Much of the talk about turnout in the 2016 Republican primary has centered around Donald Trump, however, he is not the only Republican turning out large swaths of voters.
Take Wisconsin for example, Texas Sen. [crscore]Ted Cruz[/crscore] won in the state with 531,129 votes. That’s 184,850 votes more than Mitt Romney got when he won the state in 2012, and more than double the 224,755 votes Arizona Sen. [crscore]John McCain[/crscore] received in 2008.
In six separate states and territories a third place finish in 2016 would’ve garnered a win in the two previous Republican primaries. In 14 other states and territories, a second place finish in 2016 would’ve earned a candidate the winning trophy four years ago.
Take Missouri for example. In 2012, Santorum won with 139,272 votes. Cruz finished second this year with more than double that amount, 380,365 votes.
In Iowa, Rick Santorum won with 29,839 votes last time around. This year Cruz won the state with 51,666 votes and Florida Sen. [crscore]Marco Rubio[/crscore] came in third with 43,228 votes. In 2012, the top three candidates in Idaho received 27,514 votes, 8,115 votes, and 8,086 votes. This year, the top three vote counts were 100,942 votes, 62,478 votes and 35,347 votes.
The 2016 Republican primary has already surpassed 2008 and 2012 GOP primary popular vote totals, and this election is far from over. The opposite of what is occurring in the Republican Party is happening with the Democrats. Both 2008 and 2016 have been two person races and in five states a second-place finish in 2008 would’ve given a Democrat a win this year.