2016 Alaska Republican presidential caucuses

The 2016 Alaska Republican presidential caucuses took place on March 1, 2016 as part of "Super Tuesday." Senator Cruz won the state's caucuses by less than 1,000 votes, despite Trump enjoying the endorsement of former Governor and 2008 Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin, the 9th Governor of Alaska.

2016 Alaska Republican presidential caucuses

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28 pledged delegates to the Republican National Convention
Candidate Ted Cruz Donald Trump Home state Texas New York Delegate count 12 11 Popular vote 8,369 7,740 Percentage 36.37% 33.64%   Candidate Marco Rubio Ben Carson Home state Florida Virginia Delegate count 5 0 Popular vote 3,488 2,492 Percentage 15.16% 10.83%
Results by state house district   Ted Cruz   20-30%   30-40%   40–50%   Donald Trump   30–40%   40–50%   Ben Carson   40–50%

While Cruz performed best in the state's urban legislative districts, Trump won rural precincts in the Alaska Bush. Alaska was the only state where neurosurgeon Ben Carson carried a jurisdiction over the course of the primary, albeit one of the country's least populated.

Polling

Poll source	Date	1st	2nd	3rd	Other
Caucus results	March 1, 2016	Ted Cruz 36.37%	Donald Trump 33.64%	Marco Rubio 15.16%	Ben Carson 10.83%, John Kasich 3.99%, Other 0.01%
Alaska Dispatch News/Ivan Moore Research[1] Margin of error: – Sample size: 651	January 23, 2016	Donald Trump 27.9%	Ted Cruz 23.8%	Ben Carson 8.5%	Jeb Bush 7.3%, Marco Rubio 6.9%, Chris Christie 3.3%, Rand Paul 3.0%, John Kasich 1.7%, Other 4.1%, Undecided 13.4%
Public Policy Polling Margin of error: ± 5.3% Sample size: 337	July 31 – August 3, 2014	Ted Cruz 16%	Rand Paul 15%	Mike Huckabee 14%	Chris Christie 12%, Jeb Bush 12%, Sarah Palin 11%, Scott Walker 7%, Paul Ryan 6%, Marco Rubio 5%, Someone else/Not sure 4%
Public Policy Polling Margin of error: ± 5.5% Sample size: 313	May 8–11, 2014	Ted Cruz 15%	Jeb Bush 14%	Chris Christie 14%	Sarah Palin 12%, Rand Paul 11%, Mike Huckabee 11%, Paul Ryan 4%, Scott Walker 4%, Marco Rubio 3%, Someone else/Not sure 11%
		Chris Christie 16%	Jeb Bush 15%	Ted Cruz 15%	Rand Paul 14%, Mike Huckabee 10%, Paul Ryan 5%, Scott Walker 5%, Marco Rubio 4%, Someone else/Not sure 16%
Magellan Strategies Margin of error: ± 7% Sample size: 190	April 14, 2014	Ted Cruz 16%	Rand Paul 15%	Jeb Bush 13%	Mike Huckabee 12%, Chris Christie 11%, Marco Rubio 7%, Scott Walker 6%, John Kasich 1%, Undecided 19%
Public Policy Polling Margin of error: ± 4.7% Sample size: 442	January 30 – February 1, 2014	Rand Paul 15%	Ted Cruz 13%	Sarah Palin 13%	Jeb Bush 12%, Mike Huckabee 11%, Chris Christie 10%, Marco Rubio 6%, Paul Ryan 4%, Scott Walker 4%, Someone Else/Undecided 12%
		Ted Cruz 16%	Jeb Bush 14%	Rand Paul 14%	Mike Huckabee 13%, Chris Christie 9%, Marco Rubio 8%, Paul Ryan 7%, Scott Walker 5%, Someone Else/Undecided 15%
Public Policy Polling Margin of error: ± 4.4% Sample size: 507	July 25–28, 2013	Rand Paul 18%	Sarah Palin 14%	Chris Christie 13%	Jeb Bush 11%, Marco Rubio 9%, Paul Ryan 9%, Ted Cruz 8%, Rick Santorum 5%, George Zimmerman 2%, Someone Else/Undecided 12%
		Rand Paul 20%	Jeb Bush 15%	Chris Christie 14%	Paul Ryan 14%, Marco Rubio 10%, Ted Cruz 9%, Rick Santorum 6%, Someone Else/Undecided 12%
Public Policy Polling Margin of error: ± 4.2% Sample size: 537	Feb. 4–5, 2013	Marco Rubio 18%	Mike Huckabee 14%	Rand Paul 12%	Chris Christie 11%, Paul Ryan 10%, Jeb Bush 9%, Sarah Palin 9%, Bobby Jindal 6%, Rick Perry 1%, Someone Else/Undecided 10%

Results

Alaska Republican legislative district conventions, March 1, 2016

Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Actual delegate count
			Bound	Unbound	Total
Ted Cruz	8,369	36.37%	12	0	12
Donald Trump	7,740	33.64%	11	0	11
Marco Rubio	3,488	15.16%	5	0	5
Ben Carson	2,492	10.83%	0	0	0
John Kasich	918	3.99%	0	0	0
Unprojected delegates:			0	0	0
Total:	23,010	100.00%	28	0	28
Source: The Green Papers and Alaska Republican Party

Delegates were awarded to candidates who got 13% or more of the vote proportionally.

Controversy

At the Republican National Convention, Alaska's floor votes were all recorded for Donald Trump by the convention secretary, even though the Alaska delegation read their votes according to the results of the caucuses- 12 for Cruz, 11 for Trump and 5 for Rubio. An Alaska delegate challenged the results as recorded.^[2] However, RNC chair Reince Priebus defended the actions of the convention secretary, saying that the delegates were bound to Trump.^[3]

References

1. "ADN poll: Alaskans like Trump, Sanders for president". January 23, 2016.
2. Carlson, Emily. "Chairman of Alaska's Rep party said he doesn't know why 28 delegates went @realDonaldTrump but "it's going to be corrected in record" @ktva". Twitter. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
3. Kopan, Tal; Payson-Denny, Wade. "Why Alaska's delegates were counted for Donald Trump". CNN. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. Retrieved July 23, 2016.