2020 Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary

The 2020 Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary was originally scheduled to take place on April 28, 2020, as one of several northeastern states in the "Acela primary" voting on the same date in the Democratic Party presidential primaries for the 2020 presidential election. Concerns about the coronavirus pandemic postponed it to June 2.[1]

2020 Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary

June 2, 2020
210 Democratic National Convention delegates (186 pledged, 24 unpledged) The number of pledged delegates won is determined by the popular vote
Candidate Joe Biden Bernie Sanders Home state Delaware Vermont Delegate count 151 35 Popular vote 1,264,624 287,834 Percentage 79.26% 18.04%
Election results by county   Joe Biden

The Pennsylvania primary is a closed primary, with the state awarding 210 delegates, of whom 186 are pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the primary results. Joe Biden, who was born and raised in Pennsylvania, won the primary with 79.3% of the vote. Bernie Sanders, who had suspended his campaign two months earlier, received 18%.

Procedure

Pennsylvania was going to join several northeastern states in holding primaries on the same date of April 28, 2020.[2] The other states that were to vote that day include Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New York, and Rhode Island. But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pennsylvania joined several other states in moving its primary to June 2.[1]

Voting took place throughout the state from 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. In the closed primary, candidates must meet a threshold of 15% at the congressional district or statewide level in order to be considered viable. The 186 pledged delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention will be allocated proportionally on the basis of the results of the primary. Of the 186 pledged delegates, between 4 and 10 are allocated to each of the state's 18 congressional districts and another 20 are allocated to party leaders and elected officials (PLEO delegates), in addition to 33 at-large pledged delegates. These delegate totals do not account for pledged delegate bonuses or penalties from timing or clustering.[3]

If fewer delegate candidates are listed than allocated based on the results of the primary, then the additional delegates will be named at the subsequent state convention on June 13, which will vote on the 33 pledged at-large and 20 PLEO delegates to send to the Democratic National Convention. The 153 pledged delegates Pennsylvania sends to the national convention will be joined by 23 unpledged PLEO delegates (12 members of the Democratic National Committee; 10 members of Congress, including one Senator and 9 U.S. Representatives; and the governor).[3]

Polling

Polling Aggregation
Source of poll aggregation	Date updated	Dates polled	Joe Biden	Bernie Sanders	Other/ Undecided[lower-alpha 1]
270 to Win	Mar 18, 2020	Feb 11–Mar 8, 2020	39.5%	28.0%	32.5%
RealClear Politics	Feb 23, 2020	Jan 20–Feb 20, 2020	39.5%	28.0%	32.5%
FiveThirtyEight	Mar 8, 2020	until Feb 20, 2020[lower-alpha 2]	54.4%	29.3%	16.3%
Average			44.5%	28.4%	27.1%

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[lower-alpha 3]	Margin of error	Joe Biden	Michael Bloomberg	Cory Booker	Pete Buttigieg	Kamala Harris	Beto O'Rourke	Bernie Sanders	Elizabeth Warren	Other	Undecided
	Apr 8, 2020	Sanders suspends his campaign
	Mar 19, 2020	Gabbard withdraws from the race
YouGov/Yahoo News	Mar 6–8, 2020	–(RV)[lower-alpha 4]	± 5.1%	59%	–	–	–	–	–	31%	–	–	–
	Mar 5, 2020	Warren withdraws from the race
	Mar 4, 2020	Bloomberg withdraws from the race
	Mar 2, 2020	Klobuchar withdraws from the race
	Mar 1, 2020	Buttigieg withdraws from the race
YouGov/University of Wisconsin-Madison	Feb 11–20, 2020	537 (LV)	–	20%	19%	–	12%	–	–	25%	9%	5%[lower-alpha 5]	10%[lower-alpha 6]
	Feb 11, 2020	New Hampshire primary; Yang withdraws from the race after close of polls
Franklin & Marshall College	Jan 20–26, 2020	292 (RV)	± 9.0%	22%	7%	–	6%	–	–	15%	14%	18%[lower-alpha 7]	19%
Baldwin Wallace University/Oakland University/Ohio Northern University	Jan 8-20, 2020	502 (RV)	–	31.3%	9.1%	–	6.5%	–	–	20.5%	11.5%	8.8%[lower-alpha 8]	11%
	Jan 13, 2020	Booker withdraws from the race
	Dec 3, 2019	Harris withdraws from the race
	Dec 1, 2019	Sestak withdraws from the race
	Nov 24, 2019	Bloomberg announces his candidacy
	Nov 1, 2019	O'Rourke withdraws from the race
Franklin & Marshall College	Oct 21–27, 2019	226 (RV)	± 8.9%	30%	–	1%	8%	1%	<1%	12%	18%	15%[lower-alpha 9]	16%
Siena Research/New York Times	Oct 13–26, 2019	304	–	28%	–	0%	4%	1%	0%	14%	16%	3%[lower-alpha 10]	30%
Kaiser Family Foundation	Sep 23-Oct 15, 2019	246 (LV)	–	27%	–	1%	3%	4%	No voters	14%	18%	5%[lower-alpha 11]	29%
Susquehanna Polling and Research Inc.	Sep 30 – Oct 6, 2019	307 (RV)	± 5.6%	17%	–	0%	8%	1%	0%	6%	9%	7%[lower-alpha 12]	52%
Franklin & Marshall College	Jul 29 – Aug 4, 2019	295	± 8.7%	28%	–	2%	6%	8%	1%	12%	21%	3%[lower-alpha 13]	19%
Zogby Analytics	May 23–29, 2019	246	± 6.3%	46%	–	2%	9%	3%	2%	15%	8%	2%[lower-alpha 14]	–
Quinnipiac University	May 9–14, 2019	431	± 6.2%	39%	–	5%	6%	8%	2%	13%	8%	3%[lower-alpha 15]	12%
	Apr 25, 2019	Biden announces his candidacy
	Apr 14, 2019	Buttigieg announces his candidacy
Muhlenberg College	Apr 3–10, 2019	405	± 5.5%	28%	–	3%	4%	8%	3%	16%	8%	9%[lower-alpha 16]	20%
Emerson College	Mar 26–28, 2019	359	± 5.1%	39%	–	4%	6%	5%	5%	20%	11%	10%[lower-alpha 17]	–

Results

2020 Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary[4]

Candidate	Votes	%	Delegates[5]
Joe Biden	1,264,624	79.26%	151
Bernie Sanders (suspended)	287,834	18.04%	35
Tulsi Gabbard (withdrawn)	43,050	2.70%	0
Total	1,595,508	100%	186

See also

• 2020 Pennsylvania elections
• Elections in Pennsylvania

Notes

Additional candidates

1. Calculated by taking the difference of 100% and all other candidates combined
2. FiveThirtyEight aggregates polls with a trendline regression of polls rather than a strict average of recent polls.
3. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear
4. Part of a 1,750 registered voter poll of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin
5. Klobuchar with 5%; "Others" not reported separately
6. contains also "others"
7. Yang and Klobuchar with 5%; "Other" with 2%; "None" with 6%
8. Klobuchar and Yang with 2.5%; Bennet with 1.2%; Steyer with 1%; Gabbard with 0.9%; Delaney with 0.4%; Patrick with 0.3%
9. Bennet, Gabbard and Klobuchar with 2%; Yang with 1%; Bullock with <1%; none with 8%; other with 0%
10. Yang with 2%; Klobuchar with 1%; others with 0%
11. Yang with 2%; Klobuchar and Steyer with 1%; Bennet, Bullock, Delaney, Gabbard, Messam, O'Rourke, Ryan, Sestak and Williamson with no voters; refused with 1%
12. Bennet with 2%; Klobuchar with 1%; Bullock, Castro, Delaney, Gabbard, Messam, Ryan, Sestak, Steyer, Williamson and Yang with 0%; someone else/none with 3%; refused to answer with 1%
13. Bullock, Gabbard, and "Other" with 1%
14. Castro, Gillibrand, and Yang with 1%; Delaney, Gabbard, Hickenlooper, Inslee, and Klobuchar with 0%
15. Klobuchar with 1%; Bennet, Castro, Delaney, Gabbard, Gillibrand, Hickenlooper, Inslee, Messam, Moulton, Ryan, Swalwell, Williamson, and Yang with <1%; others with 2%
16. Klobuchar with 3%; others with 6%
17. Gabbard with 3%; Gillibrand with 2%; Castro and Yang with 1%; Hickenlooper, Inslee, and Klobuchar with 0%; others with 4%

References

1. Levy, Marc; Scolforo, Mark (March 25, 2020). "Pennsylvania lawmakers vote to delay primary election". AP NEWS. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
2. Thompson, Steve; Nirappil, Fenit (February 6, 2019). "D.C. is slated to vote last in 2020 Democratic primaries. That might change". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
3. "Pennsylvania Democratic Delegation 2020". The Green Papers. May 3, 2019. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
4. "2020 Presidential Primary Official Returns". Pennsylvania Department of State. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
5. "2020 Primary Elections: Pennsylvania results". NBC. 17 July 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2020.

External links

• The Green Papers delegate allocation summary
• Pennsylvania Democratic Party delegate selection plan
• FiveThirtyEight Pennsylvania primary poll tracker