2016 United States presidential election in South Dakota

Main article: 2016 United States presidential election
2016 United States presidential election in South Dakota
← 2012 November 8, 2016 2020 →
Turnout59.90% [1]
 
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 227,721 117,458 20,845
Percentage 61.53% 31.74% 5.63%
President before election

Barack Obama
Democratic

Elected President

Donald Trump
Republican

Results by county showing number of votes by size and candidates by color
Treemap of the popular vote by county.
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The 2016 United States presidential election in South Dakota was held on November 8, 2016, as part of the 2016 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. South Dakota voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting the Republican nominee, celebrity Donald Trump, and running mate Indiana Governor Mike Pence against Democratic nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her running mate, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine.

South Dakota has voted for the Republican ticket in every election since 1968. Donald Trump continued the Republican tradition in South Dakota, carrying the state with 61.5% of the vote, to Hillary Clinton's 31.7% of the vote,[2] a 29.8% margin of victory, the largest margin of victory for a candidate of either party since Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower's 38.5% margin in 1952. South Dakota was also Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson's fifth strongest state in the 2016 election, which his 5.63% in popular vote being only behind New Mexico, North Dakota, Alaska and Oklahoma.[3]

Primary elections

Democratic primary

Main article: 2016 South Dakota Democratic presidential primary

Two candidates appeared on the Democratic presidential primary ballot:

South Dakota Democratic primary, June 7, 2016
Candidate Popular vote Estimated delegates
Count Percentage Pledged Unpledged Total
Hillary Clinton 27,047 51.03% 10 2 12
Bernie Sanders 25,959 48.97% 10 0 10
Uncommitted — 0 3 3
Total 53,006 100% 20 5 25
Source: [4][5]

Republican primary

Main article: 2016 South Dakota Republican presidential primary

Three candidates appeared on the Republican presidential primary ballot. The only candidate with a campaign that remained active was Donald Trump. Trump's state director was Neal Tapio.

Republican primary results by county.
  Donald Trump
South Dakota Republican primary, June 7, 2016
Candidate Votes Percentage Actual delegate count
Bound Unbound Total
Donald Trump 44,867 67.09% 29 0 29
Ted Cruz (withdrawn) 11,352 16.97% 0 0 0
John Kasich (withdrawn) 10,660 15.94% 0 0 0
Unprojected delegates: 0 0 0
Total: 66,879 100.00% 29 0 29
Source: The Green Papers

General election

Predictions

The following are final 2016 predictions from various organizations for South Dakota as of Election Day.

Source Ranking As of
Los Angeles Times[6] Safe R November 6, 2016
CNN[7] Safe R November 8, 2016
Rothenberg Political Report[8] Safe R November 7, 2016
Sabato's Crystal Ball[9] Safe R November 7, 2016
NBC[10] Likely R November 7, 2016
RealClearPolitics[11] Likely R November 8, 2016
Fox News[12] Safe R November 7, 2016
ABC[13] Safe R November 7, 2016

Results

Chart of popular vote

  Trump (61.53%)
  Clinton (31.74%)
  Johnson (5.63%)
  Castle (1.10%)
2016 United States presidential election in South Dakota[14]
Party Candidate Running Mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican Donald Trump Mike Pence 227,721 61.53% 3
Democratic Hillary Clinton Tim Kaine 117,458 31.74% 0
Libertarian Gary Johnson Bill Weld 20,850 5.63% 0
Constitution Darrell L. Castle Scott N. Bradley 4,064 1.10% 0
Totals 370,093 100.00% 3

By county

County Donald Trump
Republican 		Hillary Clinton
Democratic 		Various candidates
Other parties 		Margin Total
# % # % # % # %
Aurora 974 69.23% 340 24.16% 93 6.61% 634 45.07% 1,407
Beadle 4,455 65.79% 1,912 28.23% 405 5.98% 2,543 37.56% 6,772
Bennett 666 57.96% 412 35.86% 71 6.18% 254 22.10% 1,149
Bon Homme 2,105 70.78% 704 23.67% 165 5.55% 1,401 47.11% 2,974
Brookings 6,748 53.22% 4,879 38.48% 1,053 8.30% 1,869 14.74% 12,680
Brown 9,613 59.66% 5,452 33.83% 1,049 6.51% 4,161 25.83% 16,114
Brule 1,565 68.40% 571 24.96% 152 6.64% 994 43.44% 2,288
Buffalo 171 34.90% 296 60.41% 23 4.69% -125 -25.51% 490
Butte 3,357 77.15% 696 16.00% 298 6.85% 2,661 61.15% 4,351
Campbell 704 84.72% 105 12.64% 22 2.64% 599 72.08% 831
Charles Mix 2,382 69.39% 935 27.24% 116 3.37% 1,447 42.15% 3,433
Clark 1,139 68.74% 398 24.02% 120 7.24% 741 44.72% 1,657
Clay 2,109 41.61% 2,608 51.45% 352 6.94% -499 -9.84% 5,069
Codington 7,764 66.54% 3,174 27.20% 731 6.26% 4,590 39.34% 11,669
Corson 588 50.04% 535 45.53% 52 4.43% 53 4.51% 1,175
Custer 3,293 69.75% 1,121 23.74% 307 6.51% 2,172 46.01% 4,721
Davison 5,157 64.85% 2,355 29.62% 440 5.53% 2,802 35.23% 7,952
Day 1,627 59.23% 974 35.46% 146 5.31% 653 23.77% 2,747
Deuel 1,366 65.67% 570 27.40% 144 6.93% 796 38.27% 2,080
Dewey 723 42.33% 888 51.99% 97 5.68% -165 -9.66% 1,708
Douglas 1,338 83.36% 214 13.33% 53 3.31% 1,124 70.03% 1,605
Edmunds 1,433 74.71% 380 19.81% 105 5.48% 1,053 54.90% 1,918
Fall River 2,511 70.47% 821 23.04% 231 6.49% 1,690 47.43% 3,563
Faulk 858 76.74% 204 18.25% 56 5.01% 654 58.49% 1,118
Grant 2,382 66.84% 971 27.24% 211 5.92% 1,411 39.60% 3,564
Gregory 1,600 76.52% 391 18.70% 100 4.78% 1,209 57.82% 2,091
Haakon 936 89.66% 77 7.38% 31 2.96% 859 82.28% 1,044
Hamlin 2,051 74.26% 555 20.09% 156 5.65% 1,496 54.17% 2,762
Hand 1,391 76.51% 334 18.37% 93 5.12% 1,057 58.14% 1,818
Hanson 1,497 74.63% 424 21.14% 85 4.23% 1,073 53.49% 2,006
Harding 695 90.26% 38 4.94% 37 4.80% 657 85.32% 770
Hughes 5,174 63.29% 2,450 29.97% 551 6.74% 2,724 33.32% 8,175
Hutchinson 2,517 74.80% 692 20.56% 156 4.64% 1,825 54.24% 3,365
Hyde 543 78.70% 125 18.12% 22 3.18% 418 60.58% 690
Jackson 722 65.94% 323 29.50% 50 4.56% 399 36.44% 1,095
Jerauld 648 67.01% 264 27.30% 55 5.69% 384 39.71% 967
Jones 450 80.65% 69 12.37% 39 6.98% 381 68.28% 558
Kingsbury 1,680 65.86% 703 27.56% 168 6.58% 977 38.30% 2,551
Lake 4,038 59.50% 2,314 34.10% 434 6.40% 1,724 25.40% 6,786
Lawrence 7,411 62.58% 3,356 28.34% 1,075 9.08% 4,055 34.24% 11,842
Lincoln 15,499 61.43% 8,076 32.01% 1,656 6.56% 7,423 29.42% 25,231
Lyman 977 68.75% 369 25.97% 75 5.28% 608 42.78% 1,421
Marshall 1,056 54.24% 754 38.73% 137 7.03% 302 15.51% 1,947
McCook 1,794 69.35% 623 24.08% 170 6.57% 1,171 45.27% 2,587
McPherson 892 78.45% 192 16.89% 53 4.66% 700 61.56% 1,137
Meade 8,441 72.64% 2,223 19.13% 957 8.23% 6,218 53.51% 11,621
Mellette 402 58.86% 238 34.85% 43 6.29% 164 24.01% 683
Miner 706 66.35% 281 26.41% 77 7.24% 425 39.94% 1,064
Minnehaha 42,053 53.72% 30,618 39.11% 5,610 7.17% 11,435 14.61% 78,281
Moody 1,731 59.02% 1,043 35.56% 159 5.42% 688 23.46% 2,933
Oglala Lakota 241 8.30% 2,510 86.40% 154 5.30% -2,269 -78.10% 2,905
Pennington 29,804 62.43% 14,074 29.48% 3,865 8.09% 15,730 32.95% 47,743
Perkins 1,333 83.00% 188 11.71% 85 5.29% 1,145 71.29% 1,606
Potter 1,071 80.10% 215 16.08% 51 3.82% 856 64.02% 1,337
Roberts 2,144 55.13% 1,540 39.60% 205 5.27% 604 15.53% 3,889
Sanborn 819 72.93% 241 21.46% 63 5.61% 578 51.47% 1,123
Spink 1,854 62.83% 919 31.14% 178 6.03% 935 31.69% 2,951
Stanley 1,148 73.26% 329 21.00% 90 5.74% 819 52.26% 1,567
Sully 679 78.86% 137 15.91% 45 5.23% 542 62.95% 861
Todd 487 22.92% 1,505 70.82% 133 6.26% -1,018 -47.90% 2,125
Tripp 2,069 78.67% 462 17.57% 99 3.76% 1,607 61.10% 2,630
Turner 2,937 70.77% 961 23.16% 252 6.07% 1,976 47.61% 4,150
Union 5,290 66.99% 2,227 28.20% 380 4.81% 3,063 38.79% 7,897
Walworth 1,896 76.54% 457 18.45% 124 5.01% 1,439 58.09% 2,477
Yankton 5,659 58.81% 3,301 34.30% 663 6.89% 2,358 24.51% 9,623
Ziebach 368 47.98% 353 46.02% 46 6.00% 15 1.96% 767
Totals 227,731 61.53% 117,466 31.74% 24,914 6.73% 110,265 29.79% 370,111
County Flips:
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

[15]

By congressional district

South Dakota has only one congressional district because of its small population compared to other states. This district, called the at-large district because it covers the entire state, is equivalent to the statewide election results.

District Trump Clinton Representative
At-large 61.53% 31.74% Kristi Noem

Analysis

South Dakota gave Republican nominee Donald Trump a more than 29-point margin of victory over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, thus gaining him three electoral votes.[16] The Mount Rushmore state's politics are driven by agrarian conservatism, with the eastern portion of the state being largely rural and considered an extension of the Corn Belt. The western portion of the state is even more conservative.[17] South Dakota, like many neighboring majority-white Great Plains and prairie states in the Farm Belt, has not voted for a Democratic candidate since the landslide election of Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

Donald Trump carried most of the state's counties, including Hughes County where the capital city of Pierre is located, Pennington County which contains Rapid City, Minnehaha County which contains Sioux Falls, Brown County which contains Aberdeen, and Codington County which contains Watertown. Clinton won only five counties statewide: Todd, Buffalo, Dewey, and Oglala Lakota, all of which are majority Native American, and Clay County which contains the University of South Dakota.[18] However, Trump did fare well with some Native American groups, and thus held the Native American-majority counties of Bennett, Corson, Mellette and Ziebach, along with the plurality-Native county of Jackson. Distinctly noticeable were the split of both the Pine Ridge and Standing Rock reservations votes and the majority-Native counties they contained: the western half of Pine Ridge (Oglala Lakota County) voted Democrat, while eastern Pine Ridge (Bennett and Jackson Counties) voted Republican, and while northern Standing Rock (Sioux County) remained heavily Democratic, southern Standing Rock (Corson County) swung Republican for the first time in three elections.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Voter turnout in United States elections".
  2. ^ "South Dakota Election Results 2016". The New York Times. August 2017.
  3. ^ "2016 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  4. ^ The Green Papers
  5. ^ South Dakota Secretary of State - Official Primary Results
  6. ^ "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.
  7. ^ "Road to 270: CNN's general election map - CNNPolitics.com". Cnn.com. November 8, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  8. ^ "Presidential Ratings". The Rothenberg Political Report. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
  9. ^ "Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball » 2016 President". Centerforpolitics.org. November 7, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  10. ^ Todd, Chuck. "NBC's Final Battleground Map Shows Clinton With a Significant Lead". NBC News. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  11. ^ "2016 Election Maps - Battle for White House". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  12. ^ "Electoral Scorecard: Map shifts again in Trump's favor, as Clinton holds edge". Fox News. November 7, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  13. ^ "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.
  14. ^ "2016 Presidential General Election Results - South Dakota".
  15. ^ Bump, Philip. "The counties that flipped parties to swing the 2016 election". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
  16. ^ "South Dakota Election Results 2016". The New York Times. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
  17. ^ Cohen, Micah (August 24, 2012). "In South Dakota, Only the Farm Trumps Conservatism". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
  18. ^ "2016 election results: South Dakota". www.cnn.com. Retrieved November 11, 2016.