2020 United States presidential election in Delaware

The 2020 United States presidential election in Delaware was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, as part of the 2020 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated.[2] Delaware voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, incumbent President Donald Trump from Florida, and running mate Vice President Mike Pence from Indiana against Democratic Party nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, and his running mate California Senator Kamala Harris. Delaware has three electoral votes in the Electoral College.[3]

2020 United States presidential election in Delaware

November 3, 2020
Turnout	68.86%[1] 3.51 pp
Nominee Joe Biden Donald Trump Party Democratic Republican Home state Delaware Florida Running mate Kamala Harris Mike Pence Electoral vote 3 0 Popular vote 296,268 200,603 Percentage 58.74% 39.77%
County results Biden   50–60%   60–70% Trump   50–60%
President before election Donald Trump Republican Elected President Joe Biden Democratic

Delaware is the home state of Biden, who represented the state in the U.S. Senate for 36 years from 1973 to 2009. Biden defeated Trump in the state by a margin of 19%, a significant improvement over Hillary Clinton's 11% margin over Trump in 2016. Biden flipped the swing county of Kent, while Sussex County, which last voted Democratic when Bill Clinton carried it in 1996, stayed Republican. Delaware's remaining county, New Castle—home to Biden's hometown of Wilmington and part of both the Northeast megalopolis and the Philadelphia metropolitan area, containing 55% of the state's population—stayed Democratic, having last voted Republican when George H. W. Bush carried it in 1988. Biden's margin in New Castle County would have been more than enough to carry the state; he carried his home county by over 106,000 votes, far exceeding his statewide margin of 96,000 votes.

Per exit polls by the Associated Press, Biden's strength in his home state came from African-Americans with 91%; and Caucasians with 50%, including those with a college degree with 54%. 58% of Delawarean voters had a favorable opinion of him.[4] Biden won overwhelmingly in his hometown of Wilmington, earning 26,698 votes to Trump's 3,580.[5]

Delaware was one of sixteen states where President Trump received less percentage of the vote than he did in the 2016 election.[lower-alpha 1] With Biden's victory nationwide, he became the first person elected President of the United States from Delaware.

Primary elections

The primary elections were originally scheduled for April 28, 2020. On March 24, they were moved to June 2 due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. On May 7, the primary elections were again postponed to July 7.[6][7] By that time, President Donald Trump of the Republican Party and former Vice President Joe Biden of the Democratic Party had already clinched enough delegates to become the presumptive nominees of their respective parties. This was Biden's third presidential attempt, as he had previously campaigned in the 1988 and 2008 Democratic presidential primaries but failed to secure the nomination both times.

Republican primary

Incumbent President Donald Trump was essentially uncontested in the Republican primary.[8] The state has 16 delegates to the 2020 Republican National Convention.[9]

However, Trump was not unopposed: Rocky De La Fuente took 12% of the vote, with Trump polling 88%.[10]

2020 Delaware Republican presidential primary[11]

Candidate	Votes	%	Delegates[12]
Donald Trump	28,876	88.05%	16
Rocky De La Fuente	3,920	11.95%
Total	32,796	100%	16

Democratic primary

2020 Delaware Democratic presidential primary[13]

Candidate	Votes	%	Delegates[14]
Joe Biden	81,954	89.39%	21
Bernie Sanders (suspended)	6,878	7.50%
Elizabeth Warren (withdrawn)	2,850	3.11%
Total	91,682	100%	21

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[15]	Safe D	September 10, 2020
Inside Elections[16]	Safe D	September 4, 2020
Sabato's Crystal Ball[17]	Safe D	July 14, 2020
Politico[18]	Safe D	September 8, 2020
RCP[19]	Safe D	August 3, 2020
Niskanen[20]	Safe D	July 26, 2020
CNN[21]	Safe D	August 3, 2020
The Economist[22]	Safe D	September 2, 2020
CBS News[23]	Likely D	August 16, 2020
270towin[24]	Safe D	August 2, 2020
ABC News[25]	Safe D	July 31, 2020
NPR[26]	Likely D	August 3, 2020
NBC News[27]	Safe D	August 6, 2020
538[28]	Safe D	September 9, 2020

Polling

Graph of opinion polls conducted. Trend lines represent local regressions.

Aggregate polls

Source of poll aggregation	Dates administered	Dates updated	Joe Biden Democratic	Donald Trump Republican	Other/ Undecided [lower-alpha 2]	Margin
270 to Win	September 1–30, 2020	October 28, 2020	57.5%	35.0%	7.5%	Biden +22.5
FiveThirtyEight	until October 27, 2020	October 28, 2020	57.7%	35.0%	7.3%	Biden +22.7
Average			57.6%	35.0%	7.4%	Biden +22.6

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[lower-alpha 3]	Margin of error	Donald Trump Republican	Joe Biden Democratic	Jo Jorgensen Libertarian	Howie Hawkins Green	Undecided
SurveyMonkey/Axios	Oct 20 – Nov 2, 2020	656 (LV)	± 6%	38%[lower-alpha 4]	60%	-	-	–
SurveyMonkey/Axios	Oct 1–28, 2020	1,323 (LV)	–	37%	62%	-	-	–
SurveyMonkey/Axios	Sep 1–30, 2020	395 (LV)	–	37%	61%	-	-	2%
University of Delaware	Sep 21–27, 2020	847 (LV)	–	33%	54%	2%	1%	10%[lower-alpha 5]
SurveyMonkey/Axios	Aug 1–31, 2020	348 (LV)	–	32%	67%	-	-	1%
PPP	Aug 21–22, 2020	710 (V)	± 3.7%	37%	58%	-	-	5%
SurveyMonkey/Axios	Jul 1–31, 2020	453 (LV)	–	31%	67%	-	-	2%
SurveyMonkey/Axios	Jun 8–30, 2020	232 (LV)	–	34%	64%	-	-	2%
Gonzales Research	Jan 16–21, 2020	410 (LV)	± 5.0%	40%	56%	-	-	4%

Former candidates

Donald Trump vs. Michael Bloomberg Poll source Date(s) administered Sample size[lower-alpha 3] Margin of error Donald Trump (R) Michael Bloomberg (D) Undecided Gonzales Research Jan 16–21, 2020 410 (LV) ± 5.0% 47% 48% 5% Donald Trump vs. Pete Buttigieg Poll source Date(s) administered Sample size[lower-alpha 3] Margin of error Donald Trump (R) Pete Buttigieg (D) Undecided Gonzales Research Jan 16–21, 2020 410 (LV) ± 5.0% 45% 50% 5% Donald Trump vs. Bernie Sanders Poll source Date(s) administered Sample size[lower-alpha 3] Margin of error Donald Trump (R) Bernie Sanders (D) Undecided Gonzales Research Jan 16–21, 2020 410 (LV) ± 5.0% 46% 47% 7% Donald Trump vs. Elizabeth Warren Poll source Date(s) administered Sample size[lower-alpha 3] Margin of error Donald Trump (R) Elizabeth Warren (D) Undecided Gonzales Research Jan 16–21, 2020 410 (LV) ± 5.0% 46% 49% 5%

Results

2020 United States presidential election in Delaware[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Joe Biden Kamala Harris	296,268	58.74%	+5.65%
	Republican	Donald Trump Mike Pence	200,603	39.77%	-1.95%
	Libertarian	Jo Jorgensen Spike Cohen	5,000	0.99%	-2.33%
	Green	Howie Hawkins Angela Walker	2,139	0.42%	-0.95%
	Write-in		336[29]	0.07%	-0.43%
Total votes			504,346	100.00%

Results by county

County	Biden#	Biden%	Trump#	Trump%	Jorgensen#	Jorgensen%	Hawkins#	Hawkins%	Total
Kent	44,552	51.2%	41,009	47.1%	1,044	1.2%	1,042	1.2%	87,025
New Castle	195,034	67.8%	88,364	30.7%	2,953	1%	1,282	0.5%	287,633
Sussex	56,682	43.8%	71,230	55%	1,003	0.8%	437	0.3%	129,352

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Kent (largest municipality: Dover)

Turnout

According to the Delaware's Elections website, voter turnout was 71.88% with 531,599 ballots cast out of 739,570 registered voters.[1]

Notes

1. The other fifteen states were Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
2. Calculated by taking the difference of 100% and all other candidates combined.
3. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear
4. Overlapping sample with the previous SurveyMonkey/Axios poll, but more information available regarding sample size
5. "None/other/undecided" with 10%

See also

• United States presidential elections in Delaware
• 2020 United States presidential election
• 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries
• 2020 Republican Party presidential primaries
• 2020 United States elections

References

1. "2020 General Election Report". elections.delaware.gov/. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
2. Kelly, Ben (August 13, 2018). "US elections key dates: When are the 2018 midterms and the 2020 presidential campaign?". The Independent. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
3. "Distribution of Electoral Votes". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
4. "Delaware Voter Surveys: How Different Groups Voted". The New York Times. November 3, 2020. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
5. "Delaware Election Results". Delaware Department of Elections. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
6. "Delaware primary elections moved to July 7 due to COVID-19 pandemic". WPVI-TV. May 7, 2020.
7. "Delaware presidential primary delayed because of coronavirus". Associated Press. March 24, 2020.
8. "Biden, Trump easily win in Delaware primary". Associated Press. Newark Post. July 7, 2020.
9. "Delaware Republican Delegation 2020". The Green Papers. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
10. https://elections.delaware.gov/results/html/index.shtml?electionId=PP2020#electionReport1
11. "Delaware Election Results". Department of Elections. Delaware Department of Elections. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
12. "Delegate Tracker". interactives.ap.org. Associated Press. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
13. "Delaware Election Results". Department of Elections. Delaware Department of Elections. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
14. "Delegate Tracker". interactives.ap.org. Associated Press. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
15. "2020 POTUS Race ratings" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
16. "POTUS Ratings | Inside Elections". insideelections.com. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
17. "Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball » 2020 President". crystalball.centerforpolitics.org. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
18. "2020 Election Forecast". Politico. November 19, 2019.
19. "Battle for White House". RCP. April 19, 2019.
20. 2020 Bitecofer Model Electoral College Predictions, Niskanen Center, March 24, 2020, retrieved: April 19, 2020.
21. David Chalian; Terence Burlij. "Road to 270: CNN's debut Electoral College map for 2020". CNN. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
22. "Forecasting the US elections". The Economist. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
23. "2020 Election Battleground Tracker". CBS News. July 12, 2020. Retrieved July 13, 2020.
24. "2020 Presidential Election Interactive Map". 270 to Win.
25. "ABC News Race Ratings". CBS News. July 24, 2020. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
26. "2020 Electoral Map Ratings: Trump Slides, Biden Advantage Expands Over 270 Votes". NPR.org. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
27. "Biden dominates the electoral map, but here's how the race could tighten". NBC News. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
28. "2020 Election Forecast". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
29. "Write-in votes" (PDF). elections.delaware.gov. Retrieved November 11, 2020.

Further reading

• Summary: State Laws on Presidential Electors (PDF), Washington DC: National Association of Secretaries of State, August 2020, Delaware

External links

• Government Documents Round Table of the American Library Association, "Delaware", Voting & Elections Toolkits
• "Delaware: Election Tools, Deadlines, Dates, Rules, and Links", Vote.org, Oakland, CA
• "League of Women Voters of Delaware". (State affiliate of the U.S. League of Women Voters)
• Delaware at Ballotpedia