2016 West Virginia Democratic presidential primary

Last updated

2016 West Virginia Democratic presidential primary
Flag of West Virginia.svg
  2012 May 10, 2016 (2016-05-10) 2020  
  GU
KY  
  Bernie Sanders September 2015 cropped.jpg Hillary Clinton by Gage Skidmore 2.jpg No image.svg
Candidate Bernie Sanders Hillary Clinton Paul T. Farrell Jr.
Home state Vermont New York West Virginia
Delegate count18110
Popular vote124,70086,91421,694
Percentage51.41%35.84%8.94%

West Virginia Democratic presidential primary election results, 2016.svg
County Results
Sanders
  40-50%
  50-60%
  60-70%
Results by county of Paul T. Farrell, Jr.
<5%
5-10%
10-15%
15-20%
>20% Results by county of Paul T. Farrell.svg
Results by county of Paul T. Farrell, Jr.
  <5%
  5–10%
  10–15%
  15–20%
  >20%

The 2016 West Virginia Democratic presidential primary was held on May 10 in the U.S. state of West Virginia as one of the Democratic Party's primaries ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Contents

The Republican Party held primaries in two states, including their own West Virginia primary, while for the Democratic Party this was the only primary on that day.

In a heavily white, working-class state where voters were angry about the Obama administration's policies, Bernie Sanders easily outpolled Clinton. Thirty percent of Democratic primary voters came from a coal household, and Sanders won 63 percent of these. [1]

Opinion polling

List of polls

Delegate count: 29 Pledged, 8 Unpledged

Winner
Star.svg Bernie Sanders
Primary date
May 10, 2016
Poll sourceDate1st2nd3rdOther
Primary results May 10, 2016Bernie Sanders
51.4%
Hillary Clinton
35.8%
Paul Farrell
8.9%
Others
3.9%
MetroNews [2]

Margin of error: ±4.0%
Sample size: 315

April 22-May 2, 2016Bernie Sanders
47%
Hillary Clinton
43%
Undecided 11%
Public Policy Polling [3]

Margin of error: ±3.9%
Sample size: 637

April 29-May 1, 2016Bernie Sanders
45%
Hillary Clinton
37%
Undecided 18%
West Virginia Veterans/Thirty-Ninth Street Strategies [4]

Margin of error: ±3.9%
Sample size: 600

March 2–6, 2016Hillary Clinton
44%
Bernie Sanders
31%
Paul Farrell
6%
Keith Judd 1%
Others 7%
Undecided 11%
Orion Strategies [5]

Margin of error: ±5.6%
Sample size: 306

February 20–21, 2016Bernie Sanders
32%
Hillary Clinton
24%
Undecided 44%
REPASS Research

Margin of error: ±4.9% [6]
Sample size: 411

February 11–16, 2016Bernie Sanders
57%
Hillary Clinton
29%
Orion Strategies [7]

Margin of error: ±4.9% [8]
Sample size: 306

August 27, 2015Hillary Clinton
23%
Joe Biden
16%
Bernie Sanders
12%
Undecided 49%
Prism Surveys [9]

Margin of error: ± 3.21%
Sample size: 900

August 21, 2015Hillary Clinton
36%
Bernie Sanders
32%
Undecided 32%

Results

West Virginia Democratic primary, May 10, 2016
CandidatePopular voteDelegates
CountPercentagePledgedUnpledgedTotal
Bernie Sanders 124,70051.41%1818
Hillary Clinton 86,91435.84%11819
Paul T. Farrell Jr. 21,6948.94%
Keith Judd 4,4601.84%
Martin O'Malley (withdrawn)3,7961.57%
Rocky De La Fuente 9750.40%
Uncommitted000
Total242,539100%29837
Source: The Green Papers , West Virginia Secretary of State

County results

CountyBernie SandersHillary ClintonPaul T. FerrellOthersTotal

votes

%#%#%#%#
Barbour 51.47%99635.66%6908.53%1654.34%841,935
Berkeley 49.24%3,99443.95%3,5652.71%2204.10%3338,112
Boone 51.92%2,42326.83%1,25215.83%7395.42%2534,667
Braxton 51.39%1,33034.85%9028.54%2215.22%1352,588
Brooke 51.35%1,80737.97%1,3367.73%2722.95%1043,519
Cabell 46.18%5,40837.89%4,43714.45%1,6921.48%17411,711
Calhoun 62.06%85422.75%3138.50%1176.69%921,376
Clay 50.98%75529.37%43514.52%2155.13%761,481
Doddridge 58.85%23628.93%1167.48%304.74%19401
Fayette 52.28%3,60933.84%2,3369.78%6754.10%2836,903
Gilmer 52.87%64528.36%34610.08%1238.69%1061,220
Grant 46.75%18741.75%1678.00%323.50%14400
Greenbrier 52.92%2,87135.02%1,9009.55%5182.51%1365,425
Hampshire 52.85%1,05633.13%6628.41%1685.61%1121,998
Hancock 54.10%2,28536.74%1,5526.08%2573.08%1304,224
Hardy 46.14%88534.20%65611.00%2118.66%1661,918
Harrison 49.09%5,40638.27%4,2147.71%8494.93%54311,012
Jackson 50.00%1,81039.97%1,4477.02%2543.01%1093,620
Jefferson 50.23%3,26744.86%2,9182.31%1502.60%1696,504
Kanawha 47.90%13,65445.12%12,8634.69%1,3362.29%65328,506
Lewis 54.89%1,24031.78%7188.37%1894.96%1122,259
Lincoln 47.12%1,52331.81%1,02816.46%5324.61%1493,232
Logan 50.48%3,21623.50%1,49720.30%1,2935.72%3656,371
Marion 52.45%5,35535.00%3,5738.10%8274.45%45410,209
Marshall 56.11%2,61831.16%1,4547.16%3345.57%2604,666
Mason 51.68%1,78135.58%1,2269.40%3243.34%1153,446
McDowell 55.23%1,48830.33%8178.69%2345.75%1552,694
Mercer 51.38%3,23934.47%2,1738.60%5425.55%3506,304
Mineral 49.43%1,12037.82%8577.50%1705.25%1192,266
Mingo 48.32%2,43221.42%1,07823.64%1,1906.62%3335,033
Monongalia 57.60%8,14235.27%4,9865.26%7431.87%26514,136
Monroe 50.00%83436.51%6098.21%1375.28%881,668
Morgan 55.09%68239.26%4861.94%243.71%461,238
Nicholas 52.86%1,95929.52%1,09412.36%4585.26%1953,706
Ohio 52.91%3,37739.01%2,4905.50%3512.58%1656,383
Pendleton 46.83%53940.83%4707.65%884.69%541,151
Pleasants 54.99%55133.33%3349.18%922.50%251,002
Pocahontas 54.69%82834.81%5275.81%884.69%711,514
Preston 56.14%1,72031.36%9618.09%2484.41%1353,064
Putnam 51.26%3,27140.09%2,5585.94%3792.71%1736,381
Raleigh 52.49%4,98634.58%3,2858.77%8334.16%3959,499
Randolph 52.23%2,49431.79%1,51810.64%5085.34%2554,775
Ritchie 57.98%35632.74%2016.35%393.93%18614
Roane 52.93%1,00439.06%7415.06%962.95%561,896
Summers 51.06%1,06337.51%7817.64%1593.79%792,082
Taylor 51.84%1,11235.71%7668.39%1804.06%872,145
Tucker 60.82%77325.96%3307.47%955.75%731,271
Tyler 60.22%43628.18%2047.60%554.00%29724
Upshur 52.81%1,07336.61%7447.58%1543.00%612,032
Wayne 45.92%2,92030.54%1,94219.99%1,2713.55%2266,359
Webster 53.77%84124.68%38615.92%2495.63%881,564
Wetzel 56.54%1,75127.28%84511.11%3445.07%1573,097
Wirt 55.73%43828.63%22510.69%844.95%39786
Wood 53.23%4,56037.27%3,1936.96%5962.54%2188,567
Wyoming 52.01%1,50024.62%71018.86%5444.51%1302,884

Analysis

Although West Virginia had breathed new life into Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign eight years earlier, it failed to deliver for Clinton's front-running campaign in 2016. Clinton lost every county in the state to Bernie Sanders.

Sanders's West Virginia victory came from strong support among workers in the coal industry; fifty-five percent of West Virginia's Democratic voters with coal workers in their households voted for Sanders, while only 29 percent voted for Clinton. [10] His easy win was likely fueled by Clinton's comments in March about coal, "We're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business." [11]

Analysts speculated Sanders's win in West Virginia came not from support for his own coal policies, but from a rejection of the Obama administration's. [12] Sanders was also helped by large numbers of Republican cross-over voters. Thirty-nine percent of Sanders voters stated they planned to vote for Donald Trump over Sanders in the November general election. [13]

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References

  1. "Bernie Sanders Wins West Virginia Primary". NPR.org. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
  2. "Overwhelming support for Trump, small lead for Sanders in MetroNews West Virginia Poll". MetroNews. May 6, 2016. Retrieved May 6, 2016.
  3. "Trump, Sanders lead in West Virginia (april 2016)" (PDF). Scribd. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  4. "WV-Gov Thirty-Ninth Street Strategies for West Virginia Veterans (March 2016)". Scribd. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  5. "Poll: WV prefers GOP for president, Democrat for governor". wvgazettemail.com. February 25, 2016. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  6. "Trump and Sanders Have Big Leads in MetroNews West Virginia Poll" (PDF). wvmetronews.com. February 22, 2016. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
  7. "Survey: WV residents likely to pick Trump over Clinton in 2016". Statejournal.com. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  8. "Trump leads Republican field and Clinton in West Virginia, according to new Orion Strategies statewide poll". prnewswire.com. August 26, 2015.
  9. "Poll: Democrats running for WV gov locked in dead heat". Wvgazettemail.com/. August 26, 2015. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
  10. "How Anti-Coal Bernie Sanders Won Coal Country". May 12, 2016. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
  11. "How Anti-Coal Bernie Sanders Won Coal Country". May 12, 2016. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
  12. "How Anti-Coal Bernie Sanders Won Coal Country". May 12, 2016. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
  13. "Donald Trump Supporters Boost Bernie Sanders in West Virginia". NBC News. Retrieved August 28, 2017.