Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump held on to a slight advantage over Ohio Gov. John Kasich in Vermont’s primary on Super Tuesday, defeating him by 2 percent of the vote.
Vermont’s GOP primary was still too close to call until about midnight following Super Tuesday, but Trump ultimately pulled out a victory with 32.7 percent of the vote, over Kasich’s 30.4 percent of the vote, with 97 percent of precincts reporting at 9:20 a.m. Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. Sen. Marco Rubio had 19.3 percent of the vote, not enough to reach the 20 percent threshold the Vermont GOP requires for earning delegates. Sen. Ted Cruz took 9.7 percent of the vote, followed finally by Ben Carson’s 4.2 percent.
Trump and Kasich so far have an equal number of delegates — six each, of the state’s 16 delegates total.
Kasich did surprisingly well, particularly in the Burlington and Montpelier cities and surrounding suburbs. Vermont’s Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Lisman announced his support for Kasich Monday, just in time for Super Tuesday.
Vermont, one of the smallest Super Tuesday states, had very little polling. A recent Vermont Public Radio poll had Trump at 32 percent, followed by Rubio at 17 percent.
Vermont is one of the whitest, most liberal and least religious states in the country.
Gallup last month found only New Hampshire surpasses Vermont for the title of least religious state, with only 22 percent of Vermonters describing themselves as “very religious.” Compare that with Mississippi, where the largest swath of residents described themselves as “very religious” — 63 percent.
Vermont also ranks the second-most liberal state in the country behind only Massachusetts, with nearly 30 percent of residents identifying themselves as “liberal” or “very liberal,” according to Gallup. The state also has more politically moderate residents than most. Nearly 39 percent of Vermonters describe themselves as “moderate,” making it the state with the seventh-most self-described moderates. Close to 27 percent of Vermonters describe themselves as “conservative.”
This post was updated at 9:25 a.m. Wednesday.
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