Florida Republican primary, 2016

Florida Republican primary, 2016

March 15, 2016

Candidate Donald Trump Marco Rubio Home state New York Florida Delegate count 99 0 Popular vote 1,079,870 638,661 Percentage 45.7% 27.0%   Candidate Ted Cruz John Kasich Home state Texas Ohio Delegate count 0 0 Popular vote 404,891 159,976 Percentage 17.1% 6.8%

Results by county   Donald Trump   Marco Rubio

The 2016 Florida Republican Primary was held on March 15, 2016, with 99 delegates being allocated on a winner-take-all basis. Businessman Donald Trump scored a decisive victory in the state, defeating Senator Marco Rubio by nearly 20 points. Rubio had previously vowed to continue his campaign regardless of the results in Florida,^[1] but suspended his campaign after the state was called for Trump.^[2]

Results

Florida Republican primary, March 15, 2016
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Actual delegate count
			Bound	Unbound	Total
Donald Trump	1,079,870	45.72%	99	0	99
Marco Rubio	638,661	27.04%	0	0	0
Ted Cruz	404,891	17.14%	0	0	0
John Kasich	159,976	6.77%	0	0	0
Jeb Bush (withdrawn)	43,511	1.84%	0	0	0
Ben Carson (withdrawn)	21,207	0.90%	0	0	0
Rand Paul (withdrawn)	4,450	0.19%	0	0	0
Mike Huckabee (withdrawn)	2,624	0.11%	0	0	0
Chris Christie (withdrawn)	2,493	0.11%	0	0	0
Carly Fiorina (withdrawn)	1,899	0.08%	0	0	0
Rick Santorum (withdrawn)	1,211	0.05%	0	0	0
Lindsey Graham (withdrawn)	693	0.03%	0	0	0
Jim Gilmore (withdrawn)	319	0.01%	0	0	0
Unprojected delegates:			0	0	0
Total:	2,361,805	100.00%	99	0	99
Source: The Green Papers

Analysis

Donald Trump managed a lopsided 17-point victory in Florida, a state where the New York businessman has real estate and several significant investments. According to the New York Times, Mr. Trump "was able to appeal to voters with his message of economic populism and his hard line on immigration" in the Sunshine State.^[3]

According to exit polls, Trump swept all age groups, income levels, and educational attainment levels. His particular area of strength was with whites without a college degree, whom he won 54-22 over Marco Rubio. Trump also won born-again and Evangelical Christians 46-24, and white born-again Evangelical Christians 49-19. He also carried Protestants 45-24 and Catholics 50-33.

In terms of voters' primary concerns, Trump won over all groups, performing particularly well among those who worried about terrorism (he won 60-16) and those who worried most about the economy (he won 43-30). He won a particularly large victory among those whose family financial situation was "falling behind", among those who called themselves "dissatisfied" or "angry" about the federal government, and among those who said they felt betrayed by Republican politicians. He won among voters who said the U.S. support for Israel is "Not Strong Enough" 48-26. An overwhelming majority of voters said they support Trump's proposed Muslim ban.

Trump swept most regions of the state, winning in the Panhandle 48-24, in Orlando 49-27, in the Tampa Bay area 46-23, and in the Gulf Coast and Mid-Florida 48-21.

Rubio, for his part, won in Miami 42-39, and while Trump won the white vote 51-22, Rubio won the Hispanic/Latino vote 52-26, which was 16% of the electorate. Rubio won Cubans 63-17, other Hispanics 40-38, and non-whites overall 45-27.^[4]

After losing his home state of Florida badly, Rubio withdrew from the race. As The New York Times described in its analysis of the primary results, Rubio "ran for president offering his youthful optimism and Cuban-American heritage as the embodiment of a new and more diverse generation of Republican leadership, but ultimately failed to galvanize voters in a much darker mood [...]"^[5]

See also

2016 Presidential Primaries in Manatee County, FL

References

1. Killough, Ashley (15 March 2016). "Marco Rubio: I'm going to Utah 'irrespective' of Florida results". CNN.
2. Kopan, Tal (16 March 2016). "Marco Rubio drops out of presidential race after Florida loss". CNN.
3. Rappeport, Maggie Haberman, Nate Cohn, Alan; Confessore, Nicholas (2016-03-15). "Florida, Ohio and Other Primaries on March 15: Analysis". The New York Times - The New York Times Politics and Washington. Retrieved 2016-10-22.
4. "2016 Election Center". CNN. Retrieved 2016-10-02.
5. Rappeport, Maggie Haberman, Nate Cohn, Alan; Confessore, Nicholas (2016-03-15). "Florida, Ohio and Other Primaries on March 15: Analysis". The New York Times - The New York Times Politics and Washington. Retrieved 2016-10-22.