2016 West Virginia Democratic presidential primary

2016 West Virginia Democratic presidential primary

May 10, 2016 (2016-05-10)

Candidate Bernie Sanders Hillary Clinton Paul T. Farrell Jr. Home state Vermont New York West Virginia Delegate count 18 11 0 Popular vote 124,700 86,914 21,694 Percentage 51.41% 35.84% 8.94%

Election results by county.   Bernie Sanders

Results by county of Paul T. Farrell, Jr.

  <5%

  5–10%

  10–15%

  15–20%

  >20%

The 2016 West Virginia Democratic presidential primary was held on May 10 in the U.S. state of West Virginia as one of the Democratic Party's primaries ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

The Republican Party held primaries in two states, including their own West Virginia primary, while for the Democratic Party this was the only primary on that day.

A heavily white, working-class state where voters were angry about the Obama administration's policies, Bernie Sanders easily outpolled Clinton in the Mountain State. Thirty percent of Democratic primary voters came from a coal household, and Sanders won 63 percent.

Opinion polling

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

List of polls

Main article: West Virginia Democratic primary, 2016 Delegate count: 29 Pledged, 8 Unpledged Winner: Bernie Sanders Primary date: May 10, 2016 Poll source Date 1st 2nd 3rd Other Primary results May 10, 2016 Bernie Sanders 51.4% Hillary Clinton 35.8% Paul Farrell 8.9% Others 3.9% MetroNews Margin of error: ±4.0% Sample size: 315 April 22-May 2, 2016 Bernie Sanders 47% Hillary Clinton 43% Undecided 11% Public Policy Polling Margin of error: ±3.9% Sample size: 637 April 29-May 1, 2016 Bernie Sanders 45% Hillary Clinton 37% Undecided 18% West Virginia Veterans/Thirty-Ninth Street Strategies Margin of error: ±3.9% Sample size: 600 March 2–6, 2016 Hillary Clinton 44% Bernie Sanders 31% Paul Farrell 6% Keith Judd 1% Others 7% Undecided 11% Orion Strategies Margin of error: ±5.6% Sample size: 306 February 20–21, 2016 Bernie Sanders 32% Hillary Clinton 24% Undecided 44% REPASS Research Margin of error: ±4.9% Sample size: 411 February 11–16, 2016 Bernie Sanders 57% Hillary Clinton 29% Orion Strategies Margin of error: ±4.9% Sample size: 306 August 27, 2015 Hillary Clinton 23% Joe Biden 16% Bernie Sanders 12% Undecided 49% Prism Surveys Margin of error: ± 3.21% Sample size: 900 August 21, 2015 Hillary Clinton 36% Bernie Sanders 32% Undecided 32%

Results

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

West Virginia Democratic primary, May 10, 2016
Candidate	Popular vote		Delegates
	Count	Percentage	Pledged	Unpledged	Total
Bernie Sanders	124,700	51.41%	18		18
Hillary Clinton	86,914	35.84%	11	8	19
Paul T. Farrell Jr.	21,694	8.94%
Keith Judd	4,460	1.84%
Martin O'Malley (withdrawn)	3,796	1.57%
Rocky De La Fuente	975	0.40%
Uncommitted	—		0	0	0
Total	242,539	100%	29	8	37
Source:

Analysis

Although West Virginia had breathed new life into Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign eight years earlier, it failed to deliver for Clinton's front-running campaign in 2016. Clinton lost every county in the state to Bernie Sanders.

Sanders's West Virginia victory came from strong support among workers in the coal industry; fifty-five percent of West Virginia's Democratic voters with coal workers in their households voted for Sanders, while only 29 percent voted for Clinton. His easy win was likely fueled by Clinton's comments in March about coal, "We're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business."

Analysts "speculate" Sanders's win in West Virginia came not from support for his own coal policies, but from a rejection of the Obama administration's. Sanders was also helped by large numbers of Republican cross-over voters. Thirty-nine percent of Sanders voters stated they planned to vote for Donald Trump over Sanders in the November general election.