Hawaii: Third-party voters vs. New voters
The Aloha State saw record turnout in 2020.
Joe Biden won every county in Hawaii, marking the eighth consecutive election where the Democratic presidential nominee swept the state. The 2020 election produced record turnout for the state, with both Biden and Trump breaking records for the highest number of votes received from Hawaii for each major party. While Biden built on Clinton’s 2016 performance in the state by one percentage point, Donald Trump saw his support increase by 4 points, which led to a slightly narrower winning margin for Democrats in 2020. The shift was largely due to a sharp reduction in third party voters. Roughly 8 percent of Hawaii’s votes in the 2016 presidential election went to third party candidates. In 2020, that share dropped to 2% with a large chunk of those previously third-party voters opting to support Donald Trump’s reelection. Despite this shift, the increased support for Trump didn’t translate to down-ballot wins for local Republicans in Hawaii.