2016 United States presidential election in South Dakota

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Turnout	59.90% [1]
Nominee Donald Trump Hillary Clinton Gary Johnson Party Republican Democratic Libertarian Home state New York New York New Mexico Running mate Mike Pence Tim Kaine Bill Weld Electoral vote 3 0 0 Popular vote 227,721 117,458 20,845 Percentage 61.53% 31.74% 5.63%
County results Precinct results Trump   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%   90–100% Clinton   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%   90–100%
President before election Barack Obama Democratic Elected President Donald Trump Republican

Elections in South Dakota
Federal government Presidential elections 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 Presidential primaries Democratic 2004 2008 2016 2020 Republican 2008 2016 U.S. Senate elections 1889 1891 1894 1897 1901 1903 1903 sp 1907 1909 1913 1914 1918 1920 1924 1926 1930 1932 1936 1938 1938 sp 1942 1944 1948 1950 1954 1956 1960 1962 1966 1968 1972 1974 1978 1980 1984 1986 1990 1992 1996 1998 2002 2004 2008 2010 2014 2016 2020 2022 2026 U.S. House elections 1889 1890 1891 AL sp 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 AL sp 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 AL sp 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022
State government General elections 2010 2014 2018 2020 2022 Gubernatorial elections 1889 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 Secretary of State elections 2022 Attorney General elections 2018 2022 Senate elections 2020 2022 House of Representatives elections 2020 2022
Ballot measures 2006 Amendment C 2008 Measure 9 Measure 10 2020 Amendment A Measure 26
v t e

The 2016 United States presidential election in South Dakota was held on November 8, 2016, as part of the 2016 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. South Dakota voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting the Republican Party's nominee, celebrity 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.

South Dakota has voted for the Republican ticket in every election since 1968. Donald Trump continued the Republican tradition in South Dakota, carrying the state with 61.5% of the vote, to Hillary Clinton's 31.7% of the vote,^[2] a 29.8% margin of victory, the largest margin of victory for a candidate of either party since Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower's 38.5% margin in 1952. South Dakota was also Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson's fifth strongest state in the 2016 election, which his 5.63% in popular vote being only behind New Mexico, North Dakota, Alaska and Oklahoma.^[3]

Primary elections

Democratic primary

Two candidates appeared on the Democratic presidential primary ballot:

• Hillary Clinton
• Bernie Sanders

Republican primary

Three candidates appeared on the Republican presidential primary ballot. The only candidate with a campaign that remained active was Donald Trump. Trump's state director was Neal Tapio.

• Ted Cruz (withdrawn)
• John Kasich (withdrawn)
• Donald Trump

General Election

Predictions

The following are final 2016 predictions from various organizations for South Dakota as of Election Day.

Statewide Results

Results by county

Unofficial results by county last updated November 9, 2016.^[13]

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

^[14]

• Day (largest town: Webster)
• Corson (largest city: McLaughlin)
• Marshall (largest city: Britton)
• Roberts (largest city: Sisseston)
• Ziebach (largest city: Dupree)

By congressional district

South Dakota has only one congressional district because of its small population compared to other states. This district, called the At-Large district because it covers the entire state, is equivalent to the statewide election results.

Analysis

South Dakota gave Republican nominee Donald Trump a more than 29-point margin of victory over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, thus gaining him three electoral votes.^[15] The Mount Rushmore state's politics are driven by agrarian conservatism, with the eastern portion of the state being largely rural and considered an extension of the Corn Belt. The western portion of the state is even more conservative.^[16] South Dakota, like many neighboring majority-white Great Plains and prairie states in the Farm Belt, has not voted for a Democratic candidate since the landslide election of Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

Donald Trump carried most of the state's counties, including Hughes County where the capital city of Pierre is located, Pennington County which contains Rapid City, Minnehaha County which contains Sioux Falls, Brown County which contains Aberdeen, and Codington County which contains Watertown. Clinton won only five counties statewide: Todd, Buffalo, Dewey, and Oglala Lakota, all of which are majority Native American, and Clay County which contains the University of South Dakota.^[17] However, Trump did fare well with some Native American groups, and thus held the Native American-majority counties of Bennett, Corson, Mellette and Ziebach, along with the plurality-Native county of Jackson. Distinctly noticeable were the split of both the Pine Ridge and Standing Rock reservations votes and the majority-Native counties they contained: the western half of Pine Ridge (Oglala Lakota County) voted Democrat, while eastern Pine Ridge (Bennett and Jackson Counties) voted Republican, and while northern Standing Rock (Sioux County) remained heavily Democratic, southern Standing Rock (Corson County) swung Republican for the first time in three elections.