Pivot Counties in Washington

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, Washington had five Pivot Counties.

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, the state had four Retained Pivot Counties and one Boomerang Pivot County.

List of Pivot Counties

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

The table below lists the Pivot Counties in Washington. These counties accounted for 12.82 percent of the total counties in Washington, and 4.74 percent of the state population.

Analysis of Washington 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
Clallam County	Washington	Boomerang	+3.37	+2.76	+0.38	+3.3
Cowlitz County	Washington	Retained	+17.4	+13.32	+4.44	+11.15
Grays Harbor County	Washington	Retained	+6.56	+6.99	+14.11	+14.56
Mason County	Washington	Retained	+3.86	+5.81	+7.09	+8.66
Pacific County	Washington	Retained	+1.13	+6.74	+11.52	+14.07

The map below shows Retained and Boomerang Pivot Counties in Washington shaded bright red and blue, respectively.

2020 analysis

Voter turnout

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

Washington has five Pivot Counties, 12.8% of the state's 39 total counties. Of those five Pivot Counties, the state has four Retained Pivot Counties and one Boomerang Pivot County, responsible for 3.67% and 1.21% of the statewide turnout, respectively.

Voter turnout in Washington and its Pivot Counties
	Votes cast	Voting age population	Turnout	Contribution to statewide turnout
Overview
Washington	4,087,631	5,173,965	79.00%	-
Retained Pivot Counties	150,088	199,205	75.34%	3.67%
Boomerang Pivot County	49,264	59,890	82.26%	1.21%

County-specific
	Votes cast	Voting age population	Turnout	Contribution to statewide turnout
Clallam	49,264	59,890	82.26%	1.21%
Cowlitz	60,280	78,900	76.40%	1.47%
Grays Harbor	38,441	55,275	69.55%	0.94%
Mason	37,303	48,180	77.42%	0.91%
Pacific	14,064	16,850	83.47%	0.34%

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 were five counties in Washington that voted for Donald Trump in 2016, and Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.

4.74 percent of the population of Washington resided in these five counties.

Since 1960, Pivot Counties in Washington have matched the national election result in 65.33% of presidential elections.

Voting trends

The table below details the voting trends of the Pivot Counties in Washington since 1960.

Presidential Elections in Washington 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
Clallam County, Washington	8	53.33%	7	46.67%	13	86.67%
Cowlitz County, Washington	4	26.67%	11	73.33%	9	60.00%
Grays Harbor County, Washington	1	6.67%	14	93.33%	8	53.33%
Mason County, Washington	4	26.67%	11	73.33%	11	73.33%
Pacific County, Washington	1	6.67%	14	93.33%	8	53.33%
Average	4	24.00%	11	76.00%	10	65.33%
Median	4	26.67%	11	73.33%	9	60.00%

2016 election results

See also: Presidential election in Washington, 2016

In 2016, Washington had 12 electoral votes, which was 2.2 percent of the 538 electoral votes up for grabs and 4.4 percent of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the general election. Bernie Sanders won the Democratic caucuses in Washington with 72.7 percent of the vote. Donald Trump won the Republican primary in Washington with 75.5 percent.

General election

U.S. presidential election, Washington, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Hillary Clinton/Tim Kaine	52.5%	1,742,718	12
	Republican	Donald Trump/Mike Pence	36.8%	1,221,747	0
	Libertarian	Gary Johnson/Bill Weld	4.9%	160,879	0
	Green	Jill Stein/Ajamu Baraka	1.8%	58,417	0
	Socialist Workers	Alyson Kennedy/Osborne Hart	0.1%	4,307	0
	Socialism and Liberation	Gloria Estela La Riva/Eugene Puryear	0.1%	3,523	0
	Constitution	Darrell Lane Castle/Scott Bradley	0.5%	17,623	0
	-	Other/Write-in	3.3%	107,805	0
Total Votes				3,317,019	12
Election results via: Federal Election Commission

Primaries

Washington Democratic Caucus, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes	Delegates
Bernie Sanders	72.7%	19,135	74
Hillary Clinton	27.1%	7,136	27
Other	0.2%	43	0
Totals		26,314	101
Source: The New York Times and Washington State Democratic Party

Washington Republican Primary, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes	Delegates
Donald Trump	75.5%	455,023	41
Ted Cruz	10.8%	65,172	0
John Kasich	9.8%	58,954	0
Ben Carson	4%	23,849	0
Totals		602,998	41
Source: The New York Times and Washington Secretary of State

See also

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