Pivot Counties in Vermont

2020 Election Analysis: Pivot Counties
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2020 Election Analysis Hub

Pivot Counties are the 206 counties nationwide Ballotpedia identified as having voted for Barack Obama (D) in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections and Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Media and political observers sometimes refer to these counties as swing counties.

Following the 2016 presidential election, Vermont had one Pivot County.

Ballotpedia defines Pivot Counties Trump won in 2020 as Retained Pivot Counties and those Joe Biden (D) won as Boomerang Pivot Counties.

After the 2020 presidential election, that one county was a Retained Pivot County.

List of Pivot Counties

See also: Election results, 2020: Pivot Counties in the 2020 presidential election, Presidential election in Vermont, 2020

The table below displays information on the Pivot County in Vermont. This county accounted for 7.14 percent of the total counties in Vermont, and 0.99 percent of the state population.

Analysis of Vermont counties won by Trump in 2016 and Obama in 2012 and 2008 following the 2020 presidential election
County	State	Winner, 2020	Margin of Victory, 2020	Trump Margin of Victory, 2016	Obama Margin of Victory, 2012	Obama Margin of Victory, 2008
Essex County	Vermont	Retained	+11.19	+16.65	+13.4	+14.48

The map below shows the Retained Pivot County in Vermont shaded bright red.

2020 analysis

Voter turnout

See also: Election results, 2020: Voter turnout in Pivot Counties

Vermont has one Retained Pivot County, 7.1% of the state's 14 total counties. Turnout in this county accounted for 0.89% of the statewide total turnout.

Voter turnout in Vermont and its Pivot County
	Votes cast	Voting age population	Turnout	Contribution to statewide turnout
Overview
Vermont	367,428	494,675	74.28%	-
Retained Pivot Counties	3,288	5,020	65.50%	0.89%

County-specific
	Votes cast	Voting age population	Turnout	Contribution to statewide turnout
Essex	3,288	5,020	65.50%	0.89%

Demographics

See also: Election results, 2020: Demographics of the 206 Pivot Counties

This table displays demographic data, on average, by county compared to nationwide and statewide averages with a focus on Pivot Counties. Use the arrows at the top of the table to view 2016 data and changes from 2016 to 2020. Full demographic data can be found here.

2016 analysis

HIGHLIGHTS

There was one county in Vermont that voted for Donald Trump in 2016, and Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.

0.99 percent of the population of Vermont resided in this one county.

Since 1960, the Pivot County in Vermont matched the national election result in 86.67% of presidential elections.

Voting trends

The table below details the voting trends of the Pivot County in Vermont since 1960.

Presidential Elections in Vermont Pivot Counties since 1960
County	Elections won by Republican Presidential candidate		Elections won by Democratic Presidential candidate		Elections matching national result
	Elections	Percentage of elections	Elections	Percentage of elections	Elections	Percentage of elections
Essex County, Vermont	10	66.67%	5	33.33%	13	86.67%

2016 election results

See also: Presidential election in Vermont, 2016

In 2016, Vermont had three electoral votes, which was 0.5 percent of the 538 electoral votes up for grabs and 1.1 percent of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the general election. Presidential primary elections in Vermont took place on March 1, 2016. Bernie Sanders won the Democratic primary with 85.17 percent of the vote. Donald Trump won the Republican primary with 32.3 percent.

General election

U.S. presidential election, Vermont, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Hillary Clinton/Tim Kaine	56.7%	178,573	3
	Republican	Donald Trump/Mike Pence	30.3%	95,369	0
	Libertarian	Gary Johnson/Bill Weld	3.2%	10,078	0
	Green	Jill Stein/Ajamu Baraka	2.1%	6,758	0
	Independent	Roque De La Fuente/Michael Steinberg	0.3%	1,063	0
	Liberty Union	Gloria Estela La Riva/Eugene Puryear	0.1%	327	0
	-	Write-in votes	7.3%	22,899	0
Total Votes				315,067	3
Election results via: Vermont Secretary of State

Primaries

Vermont Democratic Primary, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes	Delegates
Bernie Sanders	85.7%	115,900	16
Hillary Clinton	13.6%	18,338	0
Martin O'Malley	0.2%	282	0
Roque De La Fuente	0.1%	80	0
Other	0.2%	238	0
Spoiled votes	0.1%	158	0
Blank votes	0.2%	260
Totals		135,256	16
Source: Vermont Secretary of State and CNN

Vermont Republican Primary, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes	Delegates
Donald Trump	32.3%	19,974	8
John Kasich	30%	18,534	8
Marco Rubio	19.1%	11,781	0
Ted Cruz	9.6%	5,932	0
Ben Carson	4.1%	2,551	0
Jeb Bush	1.8%	1,106	0
Rand Paul	0.7%	423	0
Chris Christie	0.6%	361	0
Carly Fiorina	0.3%	212	0
Rick Santorum	0.3%	164	0
Other	0.6%	390	0
Spoiled votes	0.2%	137	0
Blank votes	0.3%	191	0
Totals		61,756	16
Source: Vermont Secretary of State and CNN

See also

• List of Pivot Counties - the 206 counties that voted Obama-Obama-Trump
• Pivot Counties by state
• Presidential election, 2016