2016 New York Democratic presidential primary explained

Election Name:	2016 New York Democratic presidential primary
Country:	New York
Flag Image:	Flag of New York (1909–2020).svg
Type:	presidential
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	2008 New York Democratic presidential primary
Previous Year:	2008
Next Election:	2020 New York Democratic presidential primary
Next Year:	2020
Election Date:	April 19, 2016
Candidate1:	Hillary Clinton
Color1:	d4aa00
Home State1:	New York
Delegate Count1:	139
Popular Vote1:	1,133,980^[1]
Percentage1:	57.54%
Candidate2:	Bernie Sanders
Color2:	228B22
Home State2:	Vermont
Delegate Count2:	108
Popular Vote2:	820,256
Percentage2:	41.62%
Map Size:	300px

The 2016 New York Democratic presidential primary was held on April 19 in the U.S. state of New York as one of the Democratic Party's primaries ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Hillary Clinton, who had previously represented New York in the United States Senate from 2001 to 2009, won a comfortable majority in both the popular vote and delegate count over Bernie Sanders, who was born in Brooklyn.

The Republican Party also held their own New York primary on the same day. Apart from that, no other primaries were scheduled for that day by either party.

Campaign

The week before the primary, Sanders drew large crowds to campaign events in New York City: 28,000 heard Sanders speak in Brooklyn the weekend before the primary and 27,000 heard him speak in Manhattan the week before.^[2] Clinton drew "appreciative crowds of respectable size" but did not approach the attendance of Sanders events.^[2]

In early April, ahead of the primary, former President Bill Clinton visited western New York twice for campaign events, speaking at an event in Depew (attended by almost a thousand people) and addressing a room of activists and volunteers at Clinton's Buffalo campaign office.^[3]

In total, the Sanders campaign spent about $2 million more than the Clinton campaign on television ads in New York.^[4] In terms of campaign-expenditures per vote, Sanders' campaign spent about $9.03 per vote, while Clinton's campaign spent about $3.62 per vote.^[5]

April 2016 presidential debate

A ninth debate was held on April 14, 2016 in Brooklyn, New York at the Duggal Greenhouse in Brooklyn Navy Yard. The debate was aired on CNN and NY1.^[6] Wolf Blitzer of CNN served as moderator.^[7]

Election Day irregularities

The New York Times reported the day after the primary:

The Brooklyn voter purge disproportionately affected Hispanic voters, and mostly voters between the ages of 30 and 80, and happened at similar rates in election districts where Clinton won and where Sanders won.^[8] Although 121,056 people voted with provisional ballots in New York City, the board threw out nearly 91,000 "either because their names were taken off the rolls or because their party affiliation had been dropped or switched to a different party without their knowing."^[9]

In November 2016, several groups sued the New York City Board of Elections over the voter roll purge. Initial parties to the lawsuit included "Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, Latino Justice/PRLDEF and Dechert LLP on behalf of Common Cause New York and several individual plaintiffs. In early 2017, both the Justice Department and New York State Attorney General's office made motions to join the lawsuit." In October 2017 WNYC reported that, pending court approval to the consent decree, that the New York State Board of Elections agreed to a settlement with parties to the lawsuit against them, admitting to illegally purging over 200,000 eligible voters from New York City voter rolls.

As a part of the settlement, the Board agreed to a series of remedial measures that will be in place at least through the next presidential election, November 2020 – pending court approval. The deal restores the rights of improperly purged voters and establishes a comprehensive plan to prevent illegal voter purges in future elections.

Opinion polling

Results

Results by county

County^[10]

Clinton

Sanders

BVS

Totals

Turnout

Margin

19,914

47.74%

21,798

52.26%^[11]

354

42,066

47.47%

-4.48%

847

40.62%

1,209

57.99%

2,085

35.53%

-17.36%|-| style="background:#D4AA00;" | Bronx || 105,719||68.76%|| 46,189|| 30.04%|1,834|153,742| 31.31%|38.72%|-| style="background:#228B22;" | Broome || 7,641||43.11%|| 9,951|| 56.15%|131|17,723| 43.40%|-13.03%|-| style="background:#228B22;" | Cattaraugus || 1,844||42.28%|| 2,481|| 56.89%|36|4,361| 29.93%|-14.61%

2,592

47.65%

2,805

51.56%

5,440

36.89%

-3.92%

3,865

46.09%

4,431

52.84%

8,386

32.68%

-6.75%

2,740

49.43%

2,752

49.65%

5,543

35.91%

-0.22%

1,062

39.23%

1,613

59.59%

2,707

37.60%

-20.35%|-| style="background:#228B22;" | Clinton || 1,774||26.76%|| 4,797|| 72.35%|59|6,630| 39.37%|-45.60%

3,039

45.14%

3,660

54.37%

6,732

51.64%

-9.22%

1,515

41.90%

2,037

56.33%

3,616

42.80%

-14.44%|-| style="background:#228B22;" | Delaware || 1,172||38.96%|| 1,813|| 60.27%|23|3,008| 41.70%|-21.31%

11,701

48.37%

12,395

51.23%

24,193

41.70%

-2.87%

Erie

54,279

50.40%

52,473

48.72%

955

107,707

38.91%

1.68%

838

27.90%

2,145

71.40%

3,004

47.40%

-43.51%|-| style="background:#228B22;" | Franklin || 1,076||29.74%|| 2,512|| 69.43%|30|3,618| 37.59%|-39.69%

Fulton

1,010

40.16%

1,475

58.65%

2,515

32.80%

-18.49%|-| style="background:#228B22;" | Genesee || 1,393||45.66%|| 1,622|| 53.16%|36|3,051| 33.66%|-7.51%|-| style="background:#228B22;" | Greene || 1,195||42.82%|| 1,566|| 56.11%|30|2,791| 40.29%|-13.29%

141

35.97%

245

62.50%

392

44.70%

-26.53%|-| style="background:#228B22;" | Herkimer || 1,507||44.01%|| 1,873|| 54.70%|44|3,424| 34.22%|-10.69%

2,579

48.80%

2,656

50.26%

5,285

34.96%

-1.46%

Kings (Brooklyn)

183,662

59.07%

123,872

39.84%

3,372

310,906

36.42%

19.23%

492

40.53%

703

57.91%

1,214

28.88%

-17.38%|-| style="background:#228B22;" | Livingston || 1,685||39.86%|| 2,516|| 59.52%|26|4,227| 42.23%|-19.66%

2,039

44.12%

2,528

54.71%

4,621

41.82%

-10.58%|-| style="background:#D4AA00;" | Monroe || 39,310||51.60%|| 36,490|| 47.90%|380|76,180| 43.85%|3.70%|-| style="background:#228B22;" | Montgomery || 1,298||42.31%|| 1,732|| 56.45%|38|3,068| 33.64%|-14.15%

74,870

62.14%

44,731

37.13%

884

120,485

32.59%

25.01%

190,806

65.42%

98,194

33.67%

2,656

291,656

47.20%

31.75%

8,202

46.48%

9,294

52.67%

149

17,645

34.09%

-6.19%

6,586

45.21%

7,739

53.12%

243

14,568

33.81%

-7.91%

21,786

52.90%

19,186

46.59%

212

41,184

41.40%

6.31%

4,040

47.31%

4,445

52.05%

8,540

43.88%

-4.74%

Orange

12,855

51.14%

12,077

48.04%

206

25,138

33.12%

3.09%

725

43.36%

923

55.20%

1,672

31.43%

-11.84%|-| style="background:#228B22;" | Oswego || 2,631||43.98%|| 3,273|| 54.71%|78|5,982| 35.11%|-10.73%

1,995

40.72%

2,868

58.54%

4,899

47.17%

-17.82%|-| style="background:#228B22;" | Putnam || 3,718||49.00%|| 3,832|| 50.50%|38|7,588| 42.73%|-1.50%

Queens

133,210

61.32%

81,782

37.64%

2,272

217,244

32.15%

23.68%

5,068

41.76%

7,003

57.70%

12,137

43.14%

-15.94%|-| style="background:#D4AA00;" | Richmond (Staten Island) || 17,612||52.40%|| 15,471|| 46.03%|530|33,613| 28.17%|6.37%|-| style="background:#D4AA00;" | Rockland || 17,868||59.78%|| 11,790|| 39.44%|233|29,891| 35.11%|20.33%|-| style="background:#228B22;" | St. Lawrence|| 3,142||44.04%|| 4,425|| 57.87%|53|7,646| 35.72%| −16.78%|-| style="background:#228B22;" | Saratoga || 7,672||44.04%|| 9,694|| 55.65%|104|17,419| 45.81%| −11.61%|-| style="background:#228B22;" | Schenectady || 6,526||47.05%|| 7,241|| 52.20%|15|13,871| 40.12%| −5.15%|-| style="background:#228B22;" | Schoharie || 706||36.45%|| 1,216|| 62.78%|8|1,937| 40.93%| −26.33%|-| style="background:#228B22;" | Schuyler || 548||38.27%|| 876|| 61.17%|12|1,432| 44.27%| −22.91%|-| style="background:#228B22;" | Seneca || 1,125||47.19%|| 1,247|| 52.31%|79|2,384| 40.18%| −5.12%|-| style="background:#228B22;" | Steuben || 2,149||41.86%|| 2,926|| 56.99%|59|5,134| 36.61%| −15.13%|-| style="background:#D4AA00;" | Suffolk || 53,420||54.80%|| 44,033|| 45.14%|25|97,478| 32.07%|9.63%|-| style="background:#228B22;" | Sullivan || 2,369||44.12%|| 2,958|| 55.09%|42|5,369| 31.84%| −10.97%|-| style="background:#228B22;" | Tioga || 1,318||40.12%|| 1,936|| 58.93%|31|3,285| 41.14%|-18.81%

6,138

37.60%

10,130

62.06%

16,324

63.40%

-24.45%|-| style="background:#228B22;" | Ulster || 7,642||37.90%|| 12,435|| 61.68%|84|20,161| 50.70%|-23.77%

1,868

39.21%

2,871

60.26%

4,764

46.75%

-21.05%|-| style="background:#228B22;" | Washington || 1,292||36.08%|| 2,274|| 63.50%|15|3,581| 41.49%|-27.42%

1,988

44.56%

2,436

54.61%

4,461

34.17%

-10.04%|-| style="background:#D4AA00;" | Westchester || 74,900||66.87%|| 36,753|| 32.81%|354|112,007| 42.45%|34.06%|-| style="background:#228B22;" | Wyoming || 639||39.89%|| 958|| 59.80%|5|1,602| 30.12%|-19.91%|-| style="background:#228B22;" | Yates || 637||46.46%|| 720|| 52.52%|14|1,371| 42.98%|-6.05%|-| |Total || 1,133,980||57.54%||820,256|| 41.62% |16,667|1,970,703| 37.41%|15.93%|}Note: New York State is a closed primary state, meaning the turnout is based on active enrolled democrats by county on April 1, 2016. Blank, void, and scattering votes (BVS) are only for blank and void, since there was not other candidate on the ballot or the ability to write-in.

New York City results

2016 Democratic primary in New York City	Manhattan	The Bronx	Brooklyn	Queens	Staten Island	Total
Hillary Clinton	190,806	105,719	183,662	133,210	17,612	631,009
Hillary Clinton	64.42%	68.76%	59.07%	61.32%	52.40%	62.65%
Bernie Sanders	98,194	46,189	123,872	81,762	15,471	365,488
Bernie Sanders	33.67%	30.04%	39.84%	37.64%	46.03%	36.29%
Turnout	47.20%	31.31%	36.42%	32.15%	28.17%
Margin of Victory	30.75%	38.74%	19.23%	23.68%	6.37%	26.36%

Analysis

Clinton won a 16-point victory in her home state. Exit polls showed that Sanders won among voters age 18–29 in the Empire State, capturing 65% of this demographic, while Clinton won every other age group, performing better with older groups (53% of voters ages 30–44, 63% of voters aged 45–54, and 73% of voters aged 65 and over).^[12] Clinton tied men with Sanders 50-50, but won a 63–37 landslide among women (both married and unmarried). The candidates split the white vote 50–50, but Clinton won the African American vote 75–25 and the Hispanic/Latino vote 64–36. Clinton swept all income levels/socioeconomic statuses and educational attainment levels in her home state.

In terms of political ideology, Clinton won 62–38 among Democrats while Sanders won 72–28 among Independents, who were 14% of the electorate. Clinton won both liberals and moderate/conservative voters. She won among union households 58-42, and won both married and unmarried voters. In terms of religious affiliation, Clinton won Protestants 65-35, Catholics 62-38, and also won the Jewish vote by a 2 to 1 margin after Sanders caused controversy by criticizing Israel.^[13] Sanders won agnostic/atheist voters 57-43. While Clinton won voters who said Wall Street does more to help the economy, Sanders won among those who said it hurts the economy.^[14]

Clinton performed very well on Long Island and in the five boroughs of New York City, particularly in Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx; she also won handily in Brooklyn and Staten Island. Clinton ran up big margins in New York City neighborhoods like Harlem, where the percentage of African American voters was highest. Sanders did better in rural, whiter upstate New York counties, with Clinton winning Buffalo, Syracuse, and Rochester while Sanders won in Albany. Sanders also performed well in the Hudson Valley, with a high concentration of liberals and college students.

Aftermath

After winning her home state convincingly, Clinton told supporters, "New Yorkers, you've always had my back and I've always tried to have yours [...] Today together we did it again and I am deeply, deeply grateful."^[15]

Following his primary, a Manhattan attorney filed suit, seeking a temporary restraining order to block certification of the presidential primary election by New York City Board of Elections and the state elections board based on his argument that New York's closed primary system violated the state Constitution. This argument was rejected by the New York Supreme Court (the state trial court).^[16]

References

Notes and References

Web site: New York State Board of Elections . 2017-08-25 . June 30, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160630031503/http://www.elections.ny.gov/NYSBOE/elections/2016/Primary/DemocraticPresPrimaryResults.pdf . dead .
Peter Nicholas, Five Reasons the New York Democratic Primary Felt Competitive, Wall Street Journal (April 20, 2016).
http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/bill-clinton-rallies-volunteers-final-primary-push Bill Clinton Rallies Hillary Backers in Final N.Y. Primary Push
Patrick Healy & Maggie Haberman, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Win Easily in New York Primary, New York Times (April 19, 2016).
Michael Beckel, Sanders spent $9 per vote in New York. Trump? About 13 cents., Center for Public Integrity (April 20, 2016).
News: Stelter. Brian. Clinton, Sanders to meet for Brooklyn debate. April 5, 2016. CNN. April 4, 2016.
News: Clinton, Sanders to meet for Brooklyn debate. Brian Stelter, Host. April 4, 2016. CNN.
News: The Brooklyn Voter Purge: By Age, Registration and Sanders Districts. WNYC News. John Keefe, Jenny Ye and Brigid Bergin. June 22, 2016. June 2, 2019.
Web site: Elections chief defends botched N.Y. primary election; Challenges loom The Villager Newspaper . October 16, 2014 . May 13, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160513104324/http://thevillager.com/2016/05/12/29936/ . May 13, 2016 . live .
Web site: 2016 Election Center – Presidential Primaries and Caucuses. CNN. June 4, 2018.
Web site: Election results. https://web.archive.org/web/20170214002455/http://app.albanycounty.com/boe/electionresults/_electionnight/2016PresPrimaryRecanvass.pdf . app.albanycounty.com. February 3, 2023. February 14, 2017. dead.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/04/19/us/elections/new-york-primary-democratic-exit-polls.html New York Exit Polls
News: Hillary Clinton takes Jewish vote in New York primaries – U.S. Election 2016. Haaretz. 2016-10-10.
News: 2016 Election Center. CNN. 2016-10-10.
News: US election 2016: Trump and Clinton win New York primaries. April 20, 2016. BBC News.
Barbara Ross, Judge rejects challenge to New York's 'closed primary' system, New York Daily News (May 2, 2016).