svg

Rhode Island 2016 presidential results by county.png

President before election

Barack Obama
Democratic

Elected President

Donald Trump
Republican

Treemap of the popular vote by county. United States presidential election in Rhode Island, 2016.svg
Treemap of the popular vote by county.

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.

Contents

Prior to the election, Rhode Island was considered to be a state Clinton would win or a safe blue state. Rhode Island, like most of New England, is strongly Democratic. Its voters tend to be liberal on social issues, most of its population lives in urban cities, its voting age population skews younger, and the Democratic Party has been regarded as the state's dominant party since the 1930's. [2] [3] [4]

Although Clinton easily won Rhode Island, her 15.5% margin was significantly weaker than Obama's 27% margin 4 years earlier. Trump notably became the first Republican nominee for president to win a county since Reagan won the state in 1984.

Primaries

Democratic primary

Four candidates appeared on the Democratic presidential primary ballot: [5]

Rhode Island Democratic primary, April 26, 2016
CandidatePopular voteEstimated delegates
CountPercentagePledgedUnpledgedTotal
Bernie Sanders 66,99354.71%13013
Hillary Clinton 52,74943.08%11920
Mark Stewart2360.19%000
Rocky De La Fuente 1450.12%000
Write-in6730.55%000
Uncommitted1,6621.36%000
Total122,458100%24933
Source: [6] [7] [8]

Republican primary

2016 RI GOP Presidential primary.svg
2016 RI GOP presidential primary by town.svg
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: [5]

Rhode Island Republican primary, April 26, 2016
CandidateVotesPercentageActual delegate count
BoundUnboundTotal
Donald Trump 39,22163.7%12012
John Kasich14,96324.3%505
Ted Cruz6,41610.4%202
Uncommitted4170.7%000
Marco Rubio (withdrawn)3820.6%000
Write-in2150.3%000
Unprojected delegates:000
Total:61,614100.00%19019
Source: Rhode Island Board of Elections

General election

Predictions

SourceRankingAs of
Los Angeles Times [9] Safe DNovember 6, 2016
CNN [10] Safe DNovember 4, 2016
Cook Political Report [11] Safe DNovember 7, 2016
Electoral-vote.com [12] Safe DNovember 8, 2016
Rothenberg Political Report [13] Safe DNovember 7, 2016
Sabato's Crystal Ball [14] Safe DNovember 7, 2016
RealClearPolitics [15] Likely DNovember 8, 2016
Fox News [16] Safe DNovember 7, 2016

Results

2016 United States presidential election in Rhode Island [17] [18]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Hillary Clinton 252,525 54.41%
Republican Donald Trump 180,54338.90%
Libertarian Gary Johnson 14,7463.18%
Green Jill Stein 6,2201.34%
Write-in Evan McMullin 7590.16%
American Delta Rocky De La Fuente 6710.14%
Write-in Mike Maturen 460.01%
Write-in Darrell Castle300.01%
Write-in Other write-ins8,6041.85%
Total votes464,144 100.00%

By county

CountyHillary Clinton
Democratic
Donald Trump
Republican
Various candidates
Other parties
MarginTotal votes cast
# %# %# %# %
Bristol 14,60957.35%8,96535.19%1,9017.46%5,64422.16%25,475
Kent 37,78846.05%38,33646.72%5,9297.23%-548-0.67%82,053
Newport 22,85155.67%15,07736.73%3,1177.60%7,77418.94%41,045
Providence 142,89957.51%90,88236.58%14,6935.91%52,01720.93%248,474
Washington 33,74150.84%27,23041.03%5,3988.13%6,5119.81%66,369
Totals252,52554.41%180,54338.90%31,0766.69%71,98215.51%464,144
County Flips:
Democratic
Hold
Republican
Gain from Democratic Rhode Island County Flips 2016.svg
County Flips:
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

By congressional district

Clinton won both congressional districts. [20]

DistrictClintonTrumpRepresentative
1st 59%34% David Cicilline
2nd 50%43% James Langevin

By municipality

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. 2016 Rhode Island Results by Town.png
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

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.

As of the 2024 United States presidential election, this is the solitary election since 1984 where any county in Rhode Island voted Republican (Kent County narrowly voted for Trump), and the most recent election where Lincoln voted Republican.

See also

References

  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. Quinn, Sean (September 29, 2008). "Road to 270: Rhode Island". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved April 25, 2025.
  3. "Demographic and Economic Profiles of Rhode Island's Electorate". Census.gov. Retrieved April 25, 2025.
  4. "New Year's Day marks 78 years since RI 'Bloodless Revolution' | WPRI.com Blogs". January 7, 2013. Archived from the original on January 7, 2013. Retrieved April 25, 2025.
  5. 1 2 Patrick Anderson. "Candidates in both parties gear up for spot on R.I. primary ballot". The Providence Journal. Retrieved February 5, 2016.
  6. The Green Papers
  7. Rhode Island Board of Elections
  8. Rhode Island Democratic Party - Official Pledged Delegates Allocation
  9. "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.
  10. Chalian, David (November 4, 2016). "Road to 270: CNN's new election map". CNN . Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  11. "2016 Electoral Scorecard". The Cook Political Report . November 7, 2016. Archived from the original on March 1, 2019. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  12. "2016 Electoral Map Prediction". Electoral-vote.com . November 8, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  13. "Presidential Ratings". The Rothenberg Political Report. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
  14. Sabato, Larry J. (November 7, 2016). "2016 President". University of Virginia Center for Politics . Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  15. "2016 Election Maps - Battle for White House". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  16. "Electoral Scorecard: Map shifts again in Trump's favor, as Clinton holds edge". Fox News. November 7, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  17. "Rhode Island Election Results". The New York Times . Retrieved December 12, 2016.
  18. "2016 Presidential General Election Results - Rhode Island".
  19. Bump, Philip. "The counties that flipped parties to swing the 2016 election". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved September 1, 2020.
  20. https://davesredistricting.org/maps#viewmap::413e574e-0568-48f4-8e4e-0a31aefa65c2