# 2020 Illinois Democratic presidential primary

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vte :
Pledged national convention delegates :
| Type | Del. | Type | Del. |
| CD1 | 8 | CD10 | 5 |
| CD2 | 7 | CD11 | 5 |
| CD3 | 6 | CD12 | 5 |
| CD4 | 5 | CD13 | 5 |
| CD5 | 7 | CD14 | 5 |
| CD6 | 6 | CD15 | 3 |
| CD7 | 8 | CD16 | 4 |
| CD8 | 5 | CD17 | 5 |
| CD9 | 8 | CD18 | 4 |
| PLEO | 20 | At-large | 34 |
| Total pledged delegates | Total pledged delegates | Total pledged delegates | 155 |
The 2020 Illinois Democratic presidential primary took place on March 17, 2020, the third primary Tuesday of the month, as one of three states voting on the same day in the Democratic Party primaries for the 2020 presidential election, while the contest in Ohio had been postponed for roughly a month. The Illinois primary was an open primary, with the state awarding 182 delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of which 155 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the primary.
Immediately after the polls closed at 7:00 pm Central Time, the Associated Press declared former vice president Joe Biden the winner of the Illinois primary. Biden was victorious in all but one county, Champaign County, winning 59% of the vote and 95 delegates, while senator Bernie Sanders received the rest of 36% and 60 delegates. Together with his victories on the same day in Florida and Arizona, Biden greatly expanded the gap in delegates between him and Sanders. Voter turnout was significantly down from 2016, due to the closure of polling places as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

## Procedure

Illinois was one of three states which held primaries on March 17, 2020, alongside Arizona and Florida, while only one day before Ohio had been the first state to postpone its primary due to the COVID-19 pandemic and cancel in-person voting, accepting ballots until April 28 instead.
Voting took place throughout the state from 6:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. In the open primary, candidates had to meet a threshold of 15 percent at the congressional district or statewide level in order to be considered viable. The 155 pledged delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention were allocated proportionally on the basis of the results of the primary. Of these, between three and eight were allocated to each of the state's 18 congressional districts and another 20 were allocated to party leaders and elected officials (PLEO delegates), in addition to 34 at-large delegates. As a March primary on Stage I of the primary timetable Illinois received no bonus delegates, in order to disperse the primaries between more different date clusters and keep too many states from hoarding on a March date.
National convention district level delegates were listed on the ballot and chosen during the primary. The national convention delegation meeting was subsequently held on April 27, 2020, to vote on the 34 at-large and 20 pledged PLEO delegates for the Democratic National Convention through a quorum of district delegates. The delegation also included 27 unpledged PLEO delegates: 10 members of the Democratic National Committee, 15 members of Congress (both senators and 13 representatives), the governor J. B. Pritzker, and former president Barack Obama.

## Candidates

The following candidates qualified for the ballot in Illinois:
Running
* Joe Biden
* Tulsi Gabbard
* Bernie Sanders
Withdrawn
* Michael Bennet
* Michael Bloomberg
* Cory Booker
* Pete Buttigieg
* John Delaney
* Deval Patrick
* Tom Steyer
* Elizabeth Warren
* Andrew Yang

## Polling

Polling aggregation :
| Source of poll aggregation | Date updated | Dates polled | Joe Biden | Bernie Sanders | Tulsi Gabbard | Un- decided |
| 270toWin | Mar 17, 2020 | Mar 7–16, 2020 | 58.6% | 30.2% | 2.0% | 9.2% |
| RealClear Politics | Mar 17, 2020 | Mar 10–12, 2020 | 60.0% | 30.5% | – | 9.5% |
| FiveThirtyEight | Mar 17, 2020 | until Mar 16, 2020 | 61.5% | 26.6% | 1.5% | 10.4% |
| Average | Average | Average | 60.0% | 29.1% | 1.8% | 9.1% |
Tabulation of individual polls of the 2020 Illinois Democratic primary :
| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Joe Biden | Michael Bloomberg | Pete Buttigieg | Kamala Harris | Amy Klobuchar | Bernie Sanders | Elizabeth Warren | Other | Undecided |
| Swayable | Mar 16, 2020 | 1,861 (LV) | ± 3.0% | 63% | – | – | – | – | 28% | – | 10% | – |
| Emerson College/Nexstar | Mar 11–12, 2020 | 567 (LV) | ± 4.1% | 57% | – | – | – | – | 36% | – | 2% | 6% |
| Gravis Marketing | Mar 10–12, 2020 | 549 (LV) | ± 4.2% | 63% | – | – | – | – | 25% | – | – | 12% |
| ROI Rocket | Mar 6–12, 2020 | 960 (LV) | ± 3.1% | 57% | – | – | – | – | 34% | – | – | – |
| Victory Research | Mar 7–9, 2020 | 1,200 (LV) | ± 2.83% | 55% | – | – | – | – | 36% | – | 1% | 8% |
| Ogden & Fry/Northwest Side GOP Club | Mar 8, 2020 | 457(LV) | ± 4.58% | 64% | – | – | – | – | 32% | – | 4% | – |
| Ogden & Fry/Northwest Side GOP Club | Mar 8, 2020 | 457(LV) | ± 4.58% | 55% | – | – | – | – | 26% | – | 2% | 16% |
| | Mar 1–5, 2020 | Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Bloomberg, and Warren withdraw from the race | Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Bloomberg, and Warren withdraw from the race | Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Bloomberg, and Warren withdraw from the race | Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Bloomberg, and Warren withdraw from the race | Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Bloomberg, and Warren withdraw from the race | Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Bloomberg, and Warren withdraw from the race | Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Bloomberg, and Warren withdraw from the race | Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Bloomberg, and Warren withdraw from the race | Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Bloomberg, and Warren withdraw from the race | Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Bloomberg, and Warren withdraw from the race | Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Bloomberg, and Warren withdraw from the race | Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Bloomberg, and Warren withdraw from the race | Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Bloomberg, and Warren withdraw from the race | Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Bloomberg, and Warren withdraw from the race |
| Victory Research | Feb 17–19, 2020 | 1,200(LV) | ± 2.83% | 20.3% | 14.5% | 11.4% | – | 6.3% | 25.6% | 6.6% | 4.4% | 10.9% |
| Southern Illinois University | Feb 10–17, 2020 | 475 (LV) | ± 4.5% | 14% | 17% | 13% | – | 8% | 22% | 6% | 2% | 17% |
| | Dec 3, 2019 | Harris withdraws from the race | Harris withdraws from the race | Harris withdraws from the race | Harris withdraws from the race | Harris withdraws from the race | Harris withdraws from the race | Harris withdraws from the race | Harris withdraws from the race | Harris withdraws from the race | Harris withdraws from the race | Harris withdraws from the race | Harris withdraws from the race | Harris withdraws from the race | Harris withdraws from the race |
| Victory Research | Nov 27 – Dec 1, 2019 | 1,500 (RV) | ±2.83% | 23.2% | 3.6% | 15.9% | 3.2% | 2.6% | 15.0% | 17.4% | 12.3% | 6.9% |
| Victory Research | Jul 26–29, 2019 | 1,200 | ± 2.83% | 36.1% | – | 9.3% | 8.6% | 1.7% | 15.2% | 12.8% | 9.2% | 7.3% |

## Results

2020 Illinois Democratic presidential primary :
| Candidate | Votes | % | Delegates |
| Joe Biden | 986,661 | 58.94 | 95 |
| Bernie Sanders | 605,701 | 36.18 | 60 |
| Michael Bloomberg (withdrawn) | 25,500 | 1.52 | |
| Elizabeth Warren (withdrawn) | 24,413 | 1.46 | |
| Pete Buttigieg (withdrawn) | 9,729 | 0.58 | |
| Tulsi Gabbard | 9,642 | 0.58 | |
| Andrew Yang (withdrawn) | 4,021 | 0.24 | |
| Cory Booker (withdrawn) | 2,684 | 0.16 | |
| Tom Steyer (withdrawn) | 1,684 | 0.10 | |
| Deval Patrick (withdrawn) | 1,567 | 0.09 | |
| Michael Bennet (withdrawn) | 1,346 | 0.08 | |
| John Delaney (withdrawn) | 1,185 | 0.07 | |
| Total | 1,674,133 | 100% | 155 |

## Analysis

Joe Biden won Illinois in the Democratic primary securing 91 delegates, while Bernie Sanders won the other 60. Biden won the state by a wide margin, with Biden winning many of the blue collar workers who previously voted for Sanders back in 2016. However, Sanders was able to maintain his lead with young and extremely liberal voters, which made up most of his base. This contributed to Sanders being able to carry Champaign county, home of the University of Illinois.
The Illinois Democratic primary furthered the gap of delegates between Biden and Sanders. The Illinois primary, along with other Rust-Belt primaries such as Michigan, signaled a weakening Sanders coalition.