The 2016 Massachusetts Republican presidential primary was held on Tuesday March 1, as one of the Republican Party's 2016 presidential primaries. Massachusetts was one of eleven states that held both their Democratic and Republican presidential primaries on that day, dubbed "Super Tuesday". 42 delegates were allocated proportionally to all candidates who received at least 5 percent of the vote in the primary.
State of the campaign Donald Trump won the Massachusetts primary comfortably, in keeping with polls that had shown him with double-digit leads over his primary rivals in the state. Trump's victory also reflected his relative strength among Republicans in the Northeastern United States. Trump received about 49% of the vote statewide. John Kasich and Marco Rubio came in second and third, respectively, each with about 18% of the vote. Ted Cruz came in fourth with just under 10% of the vote. Of the state's 42 delegates, Trump received 22 of them, Kasich and Rubio each received eight, and Cruz received four.
Donald Trump enjoyed the endorsement of former Senator Scott Brown, who stumped for him in Massachusetts and New Hampshire ahead of the primary.
Endorsements
Polling
Aggregate polls +Source of poll aggregationDates administeredDates updatedMarco RubioDonald TrumpTed CruzJohn KasichMarginRealClearPoliticsRealClearPoliticsuntil March 1, 2016March 1, 201618.5%45.3%11.0%15.3%Trump +26.8FiveThirtyEightFiveThirtyEightuntil March 1, 2016March 1, 201619.2%50.0%9.9%15.6%Trump +30.8 Poll sourceDate1st2nd3rdOtherPrimary resultsPrimary resultsMarch 1, 2016Donald Trump48.99%John Kasich17.94%Marco Rubio17.75%Ted Cruz 9.50%, Ben Carson 2.57%, Jeb Bush 1.03%, Chris Christie 0.30%, Rand Paul 0.29%, Carly Fiorina 0.18%, Jim Gilmore 0.12%, Mike Huckabee 0.11%, Mike Huckabee 0.08%, George Pataki 0.08%, Rick Santorum 0.05%Emerson College Margin of error: ± 4.8% Sample size: 408February 26–28, 2016Donald Trump51%Marco Rubio 20%John Kasich 14%Ted Cruz 10%, Ben Carson 1%, Undecided 1%UMass Amherst/WBZ Margin of error: ± 6.3% Sample size: 292February 24–26, 2016Donald Trump47%Marco Rubio 15%Ted Cruz 15%John Kasich 11%, Ben Carson 2%, Other 7%, Don't Know 3%Suffolk University Margin of error: ± 4.4% Sample size: 500February 24–26, 2016Donald Trump42.6%Marco Rubio 19.8%John Kasich 17%Ted Cruz 8.8%, Ben Carson 3.8%, Other 1%, Don't Know 7%MassINC/WBUR Margin of error: ± 4.9% Sample size: 386February 21–23, 2016Donald Trump39%Marco Rubio 18%John Kasich 17%Ted Cruz 9%, Ben Carson 5%, Don't Know 12%Emerson College Margin of error: ± 5.7% Sample size: 289February 19–21, 2016Donald Trump50%Marco Rubio 16%John Kasich 13%Ted Cruz 10%, Ben Carson 2%Suffolk UniversitySuffolk University Margin of error: ± ?%
Sample size: 134November 19–22, 2015Donald Trump32%Marco Rubio 18%Ted Cruz 10%Jeb Bush 7%, Ben Carson 5%, Carly Fiorina 4%, Chris Christie 4%, John Kasich 2%, Rand Paul 1%, Mike Huckabee 0%, Rick Santorum 0%, Lindsey Graham 0%, George Pataki 0%, Jim Gilmore 0%, Undecided 14%Emerson CollegeEmerson College Margin of error: ± 5.9%
Sample size: 271October 16–18, 2015Donald Trump47.8%Ben Carson 13.9%Marco Rubio 11.8%Jeb Bush 7.1%, Carly Fiorina 6.5%, Ted Cruz 5.1%, John Kasich 2.8%, Chris Christie 2.3%, Lindsey Graham 0.9%, Mike Huckabee 0.4%, Rand Paul 0.1%, Undecided 1.4%Emerson CollegeEmerson College Margin of error: ± ?
Sample size: 216March 14–19, 2015Jeb Bush19%Scott Walker19%Ben Carson 13%Rand Paul 7%, Chris Christie 6%, Ted Cruz 6%, Mike Huckabee 3%, Other/Undecided 28%Suffolk UniversitySuffolk University Margin of error: ± 4.9%
Sample size: 400August 21–24, 2014Chris Christie11%Paul Ryan11%Jeb Bush10.75%Rand Paul 10.5%, Mike Huckabee 7%, Scott Walker 6.75%, Marco Rubio 5.75%, Rick Perry 4.75%, Ted Cruz 4.25%, Bobby Jindal 3.5%, Rick Santorum 2.75%, Jon Huntsman Jr. 1.75%, John Kasich 1%, Undecided 18.25%, Other 0.5%, Refused 0.5%Mitt Romney48.62%Chris Christie 7.69%Paul Ryan 5.54%Jeb Bush 5.23%, Ted Cruz 3.69%, Jon Huntsman Jr. 3.38%, Bobby Jindal 3.38%, Rand Paul 3.38%, Scott Walker 3.38%, Mike Huckabee 3.08%, Marco Rubio 2.77%, Rick Perry 1.54%, John Kasich 1.23%, Rick Santorum 1.23%, Undecided 4.92%, Refused 0.92%
Analysis Massachusetts was Trump's best Super Tuesday state. According to exit polls by Edison Research, Trump's base were white non-college voters, whom he swept with 63% of the vote in a five-way contest.
According to Pew Research, Massachusetts has the lowest percentage of Evangelicals of any Super Tuesday contest, but the highest percentage of Catholics.
Aside from a few Kasich-voting towns in the Boston Metro, Trump swept every town in the state.
Results
Results by county Donald Trump won a majority or plurality of the vote in every county in Massachusetts. CountyTrumpKasichRubioCruzBarnstable17,2275,8895,2482,897Berkshire3,4181,3031,5211,010Bristol25,6856,0487,6404,794Dukes692283214137Essex43,62914,77914,0377,381Franklin2,4091,3591,038597Hampden18,7006,3505,8474,636Hampshire5,3452,4401,9361,297Middlesex69,58830,51528,75012,949Nantucket484149176100Norfolk35,54015,83815,3986,511Plymouth34,84910,52310,2376,018Suffolk12,9955,6336,0312,176Worcester41,86413,32515,09710,089Total312,425114,434113,17060,592
See also 2016 Massachusetts Democratic primary
References