A head to head comparison of the California 2016 General Election gives us an idea of the break down of the voters.
Hillary Clinton received 8,753,788 votes beating Donald Trump who gained 4,483,810 by a massive 4,269,978 votes in California.
Hillary Clinton won 33 counties out of the 58 counties that make up California. The record shows that Donald Trump won 25 counties.
2016 CA Primary Election vs Presidential General Elections Counties Won
Primary Elections
Presidential General Election
Primary Election
In the Primary, Sanders won the 7 counties in a 3 way match up. However, on a head to head match up between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, she won 26. She no doubt kept and Bernie's 7 counties that he won over Trump, went for Clinton in the general elections.
2016 CA Presidential Primary vs Presidential General Elections w.r.t % Votes and Total Votes Won
Primary Election
Presidential Election
On a head to head count with the total votes between in Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump between the primary and general, % vote shift difference is 4% decrease for Donald Trump and a 4% increase for Hillary Clinton. These percentages are represented by a vote increment of 6,040,529 for Clinton and 2,848,461 for Trump at the Presidential General Elections. There is a whooping 6,040,529 Vote difference between Clinton and Trump.
Clinton's Popular Vote Victory Contributed by California at the 2016 General Elections
Presidential Primary Elections
Presidential General Elections
During the 2016 General elections, over 146,434,269 total number of votes were cast. Hillary Clinton got 65,849,971 (65.8 Million) over Donald Trump's 62,984,405 (62.9 Million). She won the popular vote by 2,865,566 (2.8 Million). Her win in the State of California was as a result of a 3,369,978 vote margin. This represents 11.7% of her popular vote victory. The remaining 49 states contributed to her the remaining 88.3 popular votes victory.
Top 15 Counties in Primary Elections vs General Elections
All Candidates (Primary Elections)
All Candidates (General Elections)
Primary vs General
These 15 counties play an important role in these primary elections. If a candidate, can get a sizable majority(like Hillary Clinton) in the biggest county (Los Angeles - 3 times the size of the second biggest county by vote count), it becomes very difficult to win majorities in the smaller counties with out voter out reach and increased voter participation in them.
Top 15 Counties Comparison in Primary Elections vs General Elections
Primary Elections
Hillary Clinton
Primary Elections
Donald Trump
General Elections
Hillary Clinton
General Elections
Donald Trump
Los Angeles which is the biggest county by far voted 3:1 ratio for Hillary Clinton giving her a 1.7 Million vote advantage out of that county. The next 9 top counties that voted in favour of Clinton gave a vote advantage of between 50,000 to 400,00. This made it hard for Donald Trump to catch up or reduce the vote count difference. Where ever Donald Trump won, his margins of victories were never in the Million range or hundreds of thousands but only tens of thousands, making Hillary Clinton gain an upper hand in the State of California.
Related References: 2016 California Primary Election Story, 2020 California Primary Election Story
