Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton dominate in Manatee County

MANATEE -- Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton won their presidential primaries handily in Manatee County Tuesday, but each lost a few precincts.

Trump won 47.2 percent of the total Republican vote in Manatee, while Clinton won 62.5 percent of the Democratic vote.

The primary brought in 59.3 percent of registered Republicans to the polls, compared with 44.4 percent in the 2012 presidential primary. There are also more registered Republicans in the county, with 87,374 Republicans in 2012 and 93,085 in 2016.

This year saw participation from 42.7 percent of Democrats, and there was no Democratic presidential primary in Florida in 2012, since Pres

ident Barack Obama had already been named the nominee. The number of registered Democrats in Manatee has also increased, from 65,823 in March 2012 to 67,233.

Trump won by the largest margins in three precincts, getting about 60 percent of the vote in each: Colony Cove in Ellenton, Bradenton Beach Fire Hall and Bethany Baptist Church in Myakka City.

There are no African Americans registered as Republicans in any of those three precincts, and African Americans make up only 0.6 percent of registered Republicans countywide.

Minority populations among Republicans in those districts were lower than the countywide 5.9 percent, at 2.2 percent; 4.7 percent; and 4.1 percent, respectively. The male-to-female ratio was about even in each.

Clinton got at least 75 percent of the vote in six precincts: Waterlefe River Club in East Manatee; the Palmetto Youth Center; Mt. Raymond Baptist Church in Palmetto; Rogers Community Methodist Church in Bradenton; Freedom Village in Bradenton; and the University Park Country Club.

All of those precincts have a strong majority of women voters among registered Democrats, and half have a large majority of minorities.

Of Democratic voters, 86.1 percent are black and 97.9 percent are minorities at the Palmetto Youth Center; 86.8 percent are minorities at Raymond Baptist; and 88.3 percent are minorities at Rogers Community United Methodist Church.

The other three precincts have minority populations of 15.1 percent, 12.6 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively. The minimum Democrat female majority among those precincts was 58.9 percent, and the highest was 75.3 percent

Trump lost only two precincts in Manatee: the Palmetto Youth Center and Freedom Village. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz won the Palmetto Youth Center precinct, which only had five total Republican votes; and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio won Freedom Village, 29.4 percent to Trump's 25.5 percent.

Clinton lost three precincts to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders: the Duette Fire and Rescue District, the Midway Church of Christ in south Manatee, and Bethany Baptist Church in Myakka City. Clinton and Sanders tied in the Manatee County Parrish YMCA precinct, where only 14 Democrats voted.

The three precincts where Clinton lost had low minority populations among Democrats.

To look up how your precinct voted, go here: http://www.votemanatee.com/Election-Information/Polling-Location-List

Kate Irby, Herald online/political reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7055. You can follow her on Twitter @KateIrby

This story was originally published March 16, 2016 at 11:53 PM with the headline "Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton dominate in Manatee County."