2016 Missouri Democratic presidential primary

Missouri Democratic primary, 2016

March 15, 2016 (2016-03-15)

Candidate Hillary Clinton Bernie Sanders Home state New York Vermont Delegate count 36 35 Popular vote 312,285 310,711 Percentage 49.61% 49.36%

Election results by county.   Hillary Clinton   Bernie Sanders   Tie

The 2016 Missouri Democratic primary took place on March 15 in the U.S. state of Missouri as one of the Democratic Party's primaries ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

On the same day, the Democratic Party held primaries in Florida, Illinois, North Carolina and Ohio, while the Republican Party held primaries in the same five states, including their own Missouri primary, plus the Northern Mariana Islands.

Opinion polling

See also: Statewide opinion polling for the Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2016

Poll source	Date	1st	2nd	3rd	Other
Official Primary results	March 15, 2016	Hillary Clinton 49.6%	Bernie Sanders 49.4%		Others / Uncommitted 1.0%
Public Policy Polling Margin of error: ± 3.4% Sample size: 839	March 11–12, 2016	Bernie Sanders 47%	Hillary Clinton 46%		Others / Undecided 7%
RABA Research Margin of error: ± 4% Sample size: 670	March 8–10, 2016	Hillary Clinton 44%	Bernie Sanders 40%		Others / Undecided 16%
Fort Hayes State University Margin of error: ± 8% Sample size: 145	March 3–10, 2016	Hillary Clinton 47%	Bernie Sanders 40%		Others / Undecided 13%
Public Policy Polling Margin of error: 5.2% Sample size: 352	August 7–9, 2015	Hillary Clinton 53%	Bernie Sanders 25%	Martin O'Malley 5%	Jim Webb 5%, Lincoln Chafee 1%, Not sure 12%

Results

See also: Results of the Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2016

Clinton went into election night in Missouri down to Senator Sanders in the polls. Throughout the evening Sanders maintained a lead over Clinton. However St. Louis County home of St. Louis and Jackson County home of Kansas City came in late and it was just enough to push Clinton over the finish line. Senator Sanders refused to request a recount citing concerns over wasting taxpayer dollars.

Missouri Democratic primary, March 15, 2016
Candidate	Popular vote		Estimated delegates
	Count	Percentage	Pledged	Unpledged	Total
Hillary Clinton	312,285	49.61%	36	11	47
Bernie Sanders	310,711	49.36%	35	2	37
Henry Hewes	650	0.10%
Martin O'Malley (withdrawn)	442	0.07%
Jon Adams	433	0.07%
Rocky De La Fuente	345	0.05%
Willie Wilson	307	0.05%
Keith Russell Judd	288	0.05%
John Wolfe Jr.	247	0.04%
Uncommitted	3,717	0.59%	0	0	0
Total	629,425	100%	71	13	84
Source: The Green Papers, Missouri Secretary of State - Official Primary Results

State of Missouri Democratic primary, March 15, 2016
	District	Delegates	Votes Clinton	Votes Sanders	Votes Qualified	Clinton delegates	Sanders delegates
	1	10	85656	59567	145223	6	4
	2	6	46785	49661	96446	3	3
	3	5	28983	35664	64647	2	3
	4	5	26178	33428	59606	2	3
	5	7	51696	45974	97670	4	3
	6	5	28786	32129	60915	2	3
	7	4	21574	31389	52963	2	2
	8	5	20944	21259	42203	2	3
	Total	47	310,602	309,071	619,673	23	24
	PLEO	9	310,602	309,071	619,673	5	4
	At Large	15	310,602	309,071	619,673	8	7
	Gr. Total	71	310,602	309,071	619,673	36	35
	Total vote	626,075	49.61%	49.37%
Source: Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander statewide results and Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander District results

Results by county

County	Clinton	Votes	Sanders	Votes
Adair	40.7%	799	58.8%	1,153
Andrew	39.9%	498	58.4%	728
Atchison	44.5%	141	54.6%	173
Audrain	49.6%	749	48.2%	728
Barry	47.0%	796	51.6%	874
Barton	48.1%	205	50.2%	214
Bates	43.5%	518	53.1%	632
Benton	53.3%	669	45.2%	567
Bollinger	53.8%	242	45.1%	203
Boone	38.7%	9,628	60.6%	15,076
Buchanan	44.5%	3,443	53.7%	4,148
Butler	52.7%	889	45.4%	766
Caldwell	43.2%	244	55.6%	314
Callaway	44.5%	1,378	54.2%	1,678
Camden	48.9%	1,388	49.9%	1,419
Cape Girardeau	46.6%	2,076	52.4%	2,335
Carroll	43.2%	233	50.7%	255
Carter	48.6%	138	50.0%	142
Cass	46.8%	3,765	52.1%	4,185
Cedar	47.0%	332	51.1%	361
Chariton	52.1%	321	44.5%	274
Christian	40.8%	2,146	58.4%	3,073
Clark	51.4%	202	45.3%	178
Clay	45.5%	10,630	53.7%	12,542
Clinton	46.2%	765	51.4%	852
Cole	45.3%	2,798	53.5%	3,303
Cooper	50.1%	516	48.6%	501
Crawford	41.2%	522	56.2%	712
Dade	48.1%	201	51.0%	213
Dallas	42.9%	397	55.7%	515
Daviess	51.0%	239	47.1%	221
DeKalb	39.0%	221	57.8%	328
Dent	40.5%	327	55.6%	449
Douglas	40.5%	268	58.1%	384
Dunklin	60.9%	724	37.7%	448
Franklin	42.9%	3,701	55.4%	4,784
Gasconade	43.8%	401	55.3%	507
Gentry	48.0%	171	49.4%	176
Greene	38.3%	10,910	61.1%	17,403
Grundy	44.6%	219	53.4%	262
Harrison	48.5%	158	50.0%	163
Henry	51.7%	780	46.1%	696
Hickory	53.7%	73	44.1%	60
Holt	52.2%	128	44.9%	110
Howard	48.8%	413	48.2%	408
Howell	40.2%	833	58.4%	1,209
Iron	43.8%	349	53.5%	426
Jackson	52.9%	48,860	46.4%	42,823
Jasper	37.1%	2,289	62.0%	3,826
Jefferson	44.2%	9,637	54.3%	11,830
Johnson	42.5%	1,473	56.2%	1,944
Knox	56.8%	134	39.8%	94
Laclede	43.6%	737	54.8%	927
Lafayette	46.2%	1,173	52.2%	1,324
Lawrence	45.3%	872	53.5%	1,028
Lewis	48.3%	239	48.3%	239
Lincoln	43.1%	1,561	54.6%	1,976
Linn	50.5%	436	47.3%	409
Livingston	48.5%	397	48.6%	398
Macon	43.7%	421	52.4%	505
Madison	49.4%	346	47.6%	334
Maries	50.2%	305	47.9%	291
Marion	54.7%	925	41.8%	707
McDonald	47.6%	364	50.3%	385
Mercer	51.9%	69	47.4%	63
Miller	46.5%	432	51.7%	480
Mississippi	67.2%	486	28.9%	209
Moniteau	44.6%	340	53.7%	409
Monroe	50.9%	252	45.7%	226
Montgomery	49.4%	330	48.5%	324
Morgan	51.5%	554	47.1%	506
New Madrid	64.2%	691	33.5%	360
Newton	43.9%	1,240	55.0%	1,553
Nodaway	41.6%	616	56.1%	831
Oregon	53.0%	319	45.0%	271
Osage	47.7%	314	49.5%	326
Ozark	42.1%	217	56.8%	293
Pemiscot	69.4%	602	28.8%	250
Perry	49.3%	436	49.4%	437
Pettis	44.8%	1,265	53.5%	1,509
Phelps	38.4%	1,137	58.9%	1,744
Pike	57.0%	661	41.0%	475
Platte	47.1%	4,645	52.1%	5,142
Polk	46.1%	744	52.7%	851
Pulaski	44.6%	860	52.8%	1,020
Putnam	46.8%	102	49.5%	108
Ralls	54.5%	415	40.9%	311
Randolph	44.9%	647	52.0%	750
Ray	48.2%	945	49.5%	968
Reynolds	47.1%	230	46.7%	228
Ripley	49.1%	259	47.3%	250
Saline	51.4%	910	45.5%	805
Schuyler	49.2%	124	47.2%	119
Scotland	44.1%	108	54.7%	134
Scott	55.0%	1,067	43.0%	834
Shannon	50.6%	317	46.5%	291
Shelby	51.1%	240	42.6%	200
St. Charles	44.8%	17,805	54.3%	21,593
St. Clair	49.9%	340	47.0%	320
St. Francois	45.3%	1,939	53.0%	2,267
St. Louis (City)	55.0%	34,458	44.3%	27,748
St. Louis (County)	55.3%	89,373	44.0%	71,134
Ste. Genevieve	50.3%	842	47.6%	798
Stoddard	56.6%	674	41.1%	489
Stone	46.9%	806	51.5%	885
Sullivan	59.8%	177	37.8%	112
Taney	46.2%	1,199	52.9%	1,373
Texas	46.3%	603	51.2%	666
Vernon	47.8%	490	50.5%	518
Warren	44.0%	986	54.5%	1,222
Washington	51.4%	754	45.3%	664
Wayne	57.8%	393	38.8%	264
Webster	44.0%	940	54.8%	1,170
Worth	41.5%	59	53.5%	76
Wright	50.5%	402	48.4%	385
Total	49.6%	310,602	49.4%	309,071

Analysis

Hillary Clinton, having narrowly lost the Missouri primary to Barack Obama eight years prior, managed a slim 0.2-percentage-point-victory over an increasingly popular insurgent Bernie Sanders in 2016. With Sanders winning men 56-44, voters under the age of 45 67-32, and white voters 54-45, Clinton won among women 54-44, older voters 62-37, and African American voters 67-32.

Sanders won among voters who made less than $50k and $100k per year, with Clinton winning more affluent voters. And while Sanders won 67-33 among self-identified Independents who made up 24% of the electorate, Clinton won 55-44 among the 74% of voters who identified as Democrats. While Sanders won among liberals 53-46, Clinton won moderates and conservatives 55-44. Sanders was able to win 54-45 among union households, a key voting bloc in the industrial Midwest, and he won 53-46 among those who believe trade with other countries takes away U.S. jobs; trade deals championed by Bill and Hillary Clinton have not always gone over well in the industrial Rust Belt. In terms of each voters' family financial situation, voters who were "getting ahead" or "holding steady" opted for Clinton, while those who felt they were "falling behind" overwhelmingly favored Sanders.

Clinton won a large victory in St. Louis City and St. Louis County (she won 55-44 according to exit polls, likely thanks to her ardent African American support), and she also managed a 51-48 victory in Kansas City on the western side of the state. Sanders, meanwhile, won victories in Colombia and Springfield, keeping the race close statewide, and won in the largely white, rural and more conservative counties, including areas of Northwestern Missouri bordering Kansas and Nebraska, and Southwestern Missouri bordering Oklahoma. All three neighboring states are Great Plains states that Sanders managed to win earlier in March.