2020 United States presidential election in West Virginia

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2020 United States presidential election in West Virginia

← 2016 November 3, 2020 2024 →
Turnout63.25%
  Donald Trump official portrait (cropped).jpg Joe Biden presidential portrait (cropped).jpg
Nominee Donald Trump Joe Biden
Party Republican Democratic
Home state Florida Delaware
Running mate Mike Pence Kamala Harris
Electoral vote 5 0
Popular vote 545,382 235,984
Percentage 68.62% 29.69%

West Virginia Presidential Election Results 2020.svg
County Results
Trump
  40–50%
  50–60%
  60–70%
  70–80%
  80–90%


President before election

Donald Trump
Republican

Elected President

Joe Biden
Democratic

The 2020 United States presidential election in West Virginia was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, as part of the 2020 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated.[1] West Virginia voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, incumbent President Donald Trump, and running mate Vice President Mike Pence against Democratic Party nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, and his running mate California Senator Kamala Harris. West Virginia has five electoral votes in the Electoral College.[2]

Trump easily carried West Virginia on Election Day by 38.9 points, down from 42.1 points in 2016. Prior to the election, all 16 news organizations declared West Virginia a safe red state.

With 68.62% of its vote, this would prove to be Trump’s second strongest state in 2020, only behind Wyoming, and overall would be the largest share of the vote won by any presidential candidate in West Virginia.

Primary elections

The primary elections were originally scheduled for May 12, 2020. In April, they were moved to June 9 due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.[3]

Democratic primary

Vice President Joe Biden won the Democratic primary and received all of West Virginia's 28 pledged delegates, as well as all six unpledged PLEO (party leaders and elected officials) delegates, to the 2020 Democratic National Convention.[4]

2020 West Virginia Democratic presidential primary[5]
Candidate Votes % Delegates
Joe Biden 122,518 65.35% 28
Bernie Sanders (withdrawn) 22,793 12.16%
David Lee Rice 15,470 8.25%
Elizabeth Warren (withdrawn) 5,741 3.06%
Tulsi Gabbard (withdrawn) 4,163 2.22%
Michael Bloomberg (withdrawn) 3,759 2.01%
Pete Buttigieg (withdrawn) 3,455 1.84%
Amy Klobuchar (withdrawn) 3,011 1.61%
Andrew Yang (withdrawn) 2,590 1.38%
Michael Bennet (withdrawn) 1,865 0.99%
Tom Steyer (withdrawn) 1,235 0.66%
Deval Patrick (withdrawn) 882 0.47%
Total 187,482[6] 100% 28

Republican primary

Incumbent President Donald Trump won the Republican primary and received all of West Virginia's 35 delegates to the 2020 Republican National Convention.[7]

2020 West Virginia Republican presidential primary
Candidate Popular vote[8] Pledged
delegates[9]
# %
Donald Trump 198,691 94.39 35
Joe Walsh (withdrawn) 3,806 1.81 0
Bill Weld (withdrawn) 3,721 1.77 0
Rocky De La Fuente 1,537 0.73 0
Bob Ely 1,436 0.68 0
Matthew Mattern 1,315 0.62 0
Total 210,506 100% 35

Mountain (Green) primary

West Virginia's Green Party affiliate conducted an online party-run primary, utilizing the state's original primary date of May 12, 2020 as its deadline.

West Virginia Mountain (Green) Party presidential primary[10]
Candidate Percentage National delegates
Howie Hawkins 78.3% 5
David Rolde 8.7% 0
Jesse Ventura (Write-in) 8.7% 0
Dario Hunter 4.3% 0
Total 100.00% 5

General election

Predictions

Source Ranking As of
The Cook Political Report[11] Safe R September 10, 2020
Inside Elections[12] Safe R September 4, 2020
Sabato's Crystal Ball[13] Safe R July 14, 2020
Politico[14] Safe R September 8, 2020
RCP[15] Safe R August 3, 2020
Niskanen[16] Safe R July 26, 2020
CNN[17] Safe R August 3, 2020
The Economist[18] Safe R September 2, 2020
CBS News[19] Likely R August 16, 2020
270towin[20] Safe R August 2, 2020
ABC News[21] Safe R July 31, 2020
NPR[22] Likely R August 3, 2020
NBC News[23] Safe R August 6, 2020
538[24] Safe R September 9, 2020

Polling

Graphical summary

Aggregate polls

Source of poll
aggregation
Dates
administered
Dates
updated
Joe
Biden

Democratic
Donald
Trump

Republican
Other/
Undecided
[a]
Margin
270 to Win October 13–23, 2020 November 3, 2020 38.5% 55.5% 6.0% Trump +17.0
FiveThirtyEight until November 2, 2020 November 3, 2020 33.5% 62.1% 4.4% Trump +28.6
Average 36.0% 58.8% 5.2% Trump +22.8

Polls

Poll source Date(s)
administered
Sample
size[b]
Margin
of error
Donald
Trump

Republican
Joe
Biden

Democratic
Jo
Jorgensen

Libertarian
Howie
Hawkins

Mountain
Other Undecided
SurveyMonkey/Axios Oct 20 – Nov 2, 2020 816 (LV) ± 5% 67%[c] 32%
SurveyMonkey/Axios Oct 1–28, 2020 1,359 (LV) 66% 32%
Triton Polling and Research/WMOV Oct 19–21, 2020 544 (LV) ± 4.2% 58% 38% 4%
Research America Inc./West Virginia Metro News Oct 6–9, 2020 450 (LV) ± 4.6% 53% 39% 4% 1% 3%
Triton Polling & Research/WMOV Sep 29–30, 2020[d] 525 (RV) ± 4.3% 56% 38% 5%
SurveyMonkey/Axios Sep 1–30, 2020 516 (LV) 62% 36% 2%
SurveyMonkey/Axios Aug 1–31, 2020 496 (LV) 65% 32% 2%
SurveyMonkey/Axios Jul 1–31, 2020 494 (LV) 67% 32% 1%
SurveyMonkey/Axios Jun 8–30, 2020 264 (LV) 72% 27% 1%
WPA Intelligence/Club for Growth[A] Jan 7–9, 2020 500 (LV) ± 4.4% 66% 31% 3%
Former candidates
Donald Trump vs. Bernie Sanders
Poll source Date(s)
administered
Sample
size[b]
Margin
of error
Donald
Trump (R)
Bernie
Sanders (D)
Undecided
WPA Intelligence/Club for Growth[A] Jan 7–9, 2020 500 (LV) ± 4.4 % 66% 29% 5%
Tulchin Research Oct 6–13, 2017 400 (LV) ± 4.9% 46% 48% 6%
Donald Trump vs. Elizabeth Warren
Poll source Date(s)
administered
Sample
size[b]
Margin
of error
Donald
Trump (R)
Elizabeth
Warren (D)
Undecided
Zogby Analytics Aug 17–23, 2017 401 (LV) ± 4.9% 43% 40% 17%

Results

Trump won West Virginia, carrying the popular vote in each of the state's 55 counties.[25]

2020 United States presidential election in West Virginia[26][27]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Donald Trump
Mike Pence
545,382 68.62 +0.10%
Democratic Joe Biden
Kamala Harris
235,984 29.69 +3.27%
Libertarian Jo Jorgensen
Spike Cohen
10,687 1.34 -1.88%
Mountain Howie Hawkins
Angela Walker
2,599 0.33 -0.80%
Write-in 79 <0.01 +
Total votes 794,731 100.0 +

By congressional district

Trump won all three congressional districts.[28]

District Trump Biden Representative
1st 68% 30.3% David McKinley
2nd 65.4% 32.8% Alex Mooney
3rd 73.1% 25.5% Carol Miller

By county

[29]

County Biden% Biden# Trump% Trump# Others% Others# Margin% Margin# Total
Barbour 21.82% 1,457 76.62% 5,116 1.56% 104 54.8% 3,659 6,677
Berkeley 33.35% 17,186 64.58% 33,279 2.08% 1,070 31.23% 16,093 51,535
Boone 22.65% 2,041 75.63% 6,816 1.72% 155 52.98% 4,775 9,012
Braxton 25.72% 1,457 72.74% 4,120 1.54% 87 47.02% 2,663 5,664
Brooke 27.66% 2,947 70.81% 7,545 1.54% 164 43.15% 4,598 10,656
Cabell 40.13% 14,994 58.14% 21,721 1.73% 645 18.01% 6,727 37,360
Calhoun 19.12% 568 79.57% 2,364 1.31% 39 60.45% 1,796 2,971
Clay 19.05% 641 79.61% 2,679 1.34% 45 60.56% 2,038 3,365
Doddridge 14.03% 435 84.46% 2,619 1.52% 47 70.43% 2,184 3,101
Fayette 30.03% 5,063 68.68% 11,580 1.3% 219 38.65% 6,517 16,862
Gilmer 22.5% 599 75.58% 2,012 1.92% 51 53.08% 1,413 2,662
Grant 11.02% 607 88.42% 4,871 0.56% 31 77.4% 4,264 5,509
Greenbrier 29.37% 4,655 68.93% 10,925 1.7% 270 39.56% 6,270 15,850
Hampshire 19.22% 1,939 79.65% 8,033 1.13% 114 60.42% 6,094 10,086
Hancock 27.46% 3,790 71.06% 9,806 1.48% 204 43.59% 6,016 13,800
Hardy 21.81% 1,381 76.75% 4,859 1.44% 91 54.94% 3,478 6,331
Harrison 30.25% 9,215 67.89% 20,683 1.86% 567 37.64% 11,468 30,465
Jackson 23.74% 3,207 74.72% 10,093 1.54% 208 50.98% 6,886 13,508
Jefferson 43.78% 12,127 54.26% 15,033 1.96% 543 10.49% 2,906 27,703
Kanawha 41.76% 34,344 56.42% 46,398 1.83% 1,502 14.66% 12,054 82,244
Lewis 20.62% 1,538 77.54% 5,782 1.84% 137 56.91% 4,244 7,457
Lincoln 21.85% 1,711 76.78% 6,012 1.37% 107 54.93% 4,301 7,830
Logan 17.91% 2,333 80.87% 10,534 1.22% 159 62.96% 8,201 13,026
Marion 34.51% 8,901 63.19% 16,300 2.3% 593 28.68% 7,399 25,794
Marshall 24.54% 3,455 74.11% 10,435 1.35% 190 49.57% 6,980 14,080
Mason 22.55% 2,526 75.79% 8,491 1.66% 186 53.24% 5,965 11,203
McDowell 20.42% 1,333 78.87% 5,148 0.7% 46 58.45% 3,815 6,527
Mercer 22.11% 5,556 76.54% 19,237 1.36% 341 54.43% 13,681 25,134
Mineral 20.67% 2,660 78% 10,040 1.34% 172 57.33% 7,380 12,872
Mingo 13.94% 1,397 85.25% 8,544 0.81% 81 71.31% 7,147 10,022
Monongalia 48.21% 20,282 49.45% 20,803 2.35% 987 1.24% 521 42,072
Monroe 20.72% 1,345 78.09% 5,068 1.19% 77 57.37% 3,723 6,490
Morgan 22.98% 1,998 75.18% 6,537 1.84% 160 52.2% 4,539 8,695
Nicholas 20.94% 2,226 77.88% 8,279 1.18% 125 56.94% 6,053 10,630
Ohio 36.3% 7,223 62.09% 12,354 1.61% 321 25.79% 5,131 19,898
Pendleton 22.41% 820 76.03% 2,782 1.56% 57 53.62% 1,962 3,659
Pleasants 20.02% 699 78.54% 2,742 1.43% 50 58.52% 2,043 3,491
Pocahontas 26.12% 1,047 72.23% 2,895 1.65% 66 46.11% 1,848 4,008
Preston 21.71% 3,163 76.79% 11,190 1.5% 219 55.09% 8,027 14,572
Putnam 27.64% 7,878 70.29% 20,034 2.07% 589 42.65% 12,156 28,501
Raleigh 24.11% 7,982 74.53% 24,673 1.36% 451 50.42% 16,691 33,106
Randolph 27.56% 3,362 71.09% 8,673 1.35% 165 43.53% 5,311 12,200
Ritchie 13.68% 586 85.2% 3,649 1.12% 48 71.52% 3,063 4,283
Roane 25.25% 1,455 73.1% 4,213 1.65% 95 47.86% 2,758 5,763
Summers 25.93% 1,448 72.95% 4,074 1.13% 63 47.02% 2,626 5,585
Taylor 24.33% 1,796 74.18% 5,477 1.49% 110 49.86% 3,681 7,383
Tucker 24.4% 938 73.91% 2,841 1.69% 65 49.51% 1,903 3,844
Tyler 16.09% 631 82.25% 3,226 1.66% 65 66.17% 2,595 3,922
Upshur 22.07% 2,256 76.03% 7,771 1.9% 194 53.96% 5,515 10,221
Wayne 24.12% 4,088 74.26% 12,585 1.62% 274 50.14% 8,497 16,947
Webster 17.93% 610 81.1% 2,759 0.97% 33 63.17% 2,149 3,402
Wetzel 23.08% 1,539 74.89% 4,993 2.02% 135 51.81% 3,454 6,667
Wirt 17.57% 466 80.44% 2,134 2% 53 62.87% 1,668 2,653
Wood 28.19% 10,926 70.18% 27,202 1.64% 634 41.99% 16,276 38,762
Wyoming 13.47% 1,157 85.58% 7,353 0.95% 82 72.11% 6,196 8,592
Total 29.70% 235,984 68.63% 545,382 1.67% 13286 38.94% 309,398 794,652

Analysis

West Virginia, which was solidly Democratic territory for much of the 20th century, has consistently voted Republican in presidential elections since 2000. Republicans started making gains in the state in the 21st century due to championing of environmentalism by Democrats such as 2000 Democratic nominee Al Gore, which challenged entrenched coal-mining interests.

West Virginia gave Trump his second-highest vote share in 2020, swapping places with Wyoming, after having been Trump's strongest state by vote share in 2016. West Virginia was one of two states where Trump won every county, the other being Oklahoma. The closest county in the state, and the only one Trump won without a majority of the vote, was Monongalia County, home to Morgantown and the main campus of West Virginia University. Trump's margin of victory of 1.24% in Monongalia marked the closest a Democrat has come to winning any county in West Virginia since 2008. This was the third consecutive presidential election where every county within the state voted Republican, but the first since 1996 in which the Democratic vote share increased relative to the preceding election. Biden received 40% of the vote only in 4 counties - Monongalia; Kanawha County, home to state capital and largest city Charleston; Cabell County, home to Marshall University and to the state's second largest city Huntington; and Jefferson County, home to Washington, D.C. exurbs.

Trump's weakening of Obama-era coal emissions standards appeared to benefit him in the state.[30] Per exit polls by the Associated Press, Trump's strength in West Virginia came from White voters who prioritized protecting and expanding production of fossil fuels, such as coal, who comprised 58% of voters and broke for Trump by 90%.[31] Trump's strongest region was southern West Virginia. This coal-mining, union-heavy region was once among the most heavily Democratic places in the nation; Logan County, for example, broke 72% of its ballots for Bill Clinton in 1996, 61% for Al Gore in 2000, 52% for John Kerry in 2004, and even 51% for George McGovern in his only statewide county win in 1972; but by 2008, John McCain flipped it to the Republican column with 54% of the vote, which increased to 68% for Mitt Romney in 2012 and by 2016 and 2020, it had voted 79.6% and 80.9% for Trump, respectively.

During the same election cycle, incumbent Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito was re-elected by a margin slightly larger than Trump's, beating out Democrat Paula Jean Swearengin by 43.3 points.

Notes

  1. ^ Calculated by taking the difference of 100% and all other candidates combined.
  2. ^ a b c Key:
    A – all adults
    RV – registered voters
    LV – likely voters
    V – unclear
  3. ^ Overlapping sample with the previous SurveyMonkey/Axios poll, but more information available regarding sample size
  4. ^ Additional data sourced from FiveThirtyEight
Partisan clients

See also

References

  1. ^ Kelly, Ben (August 13, 2018). "US elections key dates: When are the 2018 midterms and the 2020 presidential campaign?". The Independent. Archived from the original on August 2, 2018. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
  2. ^ "Distribution of Electoral Votes". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
  3. ^ "Gov. Jim Justice announces WV Primary Election will move to June 9, schools will remain closed through April 30". WBOY-TV. April 1, 2020.
  4. ^ "West Virginia Democratic Delegation 2020". The Green Papers. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  5. ^ "Results – Democratic Contests". results.enr.clarityelections.com/. West Virginia Secretary of State. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  6. ^ "Election Night Reporting". results.enr.clarityelections.com. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  7. ^ "West Virginia Republican Delegation 2020". The Green Papers. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  8. ^ "Election Night Reporting". results.enr.clarityelections.com. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  9. ^ "West Virginia Republican Delegation 2020". www.thegreenpapers.com. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  10. ^ "Results - 2020 Presidential Primary". Mountain Party. May 12, 2020. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  11. ^ "2020 POTUS Race ratings" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  12. ^ "POTUS Ratings | Inside Elections". insideelections.com. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  13. ^ "Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball » 2020 President". crystalball.centerforpolitics.org. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  14. ^ "2020 Election Forecast". Politico. November 19, 2019.
  15. ^ "Battle for White House". RCP. April 19, 2019.
  16. ^ 2020 Bitecofer Model Electoral College Predictions Archived April 23, 2020, at the Wayback Machine, Niskanen Center, March 24, 2020, retrieved: April 19, 2020
  17. ^ David Chalian; Terence Burlij. "Road to 270: CNN's debut Electoral College map for 2020". CNN. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  18. ^ "Forecasting the US elections". The Economist. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  19. ^ "2020 Election Battleground Tracker". CBS News. July 12, 2020. Retrieved July 13, 2020.
  20. ^ "2020 Presidential Election Interactive Map". 270 to Win.
  21. ^ "ABC News Race Ratings". CBS News. July 24, 2020. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  22. ^ "2020 Electoral Map Ratings: Trump Slides, Biden Advantage Expands Over 270 Votes". NPR.org. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  23. ^ "Biden dominates the electoral map, but here's how the race could tighten". NBC News. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
  24. ^ "2020 Election Forecast". FiveThirtyEight. August 12, 2020. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  25. ^ "West Virginia Election Results 2020". The New York Times. November 3, 2020. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
  26. ^ "West Virginia 2020 General Election". Green Papers. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  27. ^ Certificate of Ascertainment, West Virginia Secretary of State, December 9, 2020.
  28. ^ "2020 Presidential General Election Results - West Virginia".
  29. ^ "Election Night Reporting".
  30. ^ Dennis, Brady; Eilperin, Juliet. "Trump administration rolls back Obama-era rule aimed at limiting toxic wastewater from coal plants" – via www.washingtonpost.com.
  31. ^ "West Virginia Voter Surveys: How Different Groups Voted". The New York Times. November 3, 2020. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 13, 2020.

External links