Mississippi Republican primary, 2016
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The 2016 Mississippi Republican presidential primary took place in Mississippi on March 8, 2016, ahead of the presidential election that November. The Democrats held their Mississippi primary on the same day. Mississippi's 40 Republican delegates were contested. Donald Trump won the primary, receiving 47.24% of the vote, while Ted Cruz came in second, with 36.12% of the vote. Trump received 25 of the state's delegates, while Cruz received the remaining 15.


The state of the campaign

Trump had already become the Republican front-runner before the Mississippi primary. He was favored to win Mississippi partly because he had already done well in Southern states' primaries, including Alabama's, which he won with 43.4% of the vote on Super Tuesday.


Opinion polling

A poll of 995 likely Republican Mississippi voters, conducted on February 29, 2016 by
Magellan Strategies Ferdinand Magellan ( or ; pt, Fernão de Magalhães, ; es, link=no, Fernando de Magallanes, ; 4 February 1480 – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer. He is best known for having planned and led the 1519 Spanish expedition to the Eas ...
, gave Trump 41% of the vote, 24% more than second-place Cruz.


Results


Analysis

Trump's double-digit victory in Mississippi was seen as solidifying his status as the Republican front-runner, shortly after his disappointing performance in the Louisiana primary. Another unusual aspect of the Mississippi primary results was
Marco Rubio Marco Antonio Rubio (born May 28, 1971) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the senior United States senator from Florida, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he served as Speaker of the Florida Hous ...
's exceptionally poor showing: Rubio came in fourth despite having finished second in several other primaries in the
South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...
. Overall, Trump's victory was part of his generally strong performance in the South, in which, as a whole, he performed better than either
John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...
in 2008 or
Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American politician, businessman, and lawyer serving as the junior United States senator from Utah since January 2019, succeeding Orrin Hatch. He served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts f ...
in 2012.
Exit poll An election exit poll is a poll of voters taken immediately after they have exited the polling stations. A similar poll conducted before actual voters have voted is called an entrance poll. Pollsters – usually private companies working for n ...
s showed that Trump beat Cruz in virtually every demographic group. They also showed that Trump got an especially large share of the vote among Mississippi voters looking for a candidate who "tells it like it is". Trump also won among white evangelicals, the voters who Cruz had hoped would form his coalition. However, Trump came in second (behind Cruz) among Republican voters who decided whom to vote for in the primary within the previous week.


References


External links


Exit poll results
from CNN {{U.S. presidential primaries Mississippi Republican primary
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