2020 United States presidential election in Rhode Island explained

See main article: 2020 United States presidential election.

Election Name:2020 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
Country:Rhode Island
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
College Voted:yes
Previous Election:2016 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
Previous Year:2016
Election Date:November 3, 2020
Next Election:2024 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
Next Year:2024
Turnout:67.6%
Image1:Joe Biden presidential portrait (cropped).jpg
Nominee1:Joe Biden
Party1:Democratic Party (United States)
Home State1:Delaware
Running Mate1:Kamala Harris
Electoral Vote1:4
Popular Vote1:307,486
Percentage1:59.39%
Nominee2:Donald Trump
Party2:Republican Party (United States)
Home State2:Florida
Running Mate2:Mike Pence
Electoral Vote2:0
Popular Vote2:199,922
Percentage2:38.61%
President
Before Election:Donald Trump
Before Party:Republican Party (United States)
After Election:Joe Biden
After Party:Democratic Party (United States)

The 2020 United States presidential election in Rhode Island was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, as part of the 2020 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated.[1] Rhode Island voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, incumbent President Donald Trump, and running mate Vice President Mike Pence against Democratic Party nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, and his running mate California Senator Kamala Harris. Rhode Island has four electoral votes in the Electoral College.[2]

Rhode Island became one of three states where Biden won every county during the election, the other two being Massachusetts and Hawaii.

Rhode Island voted 17% more Democratic than the national average.

Primary elections

The primary elections were originally scheduled for April 28, 2020. On March 23, they were moved to June 2 due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.[3]

Republican primary

Donald Trump won the Republican primary, and received all of the state's 19 delegates to the 2020 Republican National Convention.[4]

Democratic primary

General election

Predictions

SourceRankingAs of
The Cook Political Report[5] September 10, 2020
Inside Elections[6] September 4, 2020
Sabato's Crystal Ball[7] July 14, 2020
Politico[8] September 8, 2020
RCP[9] August 3, 2020
Niskanen[10] July 26, 2020
CNN[11] August 3, 2020
The Economist[12] September 2, 2020
CBS News[13] August 16, 2020
270towin[14] August 2, 2020
ABC News[15] July 31, 2020
NPR[16] August 3, 2020
NBC News[17] August 6, 2020
538[18] September 9, 2020

Polling

Graphical summary

Aggregate polls

Joe
Biden
! class="unsortable"
Donald
Trump
Other/
Undecided
Margin
FiveThirtyEight[19] until November 2, 2020November 3, 202062.9%32.4%4.7%Biden +30.6

Polls

Poll sourceDate(s)
administered		Sample
size		Margin
Donald
Trump
Joe
Biden
Jo
Jorgensen
OtherUndecided
SurveyMonkey/Axios[20] Oct 20 – Nov 2, 2020566 (LV)± 5.5%36%62%-––
SurveyMonkey/AxiosOct 1–28, 2020910 (LV)–32%67%-––
SurveyMonkey/AxiosSep 1–30, 2020351 (LV)–37%62%-–0%
SurveyMonkey/AxiosAug 1–31, 2020208 (LV)–41%57%-–3%
SurveyMonkey/AxiosJul 1–31, 2020253 (LV)–39%60%-–1%
SurveyMonkey/AxiosJun 8–30, 2020176 (LV)–40%60%-–1%

Results

By county

CountyJoe Biden
Democratic		Donald Trump
Republican		Various candidates
Other parties		MarginTotal votes cast
%%%%
Bristol18,05063.52%9,74534.30%6202.18%8,30529.22%28,415
Kent49,11352.76%42,00145.12%1,9792.12%7,1127.64%93,093
Newport29,48663.89%15,72234.07%9402.04%13,76429.82%46,148
Providence165,01260.52%102,55137.61%5,1041.87%62,46122.91%272,667
Washington44,54958.57%29,81839.20%1,6932.23%14,73119.37%76,060
Totals306,21059.39%199,92238.61%10,3492.00%107,56420.78%517,757

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

By municipality

MunicipalityJoe BidenDemocraticDonald TrumpRepublicanJo JorgensenLibertarianOtherMarginTotal votes cast
data-sort-type="number" style="text-align:center;" data-sort-type="number" style="text-align:center;" %data-sort-type="number" style="text-align:center;" data-sort-type="number" style="text-align:center;" %data-sort-type="number" style="text-align:center;" data-sort-type="number" style="text-align:center;" %data-sort-type="number" style="text-align:center;" data-sort-type="number" style="text-align:center;" %data-sort-type="number" style="text-align:center;" data-sort-type="number" style="text-align:center;" %
Barrington7,71371.2%2,88926.7%1131.0%1171.0%4,82444.5%10,832
Bristol6,81358.4%4,59539.4%1391.2%1100.9%2,21819.0%11,657
Burrillville3,43440.2%4,90657.5%1261.5%720.9%-1,472-17.3%8,538
Central Falls3,07371.9%1,11326.1%250.6%611.4%1,96045.8%4,272
Charlestown2,90955.7%2,19842.1%641.2%491.0%71113.6%5,220
Coventry9,12345.6%10,46152.3%2321.2%1880.9%-1,338-6.7%20,004
Cranston23,03956.1%17,31342.2%3110.8%3901.0%5,72613.9%41,053
Cumberland10,86955.2%8,41842.8%2061.0%1850.9%2,45112.4%19,678
East Greenwich5,21860.3%3,22737.3%1041.2%981.1%1,99123.0%8,647
East Providence14,73563.6%7,93034.3%2040.9%2841.3%6,80529.3%23,153
Exeter1,97448.4%2,00949.2%551.3%441.1%-35-0.8%4,082
Foster1,22442.7%1,58255.2%341.2%250.8%-358-12.5%2,865
Glocester2,63843.2%3,35154.8%621.0%621.0%-713-11.6%6,113
Hopkinton2,29847.4%2,42350.0%741.5%511.0%-125-2.6%4,846
Jamestown2,79568.4%1,21229.7%441.1%330.8%1,58338.7%4,084
Johnston6,83844.8%8,22253.9%880.6%1150.8%-1,384-9.1%15,263
Lincoln6,63352.3%5,77945.6%1301.0%1291.0%8546.7%12,671
Little Compton1,52460.1%95137.5%281.1%321.2%57322.6%2,535
Middletown5,52964.2%2,88533.5%1151.3%790.9%2,64430.7%8,608
Narragansett5,33359.1%3,55139.3%560.6%901.1%1,78219.8%9,030
New Shoreham74878.3%19520.4%40.4%80.8%55357.9%955
Newport7,86673.4%2,66224.9%850.8%990.9%5,20448.5%10,712
North Kingstown10,53459.9%6,63337.7%2031.2%2071.2%3,90122.2%17,577
North Providence9,43856.0%7,12942.3%1450.9%1390.8%2,30913.7%16,851
North Smithfield3,50748.7%3,55049.3%851.2%640.9%-43-0.6%7,206
Pawtucket18,05370.0%7,25728.1%1880.7%2901.2%10,79641.9%25,788
Portsmouth6,64960.9%3,99536.6%1481.4%1251.1%2,65424.3%10,917
Providence45,94180.4%10,18617.8%3460.6%6941.2%35,75562.6%57,167
Richmond2,34648.8%2,34348.7%661.4%531.1%30.1%4,808
Scituate2,73540.9%3,80657.0%691.0%731.1%-1,071-16.1%6,683
Smithfield5,56648.3%5,74449.8%1181.0%1000.9%-178-1.5%11,528
South Kingstown11,25467.4%5,00330.0%2121.3%2191.3%6,25137.4%16,688
Tiverton5,12355.1%4,01743.2%840.9%680.7%1,10611.9%9,292
Warren3,52459.5%2,26138.2%741.2%671.1%1,26321.3%5,926
Warwick25,84555.7%19,57842.2%5451.2%4731.0%6,26713.5%46,441
West Greenwich1,69342.3%2,24256.0%411.0%240.6%-549-13.7%4,000
West Warwick7,23451.7%6,49346.4%1431.0%1310.9%7415.3%14,001
Westerly7,15355.6%5,46342.5%1271.0%1110.8%1,69013.1%12,854
Woonsocket7,28952.7%6,26545.3%1541.1%1300.9%1,0247.4%13,838
Totals307,48659.4%199,92238.6%5,0531.0%5,2961.0%107,56420.8%517,757

By congressional district

Biden won both congressional districts.

DistrictTrumpBidenRepresentative
34.6%63.9%David Cicilline
42.5%56%James Langevin

Analysis

Biden flipped the reliably Democratic Kent County back into the Democratic column, after Trump narrowly flipped it in 2016. Of the fourteen towns that voted for Trump in 2016, Biden flipped back three: Lincoln, Richmond, and West Warwick. Overall, Biden won Rhode Island by 20.8 points, improving on Clinton's 15.5 point win. Rhode Island is the only state in which neither Biden nor Trump broke the all-time Democrat or all-time Republican record for most votes earned in a general election (Lyndon B. Johnson and Dwight D. Eisenhower).

Biden's best towns were Rhode Island's wealthiest (such as Barrington, Jamestown, and East Greenwich) and poorest (such as heavily Latino Central Falls). Trump performed best with middle-income voters. This strength allowed Trump to hold formerly Democratic towns like Johnston, which is largely Catholic and middle-class.[21] According to a post-election voter survey conducted by the Associated Press, Trump carried Catholic voters, 51% to 49%.[22]

Biden became the first Democrat since 1912 to win without the towns of Burrillville and North Smithfield, the first since 1916 to win without Johnston and Smithfield, and the first since 1936 to win without Coventry. Biden flipped the municipalities of Lincoln, Richmond, and West Warwick.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: US elections key dates: When are the 2018 midterms and the 2020 presidential campaign?. https://web.archive.org/web/20180802011326/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-elections-key-dates-midterms-2020-presidential-house-congress-senate-a8472821.html . 2018-08-02 . limited . live. Kelly. Ben. August 13, 2018. The Independent. January 3, 2019.
  2. Web site: Distribution of Electoral Votes. National Archives and Records Administration. January 3, 2019.
  3. News: Rhode Island is the latest state to postpone its 2020 primary as coronavirus outbreak spreads. CNBC. March 23, 2020.
  4. Web site: Rhode Island Republican Delegation 2020. The Green Papers. June 3, 2020.
  5. Web site: 2020 POTUS Race ratings. The Cook Political Report. en. 2019-05-21.
  6. Web site: POTUS Ratings Inside Elections. insideelections.com. 2019-05-21.
  7. Web site: Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball » 2020 President. crystalball.centerforpolitics.org. 2019-05-21.
  8. Web site: 2020 Election Forecast. November 19, 2019 . Politico.
  9. Web site: Battle for White House. April 19, 2019 . RCP.
  10. https://www.niskanencenter.org/bitecofer-post-primary-update/ 2020 Bitecofer Model Electoral College Predictions
  11. Web site: David Chalian . Terence Burlij. Road to 270: CNN's debut Electoral College map for 2020. 2020-06-16. CNN. June 11, 2020 .
  12. News: Forecasting the US elections . The Economist . July 7, 2020.
  13. Web site: 2020 Election Battleground Tracker. CBS News. July 12, 2020. July 13, 2020.
  14. Web site: 2020 Presidential Election Interactive Map. 270 to Win.
  15. Web site: ABC News Race Ratings. CBS News. July 24, 2020. July 24, 2020.
  16. Web site: 2020 Electoral Map Ratings: Trump Slides, Biden Advantage Expands Over 270 Votes. 2020-08-03. NPR.org. August 3, 2020 . en. Montanaro . Domenico .
  17. Web site: Biden dominates the electoral map, but here's how the race could tighten. 2020-08-06. NBC News. August 6, 2020 . en.
  18. Web site: 2020 Election Forecast . FiveThirtyEight . August 12, 2020 . August 14, 2020.
  19. Web site: Rhode Island : President: general election Polls. Ryan. Best. Aaron. Bycoffe. Ritchie. King. Dhrumil. Mehta. Anna. Wiederkehr. June 28, 2018. FiveThirtyEight.
  20. Web site: Candidate preference. www.tableau.com.
  21. Web site: Patinkin . Mark . Patinkin: Why Democratic Johnston voted for Trump, and probably will again . 2022-11-02 . The Providence Journal . en-US.
  22. News: 2020-11-03 . Rhode Island Voter Surveys: How Different Groups Voted . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-11-02 . 0362-4331.

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