November 8, 2016 2020 → 177,709 28,037 Date 8 November 2016 Popular vote 279,240 Party Republican Running mate Mike Pence | Turnout 74.44% 35.4% 5.6% Electoral vote 3 Home state New York Percentage 55.6% | |
 | ||
Trump
40-50%
50-60%
60-70%
70-80%
80-90%
>90% Clinton
40-50%
50-60%
60-70% | ||
The 2016 United States presidential election in Montana was won by Republican Donald Trump and running mate Mike Pence, on November 8, 2016, with 56.6% of the vote, as part of the 2016 general election. Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine received 33.2% of the vote. Montana assigns all of its three Electoral votes to the winner of the state's popular vote.
Contents
The Montana primary was on June 7, 2016, selecting nominees for the two major parties, as well as the Libertarian Party. Registered members of each party may only vote in their party's primary, while voters who are unaffiliated may choose any one primary in which to vote.
Trump's margin was 23.4 percentage points, exceeding Mitt Romney 13.7 point lead in 2012, and John McCain 2.4 points in 2008. Republicans have won Montana in every presidential election since 1996. Libertarian nominee and third-party candidate Gary Johnson received 5.6% of the vote.
Democratic primary
Four candidates appeared on the Democratic presidential primary ballot:
Republican primary
Twelve candidates appeared on the Republican presidential primary ballot:
Results by county
Preliminary general election results for President as of 14 December 2016 by county.
Analysis
Like every Republican nominee since 1996, Donald Trump carried Montana's three electoral votes. He won by a large margin, and he swept most of the plains counties in eastern Montana, traditionally the most conservative part of the state, by staggering margins sometimes exceeding 60 points. The eastern part of the state has benefitted from the recent energy boom in neighboring North Dakota, and its populace is suspect of the environmental movement championed by Democrats in recent elections.
Counties in the western part of the state are also traditionally Republican, with a ranching-based economy heavily dependent on the raising and production of cattle and hay, particularly in the counties bordering Idaho such as Beaverhead County and Revalli County. However, an influx of retirees from the West Coast have made the western region more competitive in recent elections.
The only significant counties won by Clinton were Missoula County where the city of Missoula is located, and Big Horn County and Glacier County, which are both majority Native American. While sweeping most of the rural, majority white conservative counties of the state, Trump also won in Lewis and Clark County where the capital city of Helena is located, in neighboring Cascade County where Great Falls is located, and in Yellowstone County where the city of Billings is located.