The 2016 Utah Democratic presidential caucuses took place on March 22 in the U.S. state of

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

as one of the Democratic Party's primaries ahead of the

2016 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2016 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2016 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *7 January: Kiri ...

. On the same day, the Democratic Party held another caucus in

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

and a primary in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, while the Republican Party held primaries in two states, including their own Utah caucuses, plus in American Samoa.

Opinion polling

Results

Analysis

Sanders defeated Clinton by a landslide margin in Utah's caucus, winning almost 80 percent of the vote to Clinton's 20 percent. Sanders had held several rallies in Utah and spent $300,000 on TV advertising ahead of the state's caucuses, as well as those in Idaho and Arizona that were held on the same day. Though Clinton had been endorsed by some of the most prominent Democrats in Utah, such as then-Mayor of

Salt Lake County Salt Lake County is located in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 1,185,238, making it the most populous county in Utah. Its county seat and largest city is Salt Lake City, the state capital. The cou ...

Ben McAdams, she did not compete in the state as much as Sanders did. Turnout in the Utah caucus was unusually high, with some caucus sites needing to print extra ballots after running out multiple times. Sanders' victory in Utah was seen as part of a trend in which he tended to do better in whiter states and in those that held caucuses rather than primaries.

References

{{2016 Democratic primaries

Democratic caucuses

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

March 2016 events in the United States