Republican primary voters in states casting ballots on Super Tuesday headed to the polls in massive numbers, while the voter turnout for the Democrats largely trended downward from 2008, when Barack Obama first ran for the White House.
The Washington Examiner reported that the Republican voter turnout was larger in each of the 12 states voting Tuesday than it was in 2008 and, in some states, the count of GOP voters heading to the polls doubled 2008 levels.
In the state of Texas, which Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) won Tuesday, 2.8 million Republicans showed up to the polls, more than twice the approximately 1.3 million who turned out to vote in the 2008 primary.
In contrast, the count of Democratic voters who turned out in Texas was nearly half of that which showed up to the polls in 2008 when then-Sen. Obama was running against Hillary Clinton to capture the nomination. Clinton narrowly beat Obama in the state in 2008 and again won Texas on Tuesday over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.).
Democratic voter turnout in Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia also lagged behind 2008 levels. However, voter turnout did tick up in Alabama, where Clinton was projected the winner Tuesday night.
The number of GOP voters who cast ballots in Virginia Tuesday doubled over 2008 levels. Business mogul Donald Trump was declared the victor the state, followed closely behind by Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.). Voter turnout also nearly doubled in Minnesota’s Republican caucus, which Rubio won Tuesday.
Republican voter turnout in Arlington County, Virginia, was so unexpectedly high that the county ran out of preprinted GOP presidential primary ballots, forcing officials to photocopy ballots in order to keep up with demand, ARLnow.com reported.
Clinton and Trump were the big winners Tuesday night, both of them winning seven states in their respective primaries. Sanders prevailed against Clinton in four primaries and caucuses, and Trump was bested by Cruz in three states and Rubio in one.