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Illinois Primary Wrap-Up
Clinton Wins in 9 Key Chicago Wards, Sanders Wins in College Counties
Chicago Wards
In last week's Primary Election, a surprisingly close Presidential race led to some interesting results for Hillary Clinton, who leaned heavily on support from Chicago and the surrounding area to gain a narrow victory over challenger Bernie Sanders. Clinton had a victory margin of 53,640 votes in Chicago, with a total of 361,161 votes overall to Sanders' 307,521. In 2008, Clinton lost Chicago to Obama by 301,853 votes. Barack Obama pulled in a total of 462,503 Chicago votes in the 2008 Primary, while Hillary saw only 160,650 in Chicago. His Chicago sweep wasn't surprising considering Obama claims Chicago as his home, but Hillary has Chicago roots as well and clearly played up that affiliation more this time around.
Between 2008 the and 2016 Primary Election, Clinton gained over 200,000 Chicago votes to secure her win.
Overall turnout in Chicago in this year's primary was 48%, down slightly from 2008's 49% turnout. However, nearly 78,000 more votes were cast this year than in 2008. That's because overall registration was up 16% this year in Chicago, with a total of 1.5 Million registered voters compared to 1.3 Million in 2008. Clinton and Sanders each won 25 Wards this year, but Clinton had an average margin of victory of 61% while Sanders' was 56%. Clinton won a total of 13 Wards in 2008, none of which she won this year.
Hillary won all 9 Chicago Wards with populations of more than 65% African American residents. She won them all handily, with a victory margin over 30%. Of her overall Chicago victory margin of 54,640, over 45,000 votes came from these 9 Wards. Obama won these Wards in 2008 each with a margin of 87% or higher.
In last week's Primary Election,
Sanders won 12 of 14 Wards where voter turnout increased from 2008 to 2016. Of the 25 Wards Clinton won, 21 saw a decrease or no change in turnout from 2008 to 2016. Of the 25 Wards Sanders won, only 13 saw a decrease in turnout during the same period.
Click here
for raw data on voter turnout by Ward for 2008 and 2016.
Illinois Counties
This year, Clinton saw a victory margin of 35,827 votes statewide, winning 24 of 102 counties in Illinois. In 2008, Barack Obama won 88 counties, with a victory margin of 650,304 votes.
Sanders won 78 counties this year with a total of 971,565 votes. Clinton retained only two of her 14 counties from 2008 to 2016: Massac and White.
Clinton's highest gains were in Cook County, where her vote totals increased by 94%, or 296,744 votes, from 2008 to present. The collar counties of Chicago also went for Clinton this year. Her vote totals increased from 2008 to present by 16,555 votes in Lake County, 10,205 in DuPage, 8,000 votes in Will County, and 5,637 in Kane County.
Sanders did well in less populated counties, with his largest margins of victory coming from DeKalb County (where he won 67% of the vote), Champaign County (66%), and McLean County (62%).
DeKalb county is home to
Northern Illinois University,
Champaign County is home to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
and McLean County is home to Illinois Wesleyan University,
among others.
Data sourced from the Illinois State Board of Elections, Chicago Board of Elections, and
WGN Chicago. For more information, contact ICPR Executive Director Sarah Brune at 312-436-1274 or sarah@ilcampaign.org. ICPR Data Analyst Brendan O'Rorke also contributed to this research.
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