2016 United States presidential election in Tennessee


The 2016 United States presidential election in Tennessee was held on November 8, 2016, as part of the 2016 General Election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Tennessee voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting the Republican Party's nominee, businessman Donald Trump, and running mate Indiana Governor Mike Pence against Democratic Party nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her running mate, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine.
On March 1, 2016, in the presidential primaries, Tennessee voters expressed their preferences for the Democratic and Republican parties' respective nominees for president. Registered members of each party only voted in their party's primary, while voters who were unaffiliated chose any one primary in which to vote.
Donald Trump won the election in the Volunteer State with 60.7% of the vote. Hillary Clinton received 34.7% of the vote.
This is the largest margin of victory for a presidential candidate for either party since 1972 with Richard Nixon, and also the first time since that either party has earned over 60% of the vote in Tennessee.
Tennessee was one of eleven states Bill Clinton won in 1992 and 1996 which Hillary Clinton lost.

Background

Tennessee has not voted for a Democratic presidential nominee since 1996. In 2012, Republican nominee Mitt Romney won the state by a margin of more than twenty points, due to the unpopularity of the Obama administration in the conservative state. Typically Democrats do very well in the urban regions of Memphis and Nashville, while Republicans dominate the rural and suburban areas. Tennessee is considered a safe Republican state. In 2016, it stayed that way with Trump winning the state with 60.7% of the vote.

Primary elections

Democratic primary

; Results

Republican primary

Polling

General election

Predictions

  1. CNN: Solid Trump
  2. Cook Political Report: Solid Trump
  3. Electoral-vote.com: Likely Trump
  4. Los Angeles Times: Solid Trump
  5. NBC: Likely Trump^
  6. RealClearPolitics: Likely Trump
  7. Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Trump
^Highest rating given

Results

By congressional district

Trump won 7 of 9 congressional districts.
DistrictTrumpClintonRepresentative
76%20%Phil Roe
65%30%Jimmy Duncan
61%38%Chuck Fleischmann
68%27%Scott DesJarlais
38%56%Jim Cooper
72%24%Diane Black
67%28%Marsha Blackburn
66%31%Stephen Fincher
66%31%David Kustoff
20%77%Steve Cohen

By county

Counties that swung from Democratic to Republican