The 2020 Michigan Democratic presidential primary took place on March 10, 2020, as one of several states voting the week after Super Tuesday in the Democratic Party primaries for the 2020 presidential election. The Michigan primary was an open primary, with the state awarding 147 delegates towards the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of which 125 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the primary.
Former vice president Joe Biden decisively won the primary and every county in the state, getting almost 53% of the vote and 73 delegates. Senator Bernie Sanders received around 36% of the vote and 52 delegates, marking a clear regression in support for him from 2016, when he edged out Hillary Clinton by 1.42% and won 73 of the state's 83 counties. Biden's victory was powered by support from African Americans, older voters, working class voters, and moderate voters.
Despite losing every county and almost all municipalities, Sanders was still able to win some of the major cities in the state including: Ann Arbor, Dearborn, Grand Rapids, Lansing and Kalamazoo.
Procedure Michigan was one of six states (along with Democrats Abroad) which held primaries on March 10, 2020, one week after Super Tuesday. Voting took place throughout the state from 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. local time. In the open primary, candidates had to meet a threshold of 15 percent at the congressional district or statewide level in order to be considered viable. The 125 pledged delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention were allocated proportionally on the basis of the results of the primary. Of these, between 4 and 9 were allocated to each of the state's 14 congressional districts and another 16 were allocated to party leaders and elected officials (PLEO delegates), in addition to 27 at-large delegates. The March primary as part of Stage I on the primary timetable received no bonus delegates, in order to disperse the primaries between more different date clusters and keep too many states from hoarding on a March date.
After district conventions on May 16, 2020, during which district-level delegates were selected, the state central committee meeting subsequently was held on June 13, 2020, to vote on the 27 at-large and 16 pledged PLEO delegates for the Democratic National Convention. The delegation also included 22 unpledged PLEO delegates: 12 members of the Democratic National Committee, 9 members of Congress (both senators and 7 representatives), and the governor Gretchen Whitmer. Pledged nationalconvention delegates Type Type CD1 5 CD8 6 CD2 5 CD9 7 CD3 5 CD10 4 CD4 4 CD11 7 CD5 6 CD12 7 CD6 5 CD13 7 CD7 5 CD14 9 27 At-large 16 Total pledged delegates 125
Candidates The following people have been included on the list issued by the Michigan Secretary of State for the presidential primary.
Running
Joe Biden Tulsi Gabbard Bernie Sanders
Withdrawn
Michael Bennet Michael Bloomberg Cory Booker Pete Buttigieg Julian Castro John Delaney Amy Klobuchar Joe Sestak Tom Steyer Elizabeth Warren Marianne Williamson Andrew Yang
There was also an uncommitted option on the ballot.
Polling +Polling aggregationSource of poll aggregationDate updatedDates polledJoeBidenBernieSandersTulsiGabbardOther/Undecided270 to Win270 to WinMar 10, 2020Mar 4–9, 2020 57.0%32.3%1.3%9.4%RealClear PoliticsRealClear PoliticsMar 10, 2020Mar 4–9, 2020 55.7%33.3%1.3%9.7%FiveThirtyEightFiveThirtyEightMar 10, 2020until Mar 9, 202055.3%31.9%1.2%11.6%Average56.0%32.5%1.3%10.2%Michigan primary results (March 10, 2020)52.9%36.4%0.6%10.1% Tabulation of individual polls of the 2020 Michigan Democratic primary Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Margin JoeBiden MichaelBloomberg CoryBooker PeteButtigieg KamalaHarris AmyKlobuchar BetoO'Rourke BernieSanders ElizabethWarren AndrewYang Other UndecidedSwayableSwayable Mar 9, 2020 3,126 (LV) ± 3.0%62% – – – – – –28% – –10% –AtlasIntelAtlasIntel Mar 7–9, 2020 528 (LV) ± 4.0%48%3% – – – – –40%1% –3% 5%Data for ProgressData for Progress Mar 7–9, 2020 320 (LV) ± 5.5%59% – – – – – –38% – –2% –Mitchell Research & CommunicationsMitchell Research & Communications Mar 8, 2020 602 (LV) ± 4.0%54%1% –1% –1% –33%3% –3% 5%Target InsyghtTarget Insyght Mar 8, 2020 600 (LV) ± 4.0%65%2% – – –1% –24%3% –3% 1%Concord Public Opinion Partners/The Welcome PartyConcord Public Opinion Partners/The Welcome Party Mar 7–8, 2020 305 (LV) –54% – – – – – –23% – –1% 22%YouGov/Yahoo NewsYouGov/Yahoo News Mar 6–8, 2020 –(RV) ± 5.8%54% – – – – – –42% – – – –Monmouth UniversityMonmouth University Mar 5–8, 2020 411 (LV) ± 4.8%51%3% –<1% –<1% –36%1% –7% 2%ROI RocketROI Rocket Mar 4–8, 2020 1,000 (LV) ± 3.1%55% – – – – – –45% – – – –The Progress Campaign (D)The Progress Campaign (D) Mar 3–7, 2020 417 (RV) ± 4.7%51% – – – – – –44% – –1%4%EPIC-MRA/Detroit Free PressEPIC-MRA/Detroit Free Press Mar 4–6, 2020 400 (LV) ± 4.9%51% – – – – – –27% – –9%13% Mar 5, 2020 Warren withdraws from the race Mar 4, 2020 Bloomberg withdraws from the race Mar 2, 2020 Klobuchar withdraws from the race Mar 1, 2020 Buttigieg withdraws from the raceGlenGariff Group Inc./Detroit News/WDIV-TVGlenGariff Group Inc./Detroit News/WDIV-TV Feb 28 – Mar 2, 2020 600 (LV) ± 4.0%29%11% –6% –3% –23%7% –6% 16% Feb 29, 2020South Carolina primary; Steyer withdraws from the race after close of pollsYouGov/University of Wisconsin-MadisonYouGov/University of Wisconsin-Madison Feb 11–20, 2020 662 (LV) –16%13% –11% –8% –25%13% – –14% Feb 11, 2020New Hampshire primary; Yang withdraws from the race after close of pollsBaldwin Wallace University/OaklandUniversity/Ohio Northern UniversityBaldwin Wallace University/OaklandUniversity/Ohio Northern University Jan 8–20, 2020 477 (RV) –27%9.1% –6.3% –1.9% –21.6%13.6%3.5%5.3%10.6% Jan 13, 2020 Booker withdraws from the race Dec 3, 2019 Harris withdraws from the race Nov 24, 2019 Bloomberg announces his candidacyEmerson CollegeEmerson College Oct 31 – Nov 3, 2019 454 ± 4.6% 34% – 3% 8% 3% 0% – 28% 19% 2% 3%– Nov 1, 2019 O'Rourke withdraws from the raceSiena Research/New York TimesSiena Research/New York Times Oct 13–26, 2019 203 – 30% – 0% 3% 0% 1% 0% 17% 21% 1% 1% 23%Kaiser Family FoundationKaiser Family Foundation Sep 23 – Oct 15, 2019 208 (LV) –19% –1%7%2%1%1%15%25% 1%0%27%Denno ResearchDenno Research Sep 21–24, 2019 217 – 27% – 1% 4% 4% 1% 1% 12% 23% 1% 4% 23%Climate NexusClimate Nexus Jul 14–17, 2019 324 (LV) – 35% – 2% 4% 8% 1% 1% 16% 14% 1% 2% 13%Zogby AnalyticsZogby Analytics May 23–29, 2019 268 ± 6.0% 27% – 1% 9% 7% 1% 4% 18% 8% 2% 5% –Denno ResearchDenno Research May 8–10, 2019 235 – 37% – 3% 5% 4% 1% 1% 16% 9% 0% 4% 23% Apr 25, 2019 Biden announces his candidacy Apr 14, 2019 Buttigieg announces his candidacy Mar 14, 2019 O'Rourke announces his candidacyEmerson CollegeEmerson College Mar 7–10, 2019 317 ± 5.5% 40% – 3% 0% 12% 5% 2% 23% 11% – 4% –
Results
|+ style="background-color:#f2f2f2;margin-bottom:-1px;border:1px solid #aaa;padding:0.2em 0.4em;" | 2020 Michigan Democratic presidential primary ! Candidate ! Votes ! % ! Delegates |- | style="text-align:left;" data-sort-value="Biden, Joe" | Joe Biden | 840,360 | 52.93 | 73 |- | style="text-align:left;" data-sort-value="Sanders, Bernie" | Bernie Sanders | 576,926 | 36.34 | 52 |- | style="text-align:left;" data-sort-value="Bloomberg, Michael" | Michael Bloomberg (withdrawn) | 73,464 | 4.63 | rowspan=14 |- | style="text-align:left;" data-sort-value="Warren, Elizabeth" | Elizabeth Warren (withdrawn) | 26,148 | 1.65 |- | style="text-align:left;" data-sort-value="Buttigieg, Pete" |Pete Buttigieg (withdrawn) | 22,462 | 1.41 |- | style="text-align:left;" data-sort-value="Klobuchar, Amy" |Amy Klobuchar (withdrawn) | 11,018 | 0.69 |- | style="text-align:left;" data-sort-value="Gabbard, Tulsi" | Tulsi Gabbard | 9,461 | 0.60 |- | style="text-align:left;" data-sort-value="Yang, Andrew" | Andrew Yang (withdrawn) | 2,380 | 0.15 |- | style="text-align:left;" data-sort-value="Steyer, Tom" |Tom Steyer (withdrawn) | 1,732 | 0.11 |- | style="text-align:left;" data-sort-value="Bennet, Michael" |Michael Bennet (withdrawn) | 1,536 | 0.10 |- | style="text-align:left;" data-sort-value="Booker, Cory" | Cory Booker (withdrawn) | 840 | 0.05 |- | style="text-align:left;" data-sort-value="Sestak, Joe" | Joe Sestak (withdrawn) | 757 | 0.05 |- | style="text-align:left;" data-sort-value="Williamson, Marianne" | Marianne Williamson (withdrawn) | 719 | 0.05 |- | style="text-align:left;" data-sort-value="Delaney, John" |John Delaney (withdrawn) | 464 | 0.03 |- | style="text-align:left;" data-sort-value="Castro, Julian" | Julian Castro (withdrawn) | 306 | 0.02 |- | style="text-align:left;" data-sort-value="ZZ" | Uncommitted | 19,106 | 1.20 |- ! Total ! 1,587,679 ! 100% ! 125
See also 2020 Michigan Republican presidential primary
Notes Additional candidates
References
External links Official primary results from the Michigan Secretary of State The Green Papers delegate allocation summary Michigan Democratic Party delegate selection plan FiveThirtyEight Michigan primary poll tracker