2016 United States presidential election

==== Primaries ====
{{main|2016 Republican Party presidential primaries}}

With seventeen major candidates entering the race, starting with [[Ted Cruz]] on March 23, 2015, this was the largest presidential primary field for any political party in American history,<ref>{{cite magazine |title=More People Are Running for Presidential Nomination Than Ever |url=http://time.com/3948922/jim-gilmore-virginia-2016/ |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |access-date = February 14, 2016 |first=Jack |last=Linshi |date=July 7, 2015}}</ref> before being overtaken by the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries.<ref>{{cite news |title=Who's Running for President in 2020? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/us/politics/2020-presidential-candidates.html |access-date=June 16, 2020 |work=[[The New York Times]]|date=January 21, 2019 |last1=Burns |first1=Alexander |last2=Flegenheimer |first2=Matt |last3=Lee |first3=Jasmine C. |last4=Lerer |first4=Lisa |last5=Martin |first5=Jonathan }}</ref>

Prior to the [[2016 Iowa Republican caucuses|Iowa caucuses]] on February 1, 2016, Perry, Walker, Jindal, Graham, and Pataki withdrew due to low polling numbers. Despite leading many polls in Iowa, Trump came in second to Cruz, after which Huckabee, Paul, and Santorum withdrew due to poor performances at the ballot box. Following a sizable victory for Trump in the [[2016 New Hampshire Republican primary|New Hampshire primary]], Christie, Fiorina, and Gilmore abandoned the race. Bush followed suit after scoring fourth place to Trump, Rubio, and Cruz in [[2016 South Carolina Republican primary|South Carolina]]. On March 1, 2016, the first of four "[[Super Tuesday]]" primaries, Rubio won his first contest in Minnesota, Cruz won Alaska, Oklahoma, and his home state of Texas, and Trump won the other seven states that voted. Failing to gain traction, Carson suspended his campaign a few days later.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/ben-carson-suspends-2016-campaign-cpac-n532056 |title=Ben Carson Suspends 2016 Campaign at CPAC |work=[[NBC News]] |access-date = March 9, 2016 |date=March 4, 2016 |first=Andrew |last=Rafferty}}</ref> On March 15, 2016, the second "Super Tuesday", Kasich won his only contest in his home state of Ohio, and Trump won five primaries including Florida. Rubio suspended his campaign after losing his home state.<ref name=Rubio>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/16/us/politics/marco-rubio.html |title=Marco Rubio Suspends His Presidential Campaign |date=March 16, 2016 |last2=Barbaro |first2=Michael |last1=Peters |first1=Jeremy |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=March 16, 2016}}</ref>

Between March 16 and May 3, 2016, only three candidates remained in the race: Trump, Cruz, and Kasich. Cruz won the most delegates in four Western contests and in Wisconsin, keeping a credible path to denying Trump the nomination on the first ballot with 1,237 delegates. Trump then augmented his lead by scoring landslide victories in New York and five Northeastern states in April, followed by a decisive victory in Indiana on May 3, 2016, securing all 57 of the state's delegates. Without any further chances of forcing a [[Brokered convention|contested convention]], both Cruz<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rosenfeld |first1=Everett |title=Ted Cruz suspends presidential campaign |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/03/ted-cruz-suspends-campaign.html |publisher=[[CNBC]] |access-date=May 4, 2016 |date=May 3, 2016}}</ref> and Kasich<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/05/us/politics/john-kasich.html |title=John Kasich Drops Out of Presidential Race |last=Kaplan |first=Thomas |date=May 4, 2016 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |issn=0362-4331 |access-date=May 4, 2016}}</ref> suspended their campaigns. Trump remained the only active candidate and was declared the presumptive Republican nominee by [[Republican National Committee]] chairman [[Reince Priebus]] on the evening of May 3, 2016.<ref>{{cite web |title=Reince Priebus on Twitter |url=https://twitter.com/reince/status/727665447684820992 |website=[[Twitter]] |access-date=November 13, 2016 |date=May 3, 2016 |quote=."@realDonaldTrump will be presumptive @GOP nominee, we all need to unite{{nbsp}}..."}}</ref>

A 2018 study found that media coverage of Trump led to increased public support for him during the primaries. The study showed that Trump received nearly $2 billion in free media, more than double any other candidate. Political scientist [[John M. Sides]] argued that Trump's polling surge was "almost certainly" due to frequent media coverage of his campaign. Sides concluded "Trump is surging in the polls because the news media has consistently focused on him since he announced his candidacy on June 16."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Reuning |first1=Kevin |last2=Dietrich |first2=Nick |title=Media Coverage, Public Interest, and Support in the 2016 Republican Invisible Primary |journal=Perspectives on Politics |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=326–339 |doi=10.1017/S1537592718003274 |issn=1537-5927 |year=2019 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Prior to clinching the Republican nomination, Trump received little support from establishment Republicans.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Albert |first1=Zachary |last2=Barney |first2=David J. |title=The Party Reacts: The Strategic Nature of Endorsements of Donald Trump |journal=American Politics Research |volume=47 |issue=6 |pages=1239–1258 |doi=10.1177/1532673x18808022 |issn=1532-673X |year=2019|s2cid=158923761 }}</ref>