2016 South Carolina General Election Story

A head to head comparison of the South Carolina 2016 General Election gives us an idea of the break down of the voters.    

Donald Trump received 1,155,389 (55%) votes beating Hillary Clinton who gained 855,373 by 300,016 votes in  South Carolina.                                        

Donald Trump won 31 counties out of the 46 counties that make up South Carolina. The record shows that Hillary Clinton won 15 counties.  

2016 SC Primary Election vs Presidential General Elections Counties Won              

In the Primary, Clinton won the 32 counties whereas Trump won 14 counties. These figures toppled over in the presidential general elections.    

2016 SC Presidential Primary vs Presidential General Elections w.r.t % Votes and Total Votes Won        

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 10% decrease for Hillary Clinton and a 10% increase for Donald Trump. These percentages are represented by a vote increment of 583,859 for Clinton and 915,538 for Trump at the Presidential General Elections.

Clinton's Popular Vote Victory Contributed by South Carolina at the 2016 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). Even thought she lost to Trump in South Carolina, her 855,373 votes gained represents 1.3% of her popular vote victory. The remaining 49 states contributed to her the remaining 98.7% popular votes victory.

Top 15 Counties in Primary Elections vs 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 Donald Trump) in the biggest county (Greenville), it becomes very difficult to win majorities in the smaller counties with out voter out reach and increased voter participation in them. However, since many of the counties are closely marked with regards to numbers, steady but incremental vote margins is very helpful.

Top 15 Counties Comparison in Primary Elections vs General Elections

Greenville, the largest county voted in favor of Donald Trump, giving him a vote advantage of over 74K. Charleston and Richland which are larger counties voted for Hillary Clinton. However, in the top 15 counties comparison shown above, there is a 341K vote difference that go in favor of Donald Trump. This no doubt made Donald Trump gain an upper hand in the State of South Carolina.

Related References: 2016 South Carolina Primary Election Story, 2020 South Carolina Primary Election Story