SALT LAKE CITY — Utah has a higher percentage of registered Republicans than any state in the nation, but the current Republican administration has gotten mixed signals from the Beehive State, which may explain why they seldom visit.
Donald Trump and Mike Pence received all six of Utah’s electoral votes in the 2016 election, but they only got 46 percent of Utah’s votes. At the time, 48 percent of Utah voters were registered Republicans.
Go back to Utah’s nominating caucuses, and the future President received only 14 percent of the vote, compared with 69 percent for Texas Senator Ted Cruz and 17 percent for former Ohio Governor John Kasich.
Trump campaigned in Utah on the Friday before the caucus, with a large and rowdy protest in the streets outside of his downtown Salt Lake City venue.
Pence visited Utah once prior to the general election and is making his first stop in the state as Vice President on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump visited Utah to sign an executive order shrinking Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments on December 4, 2017. Protesters greeted him at a stop at Welfare Square of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as well as outside the State Capitol, where he signed the orders before an invited crowd.
