Butler County followed the national trend in this presidential primary season — Republicans voters flocked to the polls.

Democratic voters? Not so much.

It’s rare that Pennsylvania has competitive presidential primaries. By the time it’s time to vote, one or both of the nominations, GOP and Democrat, have already been secured.

This year, it was different, Pennsylvania mattered in the primary delegate sweepstakes. And that mattered to voters, particularly on the Republican side, according to unofficial results.

Across the state and in GOP-rich Butler County, the Republican enthusiasm gap over Democrats was apparent.

With all 89 of the county precincts reporting, GOP turnout was 53.4 percent, compared to 41.9 percent for Democrats.

Four years ago, with both parties’ presidential nominations a foregone conclusion, the county turnout among Republicans and Democrats was 27.7 percent and 16.8 percent, respectively.