2016 Mississippi Republican presidential primary
March 8, 2016 (2016-03-08)
 
Candidate Donald Trump Ted Cruz
Home state New York Texas
Delegate count 25 15
Popular vote 196,659 150,364
Percentage 47.24% 36.12%
 
Candidate Marco Rubio John Kasich
Home state Florida Ohio
Delegate count 0 0
Popular vote 36,795 21,885
Percentage 8.84% 5.26%
Election results by county.
  Donald Trump
  Ted Cruz

The 2016 Mississippi Republican presidential primary took place in Mississippi on March 8, 2016, ahead of the presidential election that November. The Democrats held their Mississippi primary on the same day.

Mississippi's 40 Republican delegates were contested. Donald Trump won the primary, receiving 47.24% of the vote, while Ted Cruz came in second, with 36.12% of the vote. Trump received 25 of the state's delegates, while Cruz received the remaining 15.[1]

The state of the campaign

Trump had already become the Republican front-runner before the Mississippi primary. He was favored to win Mississippi partly because he had already done well in Southern states' primaries, including Alabama's, which he won with 43.4% of the vote on Super Tuesday.[2]

Opinion polling

A poll of 995 likely Republican Mississippi voters, conducted on February 29, 2016 by Magellan Strategies, gave Trump 41% of the vote, 24% more than second-place Cruz.[3]

Results

Mississippi Republican primary, March 8, 2016
Candidate Votes Percentage Actual delegate count
Bound Unbound Total
Donald Trump 196,659 47.24% 25 0 25
Ted Cruz 150,364 36.12% 15 0 15
John Kasich 36,795 8.84% 0 0 0
Marco Rubio 21,885 5.26% 0 0 0
Ben Carson (withdrawn) 5,626 1.35% 0 0 0
Jeb Bush (withdrawn) 1,697 0.41% 0 0 0
Mike Huckabee (withdrawn) 1,067 0.26% 0 0 0
Rand Paul (withdrawn) 643 0.15% 0 0 0
Rick Santorum (withdrawn) 510 0.12% 0 0 0
Chris Christie (withdrawn) 493 0.12% 0 0 0
Carly Fiorina (withdrawn) 224 0.05% 0 0 0
Lindsey Graham (withdrawn) 172 0.04% 0 0 0
George Pataki (withdrawn) 135 0.03% 0 0 0
Unprojected delegates: 0 0 0
Total: 416,270 100.00% 40 0 40
Source: The Green Papers

Analysis

Trump's double-digit victory in Mississippi was seen as solidifying his status as the Republican front-runner, shortly after his disappointing performance in the Louisiana primary. Another unusual aspect of the Mississippi primary results was Marco Rubio's exceptionally poor showing: Rubio came in fourth despite having finished second in several other primaries in the South.[4] Overall, Trump's victory was part of his generally strong performance in the South, in which, as a whole, he performed better than either John McCain in 2008 or Mitt Romney in 2012.[5]

Exit polls showed that Trump beat Cruz in virtually every demographic group.[6] They also showed that Trump got an especially large share of the vote among Mississippi voters looking for a candidate who "tells it like it is".[7] Trump also won among white evangelicals, the voters who Cruz had hoped would form his coalition.[8] However, Trump came in second (behind Cruz) among Republican voters who decided whom to vote for in the primary within the previous week.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Mississippi Republican Delegation 2016". The Green Papers. Retrieved September 10, 2018.
  2. ↑ Berry, Deborah Barfield (March 5, 2016). "GOP presidential hopefuls shift focus to Mississippi". Hattiesburg American. Retrieved September 10, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Mississippi Republican Presidential Primary". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved September 10, 2018.
  4. ↑ Jacobs, Ben; Gambino, Lauren; Roberts, Dan (March 9, 2016). "Trump's victories in Mississippi and Michigan put him back on course". The Guardian. Retrieved September 10, 2018.
  5. 1 2 Barabak, Mark Z. (March 8, 2016). "Trump rolls on, winning 3 of 4 states; Cruz takes Idaho". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 10, 2018.
  6. ↑ Feldman, Stanley (March 9, 2016). "How Donald Trump won the Michigan and Mississippi Republican primaries". CBS News. Retrieved September 10, 2018.
  7. ↑ "Trump, Clinton win in Mississippi". The Clarion Ledger. March 8, 2016. Retrieved September 10, 2018.
  8. ↑ Page, Susan (March 9, 2016). "Analysis: Trump rolls, as Sanders surprises Clinton in Michigan". USA Today. Retrieved September 10, 2018.
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