Hillary Clinton, having narrowly lost the Missouri primary to
Barack Obama eight years prior, managed a slim 0.2-percentage-point-victory over an increasingly popular insurgent Bernie Sanders in 2016. With Sanders winning
men 56-44, voters
under the age of 45 67-32, and
white voters 54-45, Clinton won among
women 54-44,
older voters 62-37, and
African American voters 67-32. Sanders won among voters who made less than $50k and $100k per year, with Clinton winning more
affluent voters. And while Sanders won 67-33 among self-identified
Independents who made up 24% of the electorate, Clinton won 55-44 among the 74% of voters who identified as
Democrats. While Sanders won among
liberals 53-46, Clinton won moderates and
conservatives 55-44. Sanders was able to win 54-45 among
union households, a key voting bloc in the industrial
Midwest, and he won 53-46 among those who believe
trade with other countries takes away
U.S. jobs;
trade deals championed by
Bill and Hillary Clinton have not always gone over well in the industrial
Rust Belt. In terms of each voters' family financial situation, voters who were "getting ahead" or "holding steady" opted for Clinton, while those who felt they were "falling behind" overwhelmingly favored Sanders. Clinton won a large victory in
St. Louis City and
St. Louis County (she won 55-44 according to exit polls, likely thanks to her ardent African American support), and she also managed a 51-48 victory in
Kansas City on the western side of the state. Sanders, meanwhile, won victories in
Columbia and
Springfield, keeping the race close statewide, and won in the largely
white,
rural and more
conservative counties, including areas of Northwestern Missouri bordering
Kansas and
Nebraska, and Southwestern Missouri bordering
Oklahoma. All three neighboring states are
Great Plains states that Sanders won earlier in March. ==See also==