WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah—As expected, former President Donald Trump has won the Utah Republican presidential poll to take 14 of 15 GOP Super Tuesday contests on March 5 against former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
The only real suspense anticipated in Utah’s March 5 caucus results was if President Trump would garner the statewide 50 percent-plus-one plurality to secure all of the state’s 40 Republican National Convention delegates.
As of 1:30 a.m. Mountain Time, he appeared well on his way to doing just that.
With 74 percent of precincts reporting early on March 6, the former president had secured 58.2 percent of the votes, amounting to 37,960 votes, compared to Ms. Haley’s 40.7 percent or 26,539 votes. It means President Trump extends his significant delegate lead, positioning him to potentially clinch the nomination as early as March 12.
The race had not been officially called as the clock neared 2 a.m. but Utah Republican Party chair Robert Axson told the few reporters who remained at the Utah Trucking Association headquarters in West Valley City, where the state committee staged its vote count, that “the numbers speak for themselves.”In Utah, if a candidate secures a 50 percent plus one tally, he/she takes all the delegates, unlike many early primaries that gauge plurality on a congressional district basis.
With Utah’s 40 delegates, President Trump now has 1,001 of the 1,215 he needs to win the GOP nomination and take on President Joe Biden in a rematch of their 2020 race in November. Ms. Haley, with her Vermont primary win, has 86 delegates.
President Trump has struggled in Utah in the past, losing in 2016 to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas)—the last time Utah Republicans caucused rather than participating in a state-run presidential primary—before winning nearly 88 percent of the vote in 2020 against former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, a former Libertarian presidential candidate who wasn’t even on many of the state’s ballots.
If he maintains his pace of nearly 60 percent, President Trump will surpass his most recent polling results in Utah. In a Dan Jones & Associates survey conducted from Jan. 16-21, which polled 428 Republican voters, he received 49 percent of the vote, Ms. Haley received 22 percent, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who had just announced his withdrawal from the race, received 13 percent.
Many of Mr. DeSantis’ voters likely backed President Trump over Ms. Haley, lifting him to the 50-percent one plurality needed to bank all of the state’s 40 RNC convention delegates.
Glitch Causes Delays
However, there was suspense in Utah’s caucuses, which were hampered by a coding glitch in the online check-in system used to verify party registrations.“There was a substantially large crowd that came in—that was fantastic— but we had a couple of technical glitches. We’re looking into what those are and why that delayed the system,” Mr. Axson said. “But we are confident in the results and also the credentialing of those folks ... There’s no question as it pertained to any of the numbers. It was more just a question of some ill-timed curveballs coming at us, right when people were coming into the caucuses,” he added.
The caucuses were to begin at 7 p.m. but in many places, such as at Hunter High School in West Valley City—where 22 precincts caucused in 16 sites, ranging from classrooms to a performing arts auditorium—people were still backed up into hallways a half hour into the process.
The presidential preference poll was to remain open until 8 p.m. but in many cases, voters had until 9 p.m. to cast their ballots. Most precincts at Hunter High School had concluded business by 8:45 p.m.
Rep. Matt MacPherson (R-West Valley City) said caucus captains agreed to begin the caucus even though “by 8 o’clock, there were still people waiting in line to be credentialed.”
Democrats, who participated in a state-run primary, reported no such problems. The AP declared incumbent President Joe Biden the winner moments after polls closed before Republicans in some cases even began their caucuses.
Precinct Win For Haley
In the West Valley City Precinct 018 (WVC 018) caucus, staged in a social studies classroom, Ms. Haley defeated President Trump 24-16, although Mr. MacPherson (R-West Valley City) said until that point, President Trump had won all the precinct tallies from the caucuses at the school.
But many were close, he said. “I would expect a good showing for Haley here,” Mr. MacPherson said, calling the West Valley City area a “swing district for Republicans.”
WVC Precinct 18 chair Ray Rice said he was not surprised by the relatively lopsided win by Ms. Haley in the neighborhood caucus because the precinct voters had not supported President Trump in 2016 or 2020.
Mr. Rice said he was among those who voted for Ms. Haley. With President Trump nearly certain to clinch the nomination within a few weeks, he said he’s not sure who he will vote for in November.
“I cannot see myself voting for Biden,” he said.
Garrett Peterson, elected WVC 018 vice chair during the caucus, said he was surprised because he thought President Trump would easily win the precinct.
He will not vote for President Trump, no matter what. “I will probably vote for Biden,” he said.
Mr. Biden won all 34 of Utah’s Democrat delegates, notching 88 percent of the tally, the same percentage President Trump won in Utah’s 2020 primary when he was also running virtually unopposed.
Deep red Utah—nearly 980,000 registered GOP voters to less than 275,000 registered Democrats—now prepares for its April 27 Republican convention and June 25 general primary, which includes inter-party battles for governor, U.S. Senate, four U.S. House seats, and the state legislature.
