United States presidential election in Wisconsin, 2016

United States presidential election in Wisconsin, 2016

November 8, 2016 (2016-11-08)

Nominee Donald Trump Hillary Clinton Party Republican Democratic Home state New York New York Running mate Mike Pence Tim Kaine Electoral vote 10 0 Popular vote 1,404,000 1,381,823 Percentage 47.2% 46.4%

County Results Trump   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80% Clinton   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%

President before election Barack Obama Democratic Elected President Donald Trump Republican

Elections in Wisconsin
Federal government Presidential elections 1848 1852 1856 1860 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 Presidential primaries Democratic 2008 2016 Republican 2008 2012 2016 U.S. Senate elections 1962 1968 1974 1980 1986 1988 1992 1994 1998 2000 2004 2006 2010 2012 U.S. House elections 2006 (8th) 2008 2010 2012 2014
State government Gubernatorial elections 1848 1849 1851 1853 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2012 (recall) 2014 General elections 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 Other elections Supreme Court, 2011 2011 State Senate (recall) 2012 State Senate (recall)
Ballot measures 2006 Referendum 1
Milwaukee Mayoral elections 2012 2016

The 2016 United States presidential election in Wisconsin took place on November 8, 2016, as part of the 2016 general Election in which all 50 states and the District of Columbia participate. Wisconsin voters also chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote.

On April 5, 2016, in the presidential primaries, Wisconsin voters expressed their preferences for the Democratic and Republican parties' respective nominees for president: Bernie Sanders (D) and Ted Cruz (R) in an open primary with registered members of those parties voting in either's primary, while unaffiliated voters were allowed to choose to vote in any one.

Donald Trump won Wisconsin by a narrow margin of 47.2% to 46.4% for Hillary Clinton, making him the first Republican candidate to carry the state since Ronald Reagan in 1984. On November 25, an irregularity was discovered by officials in Outagamie County, that resulted in the vote totals being reported incorrectly. This irregularity was due to a calculator error. The error resulted in Trump losing 5,282 votes off of his total, and Clinton losing 70 votes off of her total. ^[1][2]

Background

The incumbent President of the United States, Barack Obama, a Democrat and former U.S. Senator from Illinois, was first elected president in the 2008 election, running with former Senator Joe Biden of Delaware. Defeating the Republican nominee, Senator John McCain of Arizona, with 52.9% of the popular vote and 68% of the electoral vote,^[3][4] Obama succeeded two-term Republican President George W. Bush, the former Governor of Texas. Obama and Biden were reelected in the 2012 presidential election, defeating former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney with 51.1% of the popular vote and 61.7% of electoral votes.^[5] Although Barack Obama's approval rating in the RealClearPolitics poll tracking average remained between 40 and 50 percent for most of his second term, it has experienced a surge in early 2016 and reached its highest point since 2012 during June of that year.^[6][7] Analyst Nate Cohn has noted that a strong approval rating for President Obama would equate to a strong performance for the Democratic candidate, and vice versa.^[8]

Following his second term, President Obama is not eligible for another reelection. In October 2015, Obama's running-mate and two-term Vice President Biden decided not to enter the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination either.^[9] With their term expiring on January 20, 2017, the electorate is asked to elect a new president, the 45th President and 48th Vice President of the United States, respectively.

Democratic nomination process

Democratic presidential debate in Milwaukee, February 2016

The Democratic Party held its sixth presidential debate on February 11, 2016, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. The debate was hosted by PBS NewsHour anchors Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff, it aired on PBS and was simulcast by CNN. Participants were Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

Democratic primary, April 2016

Election results by county.

  Bernie Sanders

  Hillary Clinton

Green Party presidential preference convention

The Wisconsin Green Party held its presidential preference vote at its annual state convention in Madison, Wisconsin, on April 16.^[10]

Wisconsin Green Party presidential convention, April 13, 2016[11]
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	National delegates
Jill Stein	-	-	7
William Kreml	-	-	1
Sedinam Moyowasifza-Curry	-	-	-
Darryl Cherney	-	-	-
Kent Mesplay	-	-	-
Total	-	100.00%	8

Republican nomination process

Presidential debate in Milwaukee, November 2015

The Republican Party held its fourth presidential debate on November 10, 2015, in Milwaukee, at the Milwaukee Theatre. Moderated by Neil Cavuto, Maria Bartiromo and Gerard Baker, the debate aired on the Fox Business Network and was sponsored by The Wall Street Journal. Eight candidates including Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, John Kasich, and Rand Paul, participated in the primetime debate that was mostly focused on jobs, taxes, and the general health of the U.S. economy, as well as on domestic and international policy issues. The accompanying undercard debate featured Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, and Bobby Jindal who ended his campaign a week after the debate.

Republican primary, April 2016

Election results by county.

  Ted Cruz

  Donald Trump

Wisconsin Republican primary, April 5, 2016
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Actual delegate count
			Bound	Unbound	Total
Ted Cruz	533,079	48.20%	36	0	36
Donald Trump	387,295	35.02%	6	0	6
John Kasich	155,902	14.10%	0	0	0
Marco Rubio (withdrawn)	10,591	0.96%	0	0	0
Ben Carson (withdrawn)	5,660	0.51%	0	0	0
Jeb Bush (withdrawn)	3,054	0.28%	0	0	0
Rand Paul (withdrawn)	2,519	0.23%	0	0	0
Uncommitted	2,281	0.21%	0	0	0
Mike Huckabee (withdrawn)	1,424	0.13%	0	0	0
Chris Christie (withdrawn)	1,191	0.11%	0	0	0
Carly Fiorina (withdrawn)	772	0.07%	0	0	0
Rick Santorum (withdrawn)	511	0.05%	0	0	0
Jim Gilmore (withdrawn)	245	0.02%	0	0	0
Victor Williams (wrtie-in)	39	0.02%	0	0	0
Unprojected delegates:			0	0	0
Total:	1,105,944	100.00%	42	0	42
Source: The Green Papers

Polling

State voting history

Wisconsin joined the Union in May 1848 and has participated in all elections from 1852 onwards.

Since 1900, Wisconsin has been won by the Democrats and Republicans the same number of times.^[12] Republican-turned-Progressive Robert M. La Follette Sr. carried the state in the 1924 presidential election.

The state voted for the Democratic nominee in the seven elections from 1988 to 2012.^[12] In 2016, however, Republican Donald Trump won the state.^[13]

Statewide results

Recount

On November 25, 2016, with 90 minutes remaining on the deadline to petition for a recount to the state's electoral body, Jill Stein, 2016 presidential candidate of the Green Party of the United States, filed for a recount of the election results in Wisconsin. She signaled she intended to file for similar recounts in the subsequent days in the states of Michigan and Pennsylvania.^[15] On November 26, the Clinton campaign announced that they were joining the recount effort in Wisconsin.^[16]

See also

• Democratic Party presidential debates, 2016
• Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2016
• Republican Party presidential debates, 2016
• Republican Party presidential primaries, 2016
• 2016 United States presidential election recount and audit

References

External links

• RNC 2016 Republican Nominating Process
• Green papers for 2016 primaries, caucuses, and conventions
• 2016 Presidential primaries, ElectionProjection.com
• FoxNews full election coverage, Wisconsin

State results of the 2016 U.S. presidential election
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