2016 United States presidential election in South Carolina

The 2016 United States presidential election was held on November 8, 2016, as part of the 2016 General Election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. South Carolina 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.

Main article: 2016 United States presidential election
2016 United States presidential election in South Carolina
November 8, 2016
Turnout67.86%[1]
 
Nominee Donald Trump Hillary Clinton
Party Republican Democratic
Home state New York New York
Running mate Mike Pence Tim Kaine
Electoral vote 9 0
Popular vote 1,155,389 855,373
Percentage 54.94% 40.67%
County results
Trump:      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

Treemap of the popular vote by county.

On February 20 and 27, 2016, in the presidential primaries, South Carolina voters expressed their preferences for the Republican and Democratic parties' respective nominees for president. Registered members of each party could only vote in their party's primary, while voters who were unaffiliated could choose any one primary in which to vote.

Out of 3.12 million registered voters, 2.10 million voted, a turnout of 67.86%.[1]

Donald Trump continued the Republican tradition in South Carolina, carrying the state with 54.9% of the vote. Hillary Clinton received 40.7% of the vote, underperforming Obama by about 4%. [2]

Republicans have only lost South Carolina once since the assassination of John F. Kennedy, in 1976 (by a double-digit percentage margin).

Trump became the first Republican to win the White House without carrying Charleston County since Herbert Hoover in 1928.

Background
Further information: United States presidential election § Procedure

The former 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% 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 was not eligible for another reelection. In October 2015, Obama's running-mate and 2-term Vice President Biden decided not to enter the race for the Democratic presidential nomination either.[9] With their terms expiring on January 20, 2017, the electorate was asked to elect a new president, the 45th president and 48th vice president of the United States, respectively.

Political landscape in South Carolina
Main article: Political party strength in South Carolina

The Republican party's ticket has carried South Carolina in every election since 1980, and with the exception of Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale's carrying the state in 1976, the Republicans have carried the state since 1964. In the 2012 election, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan defeated Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden by a margin of 54% to 44%. The state has not had a Democratic Senator since Ernest Hollings retired in 2005. The state has had a Republican majority in the United States House of Representatives since the so-called "Republican Revolution" of 1994. However, some have suggested that South Carolina may become a battleground state in this election cycle because of Clinton's lead in the national polling.[10] A poll released on August 10 by Public Policy Polling had Trump leading Clinton by a margin of only 2 points,[10] and an internal poll commissioned for the South Carolina Democratic Party had the race tied.[11] This led Larry Sabato's political prediction website Sabato's Crystal Ball to move the rating of the South Carolina contest from "Safe Republican" to "Likely Republican" on August 18.[12]

Primary elections

Democratic primary
South Carolina Democratic primary, 2016
February 27, 2016 (2016-02-27)
 
Candidate Hillary Clinton Bernie Sanders
Home state New York Vermont
Delegate count 39 14
Popular vote 272,379 96,498
Percentage 73.44% 26.02%
South Carolina results by county
  Hillary Clinton

The 59 delegates for the Democratic National Convention from South Carolina are allocated in this way. There are 53 pledged delegates and 6 unpledged delegates. For the pledged delegates, each district gets 5 delegates that are allocated proportionally. There are then 18 at-large delegates awarded proportionally.[13]

South Carolina Democratic primary, February 27, 2016
Candidate Popular vote Estimated delegates
Count Percentage Pledged Unpledged Total
Hillary Clinton 272,379 73.44% 39 5 44
Bernie Sanders 96,498 26.02% 14 0 14
Willie Wilson 1,314 0.35%
Martin O'Malley (withdrawn) 713 0.19%
Uncommitted 0 1 1
Total votes 370,904 100% 53 6 59
Sources: The Green Papers, South Carolina State Election Commission

Republican primary
South Carolina Republican primary, 2016
February 20, 2016 (2016-02-20)
 
Candidate Donald Trump Marco Rubio Ted Cruz
Home state New York Florida Texas
Delegate count 50 0 0
Popular vote 240,882 166,565 165,417
Percentage 32.51% 22.48% 22.33%
 
Candidate Jeb Bush John Kasich Ben Carson
Home state Florida Ohio Maryland
Delegate count 0 0 0
Popular vote 58,056 56,410 53,551
Percentage 7.84% 7.61% 7.23%
South Carolina results by county
  Donald Trump
  Marco Rubio

Delegates from South Carolina to the Republican National Convention are awarded in this way. 29 delegates are awarded to the candidate that wins the plurality of the vote in the South Carolina primary. The remaining 21 delegates are allocated by giving the winner of each of the seven congressional districts 3 delegates. [14]

South Carolina Republican primary, February 20, 2016
Candidate Votes Percentage Actual delegate count
Bound Unbound Total
Donald Trump 240,882 32.51% 50 0 50
Marco Rubio 166,565 22.48% 0 0 0
Ted Cruz 165,417 22.33% 0 0 0
Jeb Bush 58,056 7.84% 0 0 0
John Kasich 56,410 7.61% 0 0 0
Ben Carson 53,551 7.23% 0 0 0
Chris Christie (withdrawn) 0 0 0
Carly Fiorina (withdrawn) 0 0 0
Rand Paul (withdrawn) 0 0 0
Mike Huckabee (withdrawn) 0 0 0
Rick Santorum (withdrawn) 0 0 0
Jim Gilmore (withdrawn) 0 0 0
George Pataki (withdrawn) 0 0 0
Lindsey Graham (withdrawn) 0 0 0
Unprojected delegates: 0 0 0
Total: 740,881 100.00% 50 0 50
Source: The Green Papers

Green state convention

On April 30, the Green Party of South Carolina held its state convention. The public was welcome, but only members and delegates were eligible to vote.[15]

On April 30, it was announced that William Kreml had won the primary.

South Carolina Green Party presidential convention, April 17, 2016
Candidate Votes Percentage National delegates
William Kreml - - 5
Jill Stein - - 3
Sedinam Kinamo Christin Moyowasifza Curry - - -
Darryl Cherney - - -
Kent Mesplay - - -
Total - 100.00% 8

Polling

General election

Predictions
  1. CNN: Solid Trump[16]
  2. Cook Political Report: Likely Trump[17]
  3. Electoral-vote.com: Leans Trump[18]
  4. Los Angeles Times: Solid Trump[19]
  5. NBC: Leans Trump[20]
  6. RealClearPolitics: Leans Trump[21]
  7. Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Trump[22]

Results
United States presidential election in South Carolina, 2016
Party Candidate Running mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican Donald Trump Mike Pence 1,155,389 54.94% 9
Democratic Hillary Clinton Tim Kaine 855,373 40.67% 0
Libertarian Gary Johnson Bill Weld 49,204 2.34% 0
Independence Evan McMullin Nathan Johnson 21,016 1.00% 0
Green Jill Stein Ajamu Baraka 13,034 0.62% 0
Constitution Darrell Castle Scott Bradley 5,765 0.27% 0
American (South Carolina)[23] Peter Skewes Michael Lacy 3,246 0.15% 0
Totals 2,103,027 100.00% 9

By congressional district

Trump won 6 of 7 congressional districts.

District Trump Clinton Representative
1st 53% 41% Mark Sanford
2nd 57% 38% Joe Wilson
3rd 67% 29% Jeff Duncan
4th 60% 34% Trey Gowdy
5th 57% 39% Mick Mulvaney
6th 30% 67% Jim Clyburn
7th 58% 39% Tom Rice

By county
County Clinton% Clinton# Trump% Trump# Others% Others# Total
Abbeville34.72%3,74162.77%6,7632.52%27110,775
Aiken34.01%25,45561.49%46,0254.50%3,37174,851
Allendale76.14%2,73521.97%7891.89%683,592
Anderson26.21%21,09769.87%56,2323.92%3,15480,483
Bamberg62.73%3,89835.47%2,2041.80%1126,214
Barnwell46.39%4,40051.54%4,8892.07%1969,485
Beaufort40.93%32,13854.66%42,9224.41%3,46478,524
Berkeley38.61%30,70556.07%44,5875.31%4,22579,517
Calhoun47.33%3,57350.17%3,7872.50%1897,549
Charleston50.64%89,29942.78%75,4436.58%11,603176,345
Cherokee28.00%6,09269.70%15,1672.30%50021,759
Chester46.36%6,57951.19%7,2652.45%34814,192
Chesterfield41.36%6,85856.16%9,3122.48%41116,581
Clarendon50.22%7,73247.98%7,3861.80%27715,395
Colleton44.21%7,62752.70%9,0913.09%53317,251
Darlington46.80%13,88850.51%14,9892.69%79729,674
Dillon49.87%5,83448.19%5,6371.94%22711,698
Dorchester38.45%24,05555.92%34,9875.63%3,52562,567
Edgefield38.57%4,49158.76%6,8422.67%31111,644
Fairfield61.64%6,94535.74%4,0272.62%29511,267
Florence46.11%26,71051.05%29,5732.84%1,64857,931
Georgetown42.04%13,31054.93%17,3893.03%95831,657
Greenville34.62%74,48359.41%127,8325.97%12,850215,165
Greenwood37.24%10,71158.97%16,9613.79%1,09128,763
Hampton58.71%5,17039.61%3,4881.68%1488,806
Horry29.65%39,41067.17%89,2883.18%4,222132,920
Jasper52.12%5,95645.39%5,1872.49%28411,427
Kershaw35.63%10,33060.50%17,5423.87%1,12328,995
Lancaster35.47%13,81260.91%23,7193.61%1,40738,938
Laurens33.46%8,88963.30%16,8163.24%86126,566
Lee63.74%5,19934.37%2,8031.89%1548,156
Lexington28.86%35,23065.55%80,0265.60%6,837122,093
Marion60.02%8,56938.14%5,4441.84%26314,276
Marlboro57.31%5,95441.07%4,2671.62%16810,389
McCormick47.53%2,47950.84%2,6521.63%855,216
Newberry36.99%6,21759.60%10,0173.41%57316,807
Oconee23.78%7,99871.88%24,1784.34%1,45933,635
Orangeburg67.64%26,31830.66%11,9311.70%66138,910
Pickens21.11%10,35473.88%36,2365.01%2,45949,049
Richland64.01%108,00031.10%52,4694.89%8,253168,722
Saluda32.85%2,81364.53%5,5262.63%2258,564
Spartanburg33.03%39,99762.99%76,2773.98%4,816121,090
Sumter54.55%24,04742.52%18,7452.94%1,29444,086
Union39.11%4,72958.39%7,0612.50%30212,092
Williamsburg66.12%9,95332.31%4,8641.57%23715,054
York36.37%41,59358.37%66,7545.26%6,010114,357

Counties that swung from Democratic to Republican

Electors
Main article: List of 2016 United States presidential electors

Technically the voters of South Carolina cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. South Carolina is allocated 9 electors because it has 7 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 9 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 9 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for president and vice president. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them. An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector.

The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 19, 2016, to cast their votes for president and vice president. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 9 were pledged for Trump/Pence.

  • Glenn McCall
  • Matt Moore
  • Terry Hardesty
  • Jim Ulmer
  • Brenda Bedenbaugh
  • Bill Conley
  • Shery Smith
  • Moye Graham
  • Jerry Rovner[24]

References
Elections in South Carolina
  1. "South Carolina Voter Registration Demographics". scvotes.org. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  2. "South Carolina Results". New York Times. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  3. "United States House of Representatives floor summary for Jan 8, 2009". Clerk.house.gov. Archived from the original on April 2, 2012. Retrieved January 30, 2009.
  4. "Federal elections 2008" (PDF). Federal Election Commission. Retrieved May 11, 2015.
  5. "President Map". The New York Times. November 29, 2012. Retrieved May 11, 2015.
  6. "Election Other – President Obama Job Approval". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved December 24, 2015.
  7. Byrnes, Jesse (2016-06-15). "Poll: Obama approval rating highest since 2012". TheHill. Retrieved 2016-06-19.
  8. Cohn, Nate (2015-01-19). "What a Rise in Obama's Approval Rating Means for 2016". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-06-19.
  9. "Joe Biden Decides Not to Enter Presidential Race". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  10. "Clinton/Trump Race Tight in South Carolina". Public Policy Polling. Public Policy Polling. Archived from the original on 15 August 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  11. Master, Cyra. "Poll: Clinton tied with Trump in SC". The Hill. Capitol Hill Publishing Corp. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  12. Kondik, Kyle; Sabato, Larry; Skelley, Geoffrey. "Clinton Rises to 348 Electoral Votes, Trump Drops to 190". Sabato's Crystal Ball. University of Virginia Center for Politics. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  13. "South Carolina Democratic Delegation 2016". www.thegreenpapers.com. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
  14. Carrejo, Cate. "Is The South Carolina Primary Winner Take All? There's A Lot At Stake In The Palmetto State". Retrieved 2017-02-22.
  15. "2016 South Carolina Green Party state convention". South Carolina Green Party. 2016-03-10. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
  16. Chalian, David (4 November 2016). "Road to 270: CNN's new election map". CNN. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  17. "2016 Electoral Scorecard". The Cook Political Report. 7 November 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  18. "2016 Predicted Electoral Map". Electoral-vote.com. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  19. "Our final map has Clinton winning with 352 electoral votes. Compare your picks with ours". Los Angeles Times. 6 November 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  20. Todd, Chuck (7 November 2016). "NBC's final battleground map shows a lead for Clinton". NBC News. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  21. "2016 Election Maps - Battle for White House". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  22. Sabato, Larry (7 November 2016). "The Crystal Ball's 2016 Electoral College ratings". University of Virginia Center for Politics. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  23. https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/
  24. "Press Release: SCGOP selects Electoral College Members". 23 August 2016. Archived from the original on 11 November 2016. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
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