2016 Pennsylvania General Election Story

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

Donald Trump received 2,970,733 (48%) votes beating Hillary Clinton who gained 2,926,441 (47%) by 44,292 votes in Pennsylvania.

Donald Trump won 56 counties whereas Hillary Clinton won 11 counties in the total of the 67 counties in the State of Pennsylvania.

Donald Trump won 56 counties whereas Hillary Clinton won 11 counties in the total of the 67 counties in the State of Pennsylvania.

In the Primary, Trump won 58 counties in the 3-way match up. Clinton trailed behind Trump winning 8 counties and Sanders won 1 counties. Sanders’ won counties were transferred to Clinton out of the State of Pennsylvania.

2016 Pennsylvania (PA) 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 1% increase for Donald Trump and a 1% decrease for Hillary Clinton. These percentages are represented by a vote increment of 2,007,752 for Clinton and 2,078,031 for Trump at the Presidential General Elections. There is a whooping 70,272 Vote difference between Clinton and Trump.

2016 General Election Hillary Clinton Popular Vote Count Contributed by Pennsylvania (PA)

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 though she lost to Trump at the Pennsylvania, her votes represents 4,4% of her popular vote victory. The remaining 49 states contributed to her the remaining 95,6% popular votes victory.

Top 15 Counties in Primary Elections vs General Elections

These 15 counties play an important role in these Primary elections. If a candidate, can get a sizable majority in the larger counties (Philadelphia, Allegheny, Montgomery), it becomes very difficult to win majorities in the smaller counties without voter outreach and increased voter participation in them.

Top 15 Counties Comparison in Primary Elections vs General Elections

Philadelphia, Allegheny, Montgomery, three of the larger counties voted in favor of Clinton, giving her over 1,2 million vote advantage. Lancaster, another larger county voted in favor of Trump giving him a 46k voter advantage in that county. However, Trump's steady win in the less dense counties contributed to the 44K marginal vote advantage that helped him gain an upper hand in the State of Pennsylvania.

Related References: 2016 Pennsylvania Primary Election Story, 2020 OPennsylvania Primary Election Story