2020 Presidential Elections State-by-State Guide: Only a miracle can see the Democrats bag a win in Oklahoma
State
OKLAHOMA
Primary dates
March 3, 2020 (Tuesday)
Type: Semi-closed
Democratic delegates: 42 (pledged 37, super 5)
Republican delegates: 43
Governor
Kevin Stitt (Republican)
Senators
James Inhofe (R) and James Lankford (R)
Representatives: 5
Four Republicans: Kevin Harn (1st district), Markwayne Mullin (2nd district), Frank Lucas (3rd district), Tom Cole (4th district)
Democratic: Kendra Horn (5th district)
Electoral college votes: 7
Donald Trump won all of them in 2016
How Oklahoma has voted in the past
The Sooner State gained statehood in 1907 and after having voted for the Democrats in most elections till 1948 (it chose presidents like Woodrow Wilson and FDR), it turned red. The last time a blue presidential candidate won in Oklahoma was in 1964 when LBJ beat Barry Goldwater handsomely.
Oklahoma started participating in the presidential election with seven electoral votes because of its fairly high population and it had gone up to 11 in 1940 to come down to seven currently. In 2016, Trump bagged a thumping victory over Hillary Clinton, winning the election by 65-29 points.
Oklahoma is a deep red state
The Sooner State has Democratic strongholds in eastern counties and in Little Dixie in the southeast. The northwestern side is more of a Republican belt.
Since the 1950s, Tulsa and Oklahoma City also became Republican and in the last 20 years or so, parts of Oklahoma outside the metro regions have also turned red, making Oklahoma one of the deep red states in the country.
Since 1966, Oklahoma has elected only one Democratic senator in David Boren. However, the GOP's dominance has also witnessed its factionalization in the state.
The state Republican Party has seen division between tea parties, movement conservatives, evangelicals, Chamber of Commerce types and others. But the Democrats are far too weak to even take advantage of that.
In 2016, Trump thumped Hillary by 36 points, two points more than Mitt Romney’s victory over Barack Obama in 2012. Hillary underperformed Obama by 23,000 votes in 2016 and could manage just 41 percent of the vote in her best county — Oklahoma County.
In the primaries of 2016, while Bernie Sanders beat Hillary by 51-42 percent in the Democratic field in Oklahoma, Ted Cruz defeated Trump 34-28 percent in the Republican field.
Oklahoma and 2020 presidential election
Two polls have been conducted ahead of the Super Tuesday in Oklahoma and they have shown contradictory results. While a Sooner Survey poll from last week showed Michael Bloomberg leading the fray by six points, a News 9-News On 6 poll showed Biden having a narrow one-point advantage over the former.
Daughter of the state Elizabeth Warren did not break into double digits in either of the surveys. According to a survey by FiveThirtyEight, Sanders was leading the field with 35 percent with both Biden and Bloomberg tied in second place with 30 percent.
Though Trump’s popularity rate has gone down in Oklahoma, yet it is a state where the president still commands a high approval rating. Only a miracle can see him losing the state that loves him a lot in 2020.