2016 United States presidential election in Colorado (Redirected from United States presidential election in Colorado, 2016)

2016 United States presidential election in Colorado

← 2012 November 8, 2016 2020 →
Turnout74.39% Increase
  Hillary Clinton by Gage Skidmore 2.jpg Donald Trump official portrait (cropped).jpg Gary Johnson June 2016.jpg
Nominee Hillary Clinton Donald Trump Gary Johnson
Party Democratic Republican Libertarian
Home state New York New York New Mexico
Running mate Tim Kaine Mike Pence Bill Weld
Electoral vote 9 0 0
Popular vote 1,338,870 1,202,484 144,121
Percentage 48.16% 43.25% 5.18%

Colorado Presidential Election Results 2016.svg
County Results

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

The 2016 United States presidential election in Colorado was held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, as part of the 2016 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Colorado 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. Colorado has nine electoral votes in the Electoral College.

Clinton received 48.2% of the vote, carrying the state's nine electoral votes. Trump received 43.3% of the vote, thus marking a Democratic margin of victory of 4.9%. This was the fourth time since Colorado had achieved statehood that the Republican nominee won the election without carrying Colorado, the first three having been in 1896, 1900, and 1908 (all when the Democratic nominee was William Jennings Bryan of neighboring Nebraska, a populist with unusual popularity in the traditionally Republican West); and the second time Colorado has voted Democratic in three consecutive presidential elections, the first having been the elections of 1908, 1912, and 1916. Trump became the first ever Republican to win the White House without carrying Alamosa or Broomfield Counties, as well as the first to do so without carrying Jefferson, Arapahoe, or Larimer Counties since William McKinley in 1900, and the first to do so without carrying Ouray County since William Howard Taft in 1908.

At the same time, Trump flipped five counties in the state: Conejos, Chaffee, Huerfano, Las Animas, and Pueblo. The last two had not supported a Republican presidential candidate since Richard Nixon's landslide in 1972. Despite Clinton's victory, this is the sole election since Colorado's Democratic winning streak from 2008 forward that the Democratic candidate's percentage in the state was held to only a plurality.

Caucuses

Democratic caucuses

Opinion polling

Results

Caucus date
March 1, 2016


e • d 2016 Democratic Party's presidential nominating process in Colorado
– Summary of results –
Candidate Popular vote Estimated delegates
Count Percentage Pledged Unpledged Total
Bernie Sanders 72,846 58.98% 41 0 41
Hillary Clinton 49,789 40.31% 25 9 34
Uncommitted 822 0.67% 0 3 3
Others 51 0.04%
Total 123,508 100% 66 12 78
Sources: The Green Papers and Colorado Democrats 2016 Caucus results
Detailed results for the Colorado Democratic caucuses, March 1, 2016
District Total estimate Bernie Sanders Hillary Clinton
Votes Estimated
delegates
Votes Estimated
delegates
Votes Estimated
delegates
1st district 29,474 8 16,232 4 13,242 4
2nd district 30,624 7 19,376 4 11,248 3
3rd district 14,671 6 8,956 4 5,715 2
4th district 10,060 5 6,115 3 3,945 2
5th district 10,315 5 6,338 3 3,977 2
6th district 12,836 6 6,675 3 6,161 3
7th district 14,655 6 9,154 4 5,501 4
At-large delegates 122,635 14 72,846 8 49,789 6
Pledged PLEOs 9 5 4
Total 66 38 28

Results of the county assemblies Timeframe for the county assemblies: March 2–26, 2016

Colorado Democratic county assemblies, March 2–26, 2016
Candidate State + District delegates Estimated delegates
Count Percentage Pledged Unpledged Total
Bernie Sanders 372 61.39%
Hillary Clinton 234 38.61%
Uncommitted
Total 606 100%
Results of the congressional district conventions
Detailed results for the congressional district conventions, April 1–15, 2016
District Delegates
available
Delegates won
Sanders Clinton
1st district 8 5 3
2nd district 7 4 3
3rd district 6 4 2
4th district 5 3 2
5th district 5 3 2
6th district 6 3 3
7th district 6 4 2
Total 43 26 17
Results of the state convention

State convention date: April 16, 2016

Colorado Democratic State Convention, April 16, 2016
Candidate State convention delegates National delegates won
Count Percentage At-large PLEO Total
Bernie Sanders 1,900 62.3% 9 6 15
Hillary Clinton 1,150 37.7% 5 3 8
Total 3,050 100.0% 14 9 23

Republican conventions

From April 2–8, 2016, conventions were held in each of Colorado's seven congressional districts. Cruz swept all seven, winning 21 delegates total. On April 9, 2016, the state convention was held to elect the 13 statewide delegates and the 3 RNC delegates. Again, Cruz won all 13 statewide at-large delegates. Cruz was also the only candidate to address the state convention.

A proposal to forbid Colorado Republican delegates from voting for Donald Trump was written in March 2016 by Robert Zubrin. The group "Colorado Republicans for Liberty" handed out fliers of Zubrin's resolution at the state's convention. Irregularities on the ballot were discovered at the state's convention. Delegate #379 (Jerome Parks, a Trump delegate) was replaced on the ballot with a duplicate of delegate #378 (a Ted Cruz delegate). The Colorado Republican Party's Twitter account posted the message "We did it #NeverTrump" after Cruz received all the bound delegates at the April convention. The party claims somebody hacked its Twitter account, and the party claims to be investigating how the message was posted. In May 2015, the Colorado Senate defeated a bill to hold a 2016 presidential primary. State senators Kevin Grantham, Kent Lambert, Laura J. Woods, and Jerry Sonnenberg voted to stop the bill. Sonnenberg, Woods, Grantham, and Lambert are members of the Ted Cruz "Colorado Leadership Team" for Ted Cruz. Congressman Ken Buck and Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams are also members of the Ted Cruz "Colorado Leadership Team".

The conventions were selected through statewide caucuses, which were conducted at the precinct level on March 1. No voter preference poll was held due to a decision in August by the state party to cancel it.

Three candidates contested the Republican presidential conventions:

Marco Rubio and Ben Carson had dropped out of the race by the time the conventions were held, though they were still running during the March 1 caucuses.

Colorado Republican district conventions, April 2, 2016, April 7–8, 2016
Candidate Votes Percentage Actual delegate count
Bound Unbound Total
Ted Cruz 0 0.0% 17 4 21
Donald Trump 0 0.0% 0 0 0
John Kasich 0 0.0% 0 0 0
Marco Rubio (withdrawn) 0 0.0% 0 0 0
Ben Carson (withdrawn) 0 0.0% 0 0 0
Uncommitted 0 0.0% 0 0 0
Unprojected delegates: 0 0 0
Total: 0 100.00% 17 4 21
Source: The Green Papers
Colorado Republican state convention, April 9, 2016
Candidate Votes Percentage Actual delegate count
Bound Unbound Total
Ted Cruz 0 0.0% 13 0 13
Donald Trump 0 0.0% 0 1 1
John Kasich 0 0.0% 0 0 0
Marco Rubio (withdrawn) 0 0.0% 0 0 0
Ben Carson (withdrawn) 0 0.0% 0 0 0
Uncommitted 0 0.0% 0 0 0
Unprojected delegates: 0 2 2
Total: 0 100.00% 13 3 16
Source: The Green Papers

Green Party convention

On April 3, the Green Party of Colorado held a presidential nominating convention in Centennial, Colorado, for registered Green voters.

On April 4, the Green Party of Colorado announced that Jill Stein had won the convention and received all 5 delegates.

Colorado Green Party Convention, April 3, 2016.
Candidate Votes Percentage National delegates
America Symbol.svg Jill Stein - - 5
William Kreml - - -
Kent Mesplay - - -
Sedinam Moyowasifza-Curry - - -
Darryl Cherney - - -
Uncommitted - - -
Total - - 5

General election

Polling

Throughout the race, Clinton lead in almost every poll in margins varying between 1 and 11 points, with a few polls showing a tie or a Trump lead. One of the last polls showed a tie between Clinton and Trump, but the last poll showed Clinton leading Trump 50% to 45%, which was very accurate compared to the results. The average of the last three polls showed Clinton leading Trump 44% to 41%.

Predictions

Source Ranking As of
ABC News Lean D November 8, 2016
CNN Lean D November 4, 2016
Cook Political Report Lean D November 7, 2016
Electoral-vote.com Lean D November 8, 2016
Rothenberg Political Report Likely D November 7, 2016
Sabato's Crystal Ball Likely D November 7, 2016
RealClearPolitics Tossup November 8, 2016

Statewide results

Voter turnout for the 2016 United States presidential election in Colorado was 72.4%.

2016 United States presidential election in Colorado
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic 1,338,870 48.16
Republican 1,202,484 43.25
Libertarian 144,121 5.18
Green 38,437 1.38
Independent
28,917 1.04
American Constitution
11,699 0.42
Veterans of America
  • Chris Keniston
  • Deacon Taylor
5,028 0.18
Independent
  • Mike Smith
  • Daniel White
1,819 0.07
Independent American
  • Kyle Kopitke
  • Nathan Sorenson
1,096 0.04
Independent People
872 0.03
American Solidarity
862 0.03
Nutrition
751 0.03
Independent
  • Ryan Scott
  • Bruce Barnard
749 0.03
American
710 0.03
Socialism and Liberation 531 0.02
Socialist Workers 452 0.02
Kotlikoff for President 392 0.01
Nonviolent Resistance/Pacifist
382 0.01
Approval Voting
  • Frank Atwood
  • Blake Huber
337 0.01
Socialist 271 0.01
Prohibition
185 0.01
Republican
11 0.00
Independent (Republican)
6 0.00
Independent
4 0.00
Green (Democratic)
3 0.00
Independent
2 0.00
Independent (Libertarian)
1 0.00
Total votes 2,780,247 100%
Democratic win

Results by county

County Clinton% Clinton# Trump% Trump# Johnson% Johnson# Others% Others# Total
Adams 49.86% 96,558 41.35% 80,082 5.11% 9,893 3.70% 7,144 193,677
Alamosa 45.96% 3,189 43.90% 3,046 5.84% 405 4.31% 299 6,939
Arapahoe 52.76% 159,885 38.63% 117,053 5.28% 16,002 3.33% 10,108 303,048
Archuleta 34.06% 2,500 58.10% 4,264 4.51% 331 3.32% 244 7,339
Baca 13.14% 283 81.42% 1,753 2.37% 51 3.07% 66 2,153
Bent 30.62% 590 61.65% 1,188 4.31% 83 3.42% 66 1,927
Boulder 70.34% 132,334 22.00% 41,396 4.27% 8,034 3.39% 6,381 188,145
Broomfield 52.35% 19,731 38.12% 14,367 5.77% 2,174 3.76% 1,418 37,690
Chaffee 43.45% 4,888 47.92% 5,391 4.77% 537 3.86% 434 11,250
Cheyenne 11.98% 132 83.94% 925 2.81% 31 1.26% 14 1,102
Clear Creek 46.52% 2,729 43.90% 2,575 6.22% 365 3.36% 197 5,866
Conejos 44.03% 1,771 47.59% 1,914 4.13% 166 4.25% 171 4,022
Costilla 60.88% 1,125 31.82% 588 4.49% 83 2.81% 52 1,848
Crowley 22.20% 339 70.66% 1,079 4.13% 63 3.02% 46 1,527
Custer 25.99% 797 67.22% 2,061 4.60% 141 2.18% 67 3,066
Delta 24.34% 4,087 69.42% 11,655 2.83% 475 3.41% 573 16,790
Denver 73.69% 244,551 18.89% 62,690 4.48% 14,861 2.94% 9,750 331,852
Dolores 19.28% 242 75.22% 944 2.47% 31 3.04% 38 1,255
Douglas 36.62% 68,657 54.71% 102,573 5.45% 10,212 3.23% 6,058 187,500
Eagle 55.90% 14,099 35.64% 8,990 5.42% 1,368 3.04% 766 25,223
El Paso 33.86% 108,010 56.19% 179,228 6.23% 19,877 3.71% 11,853 318,968
Elbert 19.61% 3,134 73.26% 11,705 4.17% 666 2.97% 475 15,980
Fremont 24.11% 5,297 68.82% 15,122 4.05% 890 3.03% 664 21,973
Garfield 42.58% 11,271 49.61% 13,132 4.29% 1,135 3.53% 932 26,470
Gilpin 45.69% 1,634 43.79% 1,566 5.40% 193 5.12% 183 3,576
Grand 39.10% 3,358 52.33% 4,494 5.67% 487 2.90% 249 8,588
Gunnison 54.48% 5,128 34.94% 3,289 6.32% 595 4.25% 400 9,412
Hinsdale 33.45% 197 57.56% 339 4.58% 27 4.42% 26 589
Huerfano 43.17% 1,633 49.78% 1,883 3.99% 151 3.06% 116 3,783
Jackson 19.86% 171 73.05% 629 4.76% 41 2.32% 20 861
Jefferson 48.89% 160,776 42.01% 138,177 5.64% 18,537 3.47% 11,393 328,883
Kiowa 10.64% 91 85.15% 728 2.81% 24 1.40% 12 855
Kit Carson 14.48% 536 80.15% 2,967 2.57% 95 2.81% 104 3,702
La Plata 49.84% 15,525 40.41% 12,587 6.03% 1,878 3.72% 1,160 31,150
Lake 50.52% 1,616 39.70% 1,270 5.41% 173 4.39% 140 3,199
Larimer 47.51% 93,113 42.57% 83,430 5.87% 11,510 4.04% 7,928 195,981
Las Animas 39.01% 2,650 54.62% 3,710 3.69% 251 2.68% 182 6,793
Lincoln 16.79% 409 77.67% 1,892 3.16% 77 2.38% 58 2,436
Logan 19.04% 1,851 74.90% 7,282 3.28% 319 2.78% 270 9,722
Mesa 27.98% 21,729 64.10% 49,779 4.73% 3,675 3.18% 2,471 77,654
Mineral 36.35% 237 52.76% 344 6.44% 42 4.45% 29 652
Moffat 13.39% 874 81.30% 5,305 2.74% 179 2.57% 167 6,525
Montezuma 30.90% 3,973 61.07% 7,853 4.23% 544 3.79% 488 12,858
Montrose 25.80% 5,466 67.88% 14,382 3.47% 735 2.85% 603 21,186
Morgan 26.35% 3,151 68.10% 8,145 2.93% 350 2.63% 314 11,960
Otero 34.82% 2,943 58.31% 4,928 3.79% 320 3.08% 261 8,452
Ouray 51.27% 1,697 40.82% 1,351 4.53% 150 3.38% 112 3,310
Park 32.84% 3,421 58.89% 6,135 4.89% 509 3.38% 352 10,417
Phillips 18.70% 436 76.80% 1,791 2.57% 60 1.93% 45 2,332
Pitkin 69.69% 7,333 24.23% 2,550 3.55% 374 2.53% 266 10,523
Prowers 23.64% 1,186 70.39% 3,531 3.09% 155 2.88% 144 5,016
Pueblo 45.62% 35,875 46.11% 36,265 5.18% 4,072 3.09% 2,434 78,646
Rio Blanco 12.64% 436 80.90% 2,791 3.42% 118 3.04% 105 3,450
Rio Grande 36.16% 2,001 55.75% 3,085 4.19% 232 3.90% 216 5,534
Routt 54.34% 7,600 37.39% 5,230 5.16% 722 3.10% 434 13,986
Saguache 49.98% 1,417 40.46% 1,147 3.25% 92 6.31% 179 2,835
San Juan 52.37% 265 42.49% 215 3.36% 17 1.79% 9 506
San Miguel 68.72% 2,975 23.86% 1,033 3.56% 154 3.87% 167 4,329
Sedgwick 19.57% 267 74.41% 1,015 2.05% 28 3.96% 54 1,364
Summit 59.09% 9,557 31.53% 5,100 6.18% 1,000 3.20% 517 16,174
Teller 24.94% 3,603 67.47% 9,745 4.67% 674 2.92% 422 14,444
Washington 10.83% 296 84.12% 2,299 3.00% 82 2.05% 56 2,733
Weld 34.45% 46,519 56.60% 76,651 5.53% 7,487 3.52% 4,773 135,430
Yuma 15.15% 726 80.36% 3,850 2.46% 118 2.02% 97 4,791
Colorado Total 48.16% 1,338,870 43.25% 1,202,484 5.18% 144,121 3.41% 94,772 2,780,247

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

By congressional district

Clinton won 4 of 7 congressional districts including one held by a Republican representative.

District Trump Clinton Representative
1st 23% 69% Diana DeGette
2nd 35% 56% Jared Polis
3rd 52% 40% Scott Tipton
4th 57% 34% Ken Buck
5th 57% 33% Doug Lamborn
6th 41% 50% Mike Coffman
7th 40% 52% Ed Perlmutter

Analysis

Historically, Colorado has been, following the Bryan-Wilson period, one of the most Republican states in the nation. From 1920 through 2004, Colorado voted Democratic only five times—in Franklin Roosevelt's two landslide wins in 1932 and 1936; for Harry Truman in 1948; in Lyndon Johnson's landslide win in 1964; and for Bill Clinton in 1992, with Ross Perot running substantially ahead of his national showing in the state. (With the shrinkage of the Perot vote in 1996, Colorado, along with Montana, another Western state where Perot had performed exceptionally well, reverted to Dole.) Before 2016, no Republican had won without Colorado since 1908.

However, increasing urbanization in the Front Range Urban Corridor, along with the growth of minority populations (especially Hispanics) have chipped away from Republican dominance in the state: while President George W. Bush won the state in the 2004 election, it was one of the few states where Republican performance fell (with Bush's margin being nearly halved with respect to 2000), presaging Barack Obama's two Colorado wins in 2008 and 2012. Trump did improve upon previous Republican candidates in Southern Colorado, carrying three of the area's counties (Conejos County, Las Animas County and Huerfano County), a feat not accomplished by any Republican since George H. W. Bush in his decisive 1988 victory. He also carried Pueblo County by a 0.49% margin, becoming the first Republican to carry it since 1972. Southern Colorado, a blue-collar, working-class, industrial area, had once been the state's Democratic stronghold, but Democratic dominance of the region is starting to fade. Trump also did well in the traditionally Republican Western Slope, where counties such as Mesa County (home to Grand Junction) went for Trump by a 2–1 margin and the Eastern Plains, where Republicans often carried counties by 80% or more.

However, as is with the case with Nevada and other states in the American Southwest that have been experiencing increasing urbanization and a rapidly growing Hispanic population, Clinton won by running up the margins in the rapidly growing metro areas of the state, in this case principally Denver and its suburbs, as well as Boulder and Fort Collins. Hillary Clinton exceeded Obama's performance in the City and County of Denver and Boulder County. While these had long been the Democrats' main base in Colorado, Republicans had typically managed at least a quarter of the vote in the former and at least 30% in the latter when Colorado was a Republican state. In contrast, Trump managed only 18.9% and 22.0% in the two jurisdictions, respectively. Hillary Clinton did not improve on Obama in Larimer County (home of Fort Collins), but she did win the county, which had voted Republican in every election from 1920 through 2004 save 1936, 1964, and 1992, and Trump posted the worst showing for a Republican in the county since 1992. Also, while rural western Colorado leans Republican, it is not nearly as strongly conservative as other rural areas, as much of the economy on the I-70 corridor is based on tourism and outdoors recreation and has a liberal environmentalist bent: rural counties with heavily tourist based economies such as Gunnison, Eagle, Routt, Pitkin and La Plata are not only some of the most Democratic rural areas in America, but often vote nearly as Democratic as large urban counties.

Similarly, even though Hillary Clinton did not improve on Obama's showing in the suburban Denver-area counties of Arapahoe and Jefferson, she nevertheless carried both, both of which had been Republican strongholds up through 2004. Trump posted some of the worst results Republicans have had in decades in this region. Trump only won 39% of the vote in Arapahoe County, which includes some of the largest Denver suburbs such as Aurora and Centennial; before Obama won this county in 2008, this county had not gone Democratic since 1964. Trump won only one county in the metro area (Douglas County—home to suburbs such as Parker, Highlands Ranch and Castle Rock), but with only 54% of the vote—one of the poorest performances in the area's most Republican county in decades. Only in Adams County, the one county in the area outside the city of Denver itself that had been a Democratic stronghold prior to 2008, did Trump manage to improve upon Romney, but even here he was barely above 40% of the vote.

Meanwhile, while Trump did win the one remaining large Republican stronghold in the state, El Paso County (home of Colorado Springs), he won with only 56% of the vote, performing worse in the county than McCain in 2008 or Dole in 1996. The confluence of Hillary Clinton's strength in Denver, Boulder, and the Denver suburbs, and Trump's weakness in El Paso County, ultimately handed the state to Clinton.

In downballot races, Mike Coffman was ultimately able to hold on to his seat in a Clinton-carried district around Arapahoe County. Democrats made big gains in this area in the State House and Senate. However, Republicans were able to gain a seat in Adams County, ultimately holding on to the State Senate.

See also


This page was last updated at 2023-01-30 03:45 UTC. Update now. View original page.

All our content comes from Wikipedia and under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.


Top

If mathematical, chemical, physical and other formulas are not displayed correctly on this page, please useFirefox or Safari