2016 United States presidential election in South Dakota explained

See main article: article and 2016 United States presidential election.

Election Name:	2016 United States presidential election in South Dakota
Country:	South Dakota
Type:	presidential
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	2012 United States presidential election in South Dakota
Previous Year:	2012
Election Date:	November 8, 2016
Next Election:	2020 United States presidential election in South Dakota
Next Year:	2020
Turnout:	59.90% ^[1]
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:	227,721
Percentage1:
Nominee2:	Hillary Clinton
Party2:	Democratic Party (United States)
Home State2:	New York
Running Mate2:	Tim Kaine
Electoral Vote2:	0
Popular Vote2:	117,458
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:	20,845
Map Size:	350px
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 South Dakota 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. South Dakota voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting the Republican Party's nominee, celebrity 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.

South Dakota has voted for the Republican ticket in every election since 1968. Donald Trump continued the Republican tradition in South Dakota, carrying the state with 61.5% of the vote, to Hillary Clinton's 31.7% of the vote,^[2] a 29.8% margin of victory, the largest margin of victory for a candidate of either party since Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower's 38.5% margin in 1952. South Dakota was also Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson's fifth strongest state in the 2016 election, which his 5.63% in popular vote being only behind New Mexico, North Dakota, Alaska and Oklahoma.^[3]

Primary elections

Democratic primary

See main article: 2016 South Dakota Democratic presidential primary. Two candidates appeared on the Democratic presidential primary ballot:

• Hillary Clinton
• Bernie Sanders

Republican primary

See main article: 2016 South Dakota Republican presidential primary. Three candidates appeared on the Republican presidential primary ballot. The only candidate with a campaign that remained active was Donald Trump. Trump's state director was Neal Tapio.

• Ted Cruz (withdrawn)
• John Kasich (withdrawn)
• Donald Trump

General Election

Predictions

The following are final 2016 predictions from various organizations for South Dakota as of Election Day.

Source	Ranking	As of
Los Angeles Times^[4]		November 6, 2016
CNN^[5]		November 8, 2016
align=left	Rothenberg Political Report^[6]		November 7, 2016
Sabato's Crystal Ball^[7]		November 7, 2016
NBC^[8]		November 7, 2016
RealClearPolitics^[9]		November 8, 2016
Fox News^[10]		November 7, 2016
ABC^[11]		November 7, 2016

Statewide Results

2016 United States presidential election in South Dakota^[12]
Party		Candidate	Running Mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Donald Trump	Mike Pence	227,721	61.53%	3
	Democratic	Hillary Clinton	Tim Kaine	117,458	31.74%	0
	Libertarian	Gary Johnson	William Weld	20,850	5.63%	0
	Constitution	Darrell Castle	Scott Bradley	4,064	1.10%	0
Totals				370,093	100.00%	3

Results by county

County	Donald Trump Republican		Hillary Clinton Democratic		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total
		%		%		%		%
	Aurora		974		69.23%		340		24.16%		93		6.61%		634		45.07%		1,407
	Beadle		4,455		65.79%		1,912		28.23%		405		5.98%		2,543		37.56%		6,772
	Bennett		666		57.96%		412		35.86%		71		6.18%		254		22.10%		1,149
	Bon Homme		2,105		70.78%		704		23.67%		165		5.55%		1,401		47.11%		2,974
	Brookings		6,748		53.22%		4,879		38.48%		1,053		8.30%		1,869		14.74%		12,680
	Brown		9,613		59.66%		5,452		33.83%		1,049		6.51%		4,161		25.83%		16,114
	Brule		1,565		68.40%		571		24.96%		152		6.64%		994		43.44%		2,288
	Buffalo		171		34.90%		296		60.41%		23		4.69%		-125		-25.51%		490
	Butte		3,357		77.15%		696		16.00%		298		6.85%		2,661		61.15%		4,351
	Campbell		704		84.72%		105		12.64%		22		2.64%		599		72.08%		831
	Charles Mix		2,382		69.39%		935		27.24%		116		3.37%		1,447		42.15%		3,433
	Clark		1,139		68.74%		398		24.02%		120		7.24%		741		44.72%		1,657
	Clay		2,109		41.61%		2,608		51.45%		352		6.94%		-499		-9.84%		5,069
	Codington		7,764		66.54%		3,174		27.20%		731		6.26%		4,590		39.34%		11,669
	Corson		588		50.04%		535		45.53%		52		4.43%		53		4.51%		1,175
	Custer		3,293		69.75%		1,121		23.74%		307		6.51%		2,172		46.01%		4,721
	Davison		5,157		64.85%		2,355		29.62%		440		5.53%		2,802		35.23%		7,952
	Day		1,627		59.23%		974		35.46%		146		5.31%		653		23.77%		2,747
	Deuel		1,366		65.67%		570		27.40%		144		6.93%		796		38.27%		2,080
	Dewey		723		42.33%		888		51.99%		97		5.68%		-165		-9.66%		1,708
	Douglas		1,338		83.36%		214		13.33%		53		3.31%		1,124		70.03%		1,605
	Edmunds		1,433		74.71%		380		19.81%		105		5.48%		1,053		54.90%		1,918
	Fall River		2,511		70.47%		821		23.04%		231		6.49%		1,690		47.43%		3,563
	Faulk		858		76.74%		204		18.25%		56		5.01%		654		58.49%		1,118
	Grant		2,382		66.84%		971		27.24%		211		5.92%		1,411		39.60%		3,564
	Gregory		1,600		76.52%		391		18.70%		100		4.78%		1,209		57.82%		2,091
	Haakon		936		89.66%		77		7.38%		31		2.96%		859		82.28%		1,044
	Hamlin		2,051		74.26%		555		20.09%		156		5.65%		1,496		54.17%		2,762
	Hand		1,391		76.51%		334		18.37%		93		5.12%		1,057		58.14%		1,818
	Hanson		1,497		74.63%		424		21.14%		85		4.23%		1,073		53.49%		2,006
	Harding		695		90.26%		38		4.94%		37		4.80%		657		85.32%		770
	Hughes		5,174		63.29%		2,450		29.97%		551		6.74%		2,724		33.32%		8,175
	Hutchinson		2,517		74.80%		692		20.56%		156		4.64%		1,825		54.24%		3,365
	Hyde		543		78.70%		125		18.12%		22		3.18%		418		60.58%		690
	Jackson		722		65.94%		323		29.50%		50		4.56%		399		36.44%		1,095
	Jerauld		648		67.01%		264		27.30%		55		5.69%		384		39.71%		967
	Jones		450		80.65%		69		12.37%		39		6.98%		381		68.28%		558
	Kingsbury		1,680		65.86%		703		27.56%		168		6.58%		977		38.30%		2,551
	Lake		4,038		59.50%		2,314		34.10%		434		6.40%		1,724		25.40%		6,786
	Lawrence		7,411		62.58%		3,356		28.34%		1,075		9.08%		4,055		34.24%		11,842
	Lincoln		15,499		61.43%		8,076		32.01%		1,656		6.56%		7,423		29.42%		25,231
	Lyman		977		68.75%		369		25.97%		75		5.28%		608		42.78%		1,421
	Marshall		1,056		54.24%		754		38.73%		137		7.03%		302		15.51%		1,947
	McCook		1,794		69.35%		623		24.08%		170		6.57%		1,171		45.27%		2,587
	McPherson		892		78.45%		192		16.89%		53		4.66%		700		61.56%		1,137
	Meade		8,441		72.64%		2,223		19.13%		957		8.23%		6,218		53.51%		11,621
	Mellette		402		58.86%		238		34.85%		43		6.29%		164		24.01%		683
	Miner		706		66.35%		281		26.41%		77		7.24%		425		39.94%		1,064
	Minnehaha		42,053		53.72%		30,618		39.11%		5,610		7.17%		11,435		14.61%		78,281
	Moody		1,731		59.02%		1,043		35.56%		159		5.42%		688		23.46%		2,933
	Oglala Lakota		241		8.30%		2,510		86.40%		154		5.30%		-2,269		-78.10%		2,905
	Pennington		29,804		62.43%		14,074		29.48%		3,865		8.09%		15,730		32.95%		47,743
	Perkins		1,333		83.00%		188		11.71%		85		5.29%		1,145		71.29%		1,606
	Potter		1,071		80.10%		215		16.08%		51		3.82%		856		64.02%		1,337
	Roberts		2,144		55.13%		1,540		39.60%		205		5.27%		604		15.53%		3,889
	Sanborn		819		72.93%		241		21.46%		63		5.61%		578		51.47%		1,123
	Spink		1,854		62.83%		919		31.14%		178		6.03%		935		31.69%		2,951
	Stanley		1,148		73.26%		329		21.00%		90		5.74%		819		52.26%		1,567
	Sully		679		78.86%		137		15.91%		45		5.23%		542		62.95%		861
	Todd		487		22.92%		1,505		70.82%		133		6.26%		-1,018		-47.90%		2,125
	Tripp		2,069		78.67%		462		17.57%		99		3.76%		1,607		61.10%		2,630
	Turner		2,937		70.77%		961		23.16%		252		6.07%		1,976		47.61%		4,150
	Union		5,290		66.99%		2,227		28.20%		380		4.81%		3,063		38.79%		7,897
	Walworth		1,896		76.54%		457		18.45%		124		5.01%		1,439		58.09%		2,477
	Yankton		5,659		58.81%		3,301		34.30%		663		6.89%		2,358		24.51%		9,623
	Ziebach		368		47.98%		353		46.02%		46		6.00%		15		1.96%		767
Totals	227,731	61.53%	117,466	31.74%	24,914	6.73%	110,265	29.79%	370,111

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

^[13]

• Day (largest town: Webster)
• Corson (largest city: McLaughlin)
• Marshall (largest city: Britton)
• Roberts (largest city: Sisseston)
• Ziebach (largest city: Dupree)

By congressional district

South Dakota has only one congressional district because of its small population compared to other states. This district, called the At-Large district because it covers the entire state, is equivalent to the statewide election results.

Analysis

South Dakota gave Republican nominee Donald Trump a more than 29-point margin of victory over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, thus gaining him three electoral votes.^[14] The Mount Rushmore state's politics are driven by agrarian conservatism, with the eastern portion of the state being largely rural and considered an extension of the Corn Belt. The western portion of the state is even more conservative.^[15] South Dakota, like many neighboring majority-white Great Plains and prairie states in the Farm Belt, has not voted for a Democratic candidate since the landslide election of Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

Donald Trump carried most of the state's counties, including Hughes County where the capital city of Pierre is located, Pennington County which contains Rapid City, Minnehaha County which contains Sioux Falls, Brown County which contains Aberdeen, and Codington County which contains Watertown. Clinton won only five counties statewide: Todd, Buffalo, Dewey, and Oglala Lakota, all of which are majority Native American, and Clay County which contains the University of South Dakota.^[16] However, Trump did fare well with some Native American groups, and thus held the Native American-majority counties of Bennett, Corson, Mellette and Ziebach, along with the plurality-Native county of Jackson. Distinctly noticeable were the split of both the Pine Ridge and Standing Rock reservations votes and the majority-Native counties they contained: the western half of Pine Ridge (Oglala Lakota County) voted Democrat, while eastern Pine Ridge (Bennett and Jackson Counties) voted Republican, and while northern Standing Rock (Sioux County) remained heavily Democratic, southern Standing Rock (Corson County) swung Republican for the first time in three elections.

See also

• Presidency of Donald Trump
• United States presidential elections in South Dakota
• 2016 Democratic Party presidential debates and forums
• 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries
• 2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums
• 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries

Notes and References

1. Web site: Voter turnout in United States elections .
2. News: South Dakota Election Results 2016. The New York Times. August 2017.
3. Web site: 2016 Presidential Election Statistics. Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. 2018-03-05.
4. News: Our final map has Clinton winning with 352 electoral votes. Compare your picks with ours. . . 2016-11-06 . 2016-11-13.
5. Web site: Road to 270: CNN's general election map - CNNPolitics.com . Cnn.com . 2016-11-08 . 2016-11-13.
6. Web site: Presidential Ratings . The Rothenberg Political Report . August 16, 2021.
7. Web site: Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball » 2016 President . Centerforpolitics.org . 2016-11-07 . 2016-11-13.
8. Web site: Todd . Chuck . NBC's Final Battleground Map Shows Clinton With a Significant Lead . . 2016-11-13.
9. Web site: 2016 Election Maps - Battle for White House . RealClearPolitics . 2016-11-13.
10. Web site: Electoral Scorecard: Map shifts again in Trump's favor, as Clinton holds edge . . 2016-11-07 . 2016-11-13.
11. Web site: The Final 15: The Latest Polls in the Swing States That Will Decide the Election . Abcnews.go.com . 2016-11-07 . 2016-11-13.
12. Web site: 2016 Presidential General Election Results - South Dakota.
13. News: Bump. Philip. The counties that flipped parties to swing the 2016 election. en-US. Washington Post. 2020-09-01. 0190-8286.
14. Web site: South Dakota Election Results 2016. The New York Times. 2016-11-11.
15. News: In South Dakota, Only the Farm Trumps Conservatism. Cohen. Micah. FiveThirtyEight. 24 August 2012 . 2016-11-11.
16. Web site: 2016 election results: South Dakota. www.cnn.com. 2016-11-11.