2016 United States presidential election in Vermont



The 2016 United States presidential election in Vermont 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. Vermont voters chose three 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. Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders received unsolicited write-in votes.

Clinton won Vermont with 55.7% of the vote and a vote margin of 25.9%, a substantial decline from Barack Obama's 35.6% margin in 2012. Trump received 29.8% of the vote statewide and carried Essex County—the most rural and sparsely populated county in the state, thus making him the first Republican presidential candidate to win a county in Vermont since George W. Bush in 2004.

After voting Republican in all but one election from 1856 to 1988, Vermont has since become one of the most reliably Democratic strongholds in the nation. In 2016, Trump became only the second Republican, after George W. Bush, to win the White House without carrying Vermont.

Vermont Senator and Democratic primary candidate Bernie Sanders, who had endorsed Clinton after she won the primary, received 5.7% of the vote through write-ins, the highest write-in draft campaign percentage for a statewide presidential candidate in history. Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson, received 3.1%, and Green Party nominee Jill Stein received 2.1%. Trump's 29.76% vote share is the worst for a Republican presidential nominee in Vermont history.

To date, this is the last time that the towns of Mount Tabor and Woodford voted Democratic and the last time that the towns of Addison, Alburgh, Barre, Castleton, East Haven, Georgia, Ira, Isle La Motte, Lemington, Lyndon, Orwell, Pittsfield, Sheffield, Swanton, Washington, Waterford, West Haven, Wheelock, and Whitingham voted Republican.

Primary elections
On March 1, 2016, in the presidential primaries, Vermont voters expressed their preferences for the Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian parties. Voters who were unaffiliated chose any 1 primary in which to vote.

Democratic primary
The 2016 Vermont Democratic primary took place on March 1 as one of the Democratic Party's primaries ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

On the same day, dubbed "Super Tuesday," Democratic primaries were held in 10 other states plus American Samoa, while the Republican Party held primaries in 11 states including their own Vermont primary.

As Sanders was an extremely popular favorite son, there was no campaign to speak of and all pledged delegates were given to Sanders, due to Clinton getting less than 15% of the popular vote. Sanders won every municipality in the state.

Polling
Hillary Clinton won every poll pre-election by double digits. Interestingly, she only reached 50% in the last poll, leading 50% to 22%, which may indicate support for writing in Bernie Sanders or other third party candidates. The average of the final three polls showed Hillary Clinton leading Trump 48% to 22%.

Results
! Other Write-ins ! Candidate ! Votes ! Percentage

Results by county
[[File:Vermont County Flips 2016.svg|thumb|County Flips:

Democratic {{legend|#92c5de|Hold}}

Republican {{legend|#ca0120|Gain from Democratic}} ]]

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

 * Essex (largest town: Lunenburg)

By congressional district
Due to the state's low population, only one congressional district is allocated. This district, called the At-Large district because it covers the entire state, is thus equivalent to the statewide election results.