Although a "safe blue state", Trump improved on Mitt Romney's performance four years prior; Romney had lost the state by 27 points, whereas Trump lost by less than 16 points. This makes it the smallest win by a Democrat since Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis in 1988. In 2012, Romney won only three towns in Rhode Island.[2] Donald Trump won 14 towns and even narrowly flipped Kent County, making this the first time a Republican has won a county in the state since Ronald Reagan in 1984.
^This figure is calculated by dividing the total number of votes cast in 2016 (464,144) by an estimate of the number of registered voters in Rhode Island in 2016 (770,875).
For the estimated number of registered voters, see "STATEWIDE - VOTER REGISTRATION SUMMARY"(PDF). Rhode Island Board of Elections. October 9, 2016. Archived from the original(PDF) on October 25, 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2018.