Former President Donald Trump easily won Tuesday’s presidential primary election in Nebraska, collecting more than 80% of the vote.
But one in five Republican voters who cast a ballot in a largely uncontested presidential primary opted for another candidate, and thousands of Republicans across the state abstained from voting in the race.
Tuesday’s results largely reflect primary election outcomes in other states where the former president has struggled to win over more moderate Republicans as he seeks to return to the White House.
Trump received 164,817 votes in the May 14 primary, which was good for 80.2% of the vote and victories in each of Nebraska’s 93 counties.
Nikki Haley, despite dropping out of the race more than two months ago, received 36,872 votes in the Republican primary, giving her nearly 18% of the total in the closed primary. Michigan businessman Perry Johnson received 1.8% of the total cast.
People are also reading…
Haley, who served as ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, saw her share of the vote exceed 20% in five counties, including Lancaster County, where nearly one-quarter of Republican voters chose her over Trump.
Douglas County, the heart of Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, which gave an Electoral College vote to President Joe Biden in 2020, also saw 23.2% of its Republican voters go for Haley.
Several counties surrounding the Omaha metropolitan area also saw Haley, who is seen as more moderate, outperform her statewide total among Republican voters, including in Dodge (20.6%), Otoe (21%) and Sarpy (20.5%).
The roughly 80-20 split between Trump and Haley in the Cornhusker state mirrors the outcomes in other states in recent weeks, including in Maryland, where voters also went to the polls this week, and last week in Indiana, where Haley received 22% of the vote in an open primary.
There were also other signs in Nebraska that Republicans are hesitant to support Trump’s campaign.
On Tuesday, there were a total of 205,478 ballots counted in the Republican presidential primary in Nebraska, which was roughly 8,400 fewer votes cast than in each of the two Republican Senate races.
A total of 214,025 voters cast a ballot in the primary race won by Sen. Pete Ricketts over challenger John Glen Weaver, who was endorsed by the Nebraska GOP, while 213,861 ballots were counted in the primary won by Sen. Deb Fischer.
Both Ricketts, who received 169,263 votes, and Fischer, who received 170,765 votes, won the primary with 79% support.
On the Democratic side, Senate candidate Preston Love Jr. received 79,066 votes, slightly more than President Joe Biden’s 78,732. Biden won the Democratic presidential primary with 90% of the vote total over Dean Phillips, who dropped out of the race well before this week’s election.
The NEGOP did not answer questions related to the gap between the number of votes cast for Trump and Nebraska’s Republican senators, but said in a news release it was concerned by “the relatively low participation by voters” compared to previous election cycles.
“Voting numbers were significantly down for all political sides,” the NEGOP said. “Is this apathy or a disconnect in a Republic?”
Kevin Smith, the chair of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Department of Political Science, said the primary election marks the reversal of several studies that have explored why voters make a choice at the top of the ballot but skip lower-tier races.
Known as “voter roll-off,” Smith said researchers have often concluded voters will opt out of down-ballot races because they don’t know enough about the candidates or the offices, or simply lack interest.
That’s typically not a problem for the presidential election, however, which is often seen as the top-of-the-ticket race for U.S. voters every four years.
Skipping out on voting for Trump, who received 91.4% of the primary election vote in 2020 and surpassed then-Sen. Ben Sasse’s vote total by 28,000, might signal that some Republican voters feel the former president has already locked up the nomination, Smith said.
“For some voters, it might simply be a case of ‘why bother?’” he said.
Smith said the thousands of Republicans who were willing to vote in largely non-competitive Senate races but withhold their vote from the presidential race could also be seen as “some sort of expression of dissatisfaction with the presumptive nominee.”
“Your guess is as good as mine in estimating how widespread that possibility might be,” Smith said.
The Journal Star's complete coverage of Nebraska's 2024 primary election
Here's the Journal Star's complete coverage of Nebraska's 2024 primary election.
Election results in Nebraska's 2024 primary election have begun rolling in. Follow along for live updates.
The second batch of Election Day results helped Sen. Carolyn Bosn grow her lead over challenger Nicki Behmer Popp in the race for District 25.
U.S. Sens. Deb Fischer and Pete Ricketts and Reps. Mike Flood and Adrian Smith won their GOP primaries and advance to the November general election.
Kerry Eddy, who joined the Legal Marijuana NOW Party and sought its U.S. Senate nomination in an effort to boost Dan Osborn's run for Senate, …
The Waverly bond issue was failing by more than a 2-1 margin as of 10:25 p.m. Tuesday night.
Primary voters narrowed the field Tuesday in two races for the Nebraska State Board of Education, although the final outcome wasn't entirely d…
If Tuesday’s primary results are any indication, Nebraskans appear ready for another Joe Biden vs. Donald Trump race for the White House.
Incumbent Rep. Don Bacon held off populist challenger Dan Frei in the Republican primary for Nebraska’s 2nd District seat in the U.S. House of…
Voters reported minimal issues with Nebraska's new voter ID requirements in the first election since the new law took effect.