See main article: 2016 United States presidential election.
| Election Name: | 2016 United States presidential election in Alaska |
| Country: | Alaska |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2012 United States presidential election in Alaska |
| Previous Year: | 2012 |
| Election Date: | November 8, 2016 |
| Next Election: | 2020 United States presidential election in Alaska |
| Next Year: | 2020 |
| Turnout: | 60.77% |
| Image1: | Donald Trump official portrait (cropped).jpg |
| Nominee1: | Donald Trump |
| Party1: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Home State1: | New York |
| Running Mate1: | Mike Pence |
| Electoral Vote1: | 3 |
| Popular Vote1: | 163,387 |
| Percentage1: | |
| Nominee2: | Hillary Clinton |
| Party2: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Home State2: | New York |
| Running Mate2: | Tim Kaine |
| Electoral Vote2: | 0 |
| Popular Vote2: | 116,454 |
| Image3: | Gary Johnson June 2016.jpg |
| Nominee3: | Gary Johnson |
| Party3: | Libertarian Party (United States) |
| Home State3: | New Mexico |
| Running Mate3: | Bill Weld |
| Electoral Vote3: | 0 |
| Popular Vote3: | 18,725 |
| President | |
| Before Election: | Barack Obama |
| Before Party: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| After Election: | Donald Trump |
| After Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
The 2016 United States presidential election in Alaska was held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, as part of the nationwide presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Alaska 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. Alaska has three electoral votes in the Electoral College.[1]
Trump carried the state with 51.28% of the vote, while Clinton received 36.55% of the vote.[2] This marked a return to Alaska's streak of giving Democrats under 40% of the vote share, after Barack Obama won just over 40% in 2012. Alaska has voted Republican in every election since 1968, and since its admission to the Union in 1959, it has only voted for the Democratic candidate on one occasion: Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.[3]
The state is known for strongly supporting third parties, including Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson in 2012; Alaska was his third-strongest state. He ran again as the Libertarian Party's 2016 nominee and appeared on the ballot in Alaska. On the day of the election, he garnered 5.88% of the vote, making Alaska his third-strongest state again after New Mexico and North Dakota.[4] Johnson's performance was the best for a Libertarian since 1980, and the best third party performance since Ralph Nader in 2000.
The two major parties held caucuses on different days: Republicans on March 1, and Democrats on March 26.[5]
See main article: 2016 Alaska Democratic presidential caucuses.
See main article: 2016 Alaska Republican presidential caucuses.
At the Republican National Convention, Alaska's floor votes were all recorded for Donald Trump by the convention secretary, even though the Alaska delegation read their votes according to the results of the caucuses: 12 for Cruz, 11 for Trump and 5 for Rubio. An Alaska delegate challenged the results as recorded.[6] However, RNC chair Reince Priebus defended the actions of the convention secretary, saying that the delegates were bound to Trump.[7]
See main article: Political party strength in Alaska. The state of Alaska has given its electoral votes to the Republican ticket in every election year since 1968 and only once to a Democratic ticket since statehood. However, in 2012, it had the largest swing in favor of the Democratic Party with President Obama only losing by 14 points compared to his 2008 loss by 22 points.[8]
Alaska also has a history of supporting third-party candidates at the presidential level. Alaska was the second-best state for Ross Perot in the 1992 election, with Ross Perot garnering 28% of the vote. Alaska was Nader's strongest state in the 2000 presidential election, giving him 10% in his presidential bid.[9] Alaska was also the third-best state for Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson in the 2012 election, giving him 2.46% of the vote, behind Johnson's home state of New Mexico, and Montana.[10] For this reason, Alaska has been considered to be one of Libertarian party nominee Gary Johnson's strongest states in the 2016 election.
According to the Alaska Division of Election, voter turnout was about 60.77%, 321,271 ballots were cast out of 528,671 voters.[11]
The following are the final 2016 predictions from various organizations for Alaska as of Election Day.
| Source | Ranking | As of | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles Times[12] | November 6, 2016 | ||
| CNN[13] | November 8, 2016 | ||
| align=left | Rothenberg Political Report[14] | November 7, 2016 | |
| Sabato's Crystal Ball[15] | November 7, 2016 | ||
| NBC[16] | November 7, 2016 | ||
| RealClearPolitics[17] | November 8, 2016 | ||
| Fox News[18] | November 7, 2016 | ||
| ABC[19] | November 7, 2016 |
Alaska has an at-large congressional equivalent to the statewide results.
Alaska had 3 electors in 2016; all of them voted for Donald Trump for president and Mike Pence for vice president.
The electors were: