2004 United States presidential election in Alabama

The 2004 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 2, 2004. Voters chose 9 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

2004 United States presidential election in Alabama

November 2, 2004
 
Nominee George W. Bush John Kerry
Party Republican Democratic
Home state Texas Massachusetts
Running mate Dick Cheney John Edwards
Electoral vote 9 0
Popular vote 1,176,394 693,933
Percentage 62.46% 36.84%

County results

President before election

George W. Bush
Republican

Elected President

George W. Bush
Republican

Alabama was won by incumbent President George W. Bush by a 25.62% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 12 news organizations considered this was a state Bush would win, or otherwise considered as a safe red state. On election day, it trended Republican sharply, by a swing margin of 10.71% from the 2000 election. Bush won with over 60% of the vote, a first since 1984, and carried most of the counties and congressional districts. Historically, Alabama is a very reliable Republican state that a Democratic presidential nominee hasn't won since 1976, when the Governor of the state next door, Jimmy Carter of Georgia, ran and swept the Deep South.

Primaries

Campaign

Predictions

There were 12 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day.[1]

  1. D.C. Political Report: solid Republican
  2. Associated Press: solid Bush
  3. CNN: Bush
  4. Cook Political Report: solid Republican
  5. Newsweek: solid Bush
  6. New York Times: solid Bush
  7. Rasmussen Reports: Bush
  8. Research 2000: solid Bush
  9. Washington Post: Bush
  10. Washington Times: solid Bush
  11. Zogby International: Bush
  12. Washington Dispatch: Bush

Polling

Bush won every single pre-election poll, and won each by a double-digit margin of victory. The final three polls averaged Bush leading 58% to 38%.[2]

Fundraising

Bush raised $3,092,923.[3] Kerry raised $514,589.[4]

Advertising and visits

Neither campaign advertised or visited this state during the fall campaign.[5][6]

Analysis

Bush easily won every poll taken in the state prior to the election. Kerry won a small section of counties in the middle of the state, including winning Alabama's 7th congressional district. In 2000, the state voted for Bush 56%–41% by fifteen points; this year it voted for him by 25 points.[2]

With the exception of Oklahoma in 2004, the state was also Bush's best performance in the South, with not even Texas, Bush's home state, voting as red as Alabama.

CNN exit polls showed that almost 70% of male voters voted for Bush. Also, 99% of registered Republicans (which made up 48% of the population) voted for Bush. Also, 43% of the state describe themselves as evangelical Christians, and 88% of them voted for Bush. 62% of the state approved of Bush, and 60% approved of the decision to go to war in Iraq. 82% of white men and 79% of white women voted for Bush. Finally, 70% of voters over the age of sixty voted for Bush. Alabama was racially divided: Alabama Whites voted 80%–19% for Bush while Blacks voted 91%-9% for Kerry.[7]

As of the 2020 presidential election, Bush is the last Republican to carry Jefferson (home of Birmingham, the state's largest city), and majority-black Marengo counties in a presidential election.

Results

2004 United States presidential election in Alabama[8]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican George W. Bush 1,176,394 62.46% 9
Democratic John Kerry 693,933 36.84% 0
Independent Ralph Nader 6,701 0.35% 0
Independent Michael Badnarik 3,529 0.19% 0
Independent Michael Peroutka 1,994 0.11% 0
Write Ins 898 0.05% 0
Totals 1,883,449 100.00% 9
Voter turnout (voting-age population) 55.5%

Results breakdown

By county

Bush won a majority of the counties.[9]

County Kerry% Kerry# Bush% Bush# Others% Others#
Autauga 23.7% 4,758 75.7% 15,196 0.6% 127
Baldwin 22.5% 15,599 76.4% 52,971 1.1% 750
Barbour 44.8% 4,832 54.7% 5,899 0.4% 46
Bibb 27.5% 2,089 72.0% 5,472 0.5% 39
Blount 18.3% 3,938 80.9% 17,386 0.8% 180
Bullock 68.1% 3,210 31.7% 1,494 0.3% 13
Butler 40.6% 3,413 59.2% 4,979 0.3% 24
Calhoun 33.3% 15,083 65.9% 29,814 0.8% 352
Chambers 41.0% 5,347 58.5% 7,622 0.5% 63
Cherokee 33.6% 3,040 65.5% 5,923 1.0% 86
Chilton 22.6% 3,778 76.9% 12,829 0.5% 86
Choctaw 45.7% 3,303 53.9% 3,897 0.4% 27
Clarke 40.6% 4,627 59.1% 6,730 0.3% 37
Clay 28.8% 1,893 70.3% 4,624 0.9% 59
Cleburne 24.0% 1,391 75.4% 4,370 0.6% 37
Coffee 25.4% 4,480 73.9% 13,019 0.7% 117
Colbert 44.3% 10,598 55.1% 13,188 0.6% 149
Conecuh 45.2% 2,719 54.3% 3,271 0.5% 31
Coosa 41.1% 2,055 58.1% 2,905 0.8% 41
Covington 23.4% 3,423 76.0% 11,119 0.6% 85
Crenshaw 30.9% 1,698 68.7% 3,777 0.5% 25
Cullman 22.9% 8,045 76.2% 26,818 0.9% 328
Dale 24.6% 4,484 74.7% 13,621 0.7% 126
Dallas 60.2% 11,175 39.5% 7,335 0.3% 63
DeKalb 29.4% 7,092 70.0% 16,904 0.6% 139
Elmore 22.6% 6,471 76.9% 22,056 0.5% 153
Escambia 30.8% 3,814 68.7% 8,513 0.5% 68
Etowah 35.9% 15,328 63.3% 26,999 0.8% 353
Fayette 30.1% 2,408 69.2% 5,534 0.7% 60
Franklin 36.8% 4,514 62.7% 7,690 0.5% 65
Geneva 20.1% 2,113 79.3% 8,342 0.6% 65
Greene 79.3% 3,764 20.2% 958 0.5% 26
Hale 58.3% 4,631 41.3% 3,281 0.4% 33
Henry 33.3% 2,452 66.3% 4,881 0.4% 28
Houston 25.3% 9,144 74.2% 26,874 0.5% 183
Jackson 42.5% 8,635 56.8% 11,534 0.7% 152
Jefferson 45.1% 132,286 54.2% 158,680 0.7% 2,001
Lamar 28.4% 1,956 71.1% 4,894 0.5% 35
Lauderdale 39.4% 14,628 59.7% 22,161 0.9% 318
Lawrence 44.0% 6,155 55.2% 7,730 0.8% 116
Lee 36.4% 16,227 62.7% 27,972 0.9% 411
Limestone 31.4% 9,126 67.8% 19,702 0.8% 245
Lowndes 70.3% 4,233 29.7% 1,786 0.0% 2
Macon 82.9% 7,800 16.7% 1,570 0.4% 37
Madison 40.2% 52,644 58.9% 77,173 0.9% 1,245
Marengo 48.8% 5,037 50.9% 5,255 0.3% 30
Marion 29.6% 3,808 69.8% 8,983 0.6% 84
Marshall 26.8% 8,452 72.3% 22,783 0.8% 256
Mobile 40.66% 63,732 58.69% 92,014 0.65% 1,025
Monroe 38.4% 3,666 61.2% 5,831 0.4% 37
Montgomery 50.4% 45,160 49.2% 44,097 0.4% 393
Morgan 30.1% 14,131 69.1% 32,477 0.8% 399
Perry 68.2% 3,767 31.5% 1,738 0.3% 18
Pickens 42.9% 3,915 56.6% 5,170 0.5% 47
Pike 36.5% 4,334 63.0% 7,483 0.6% 66
Randolph 31.3% 2,817 68.1% 6,127 0.6% 57
Russell 49.8% 8,375 49.6% 8,337 0.6% 97
St. Clair 18.7% 5,456 80.6% 23,500 0.7% 205
Shelby 18.8% 14,850 80.4% 63,435 0.8% 621
Sumter 70.4% 4,527 29.2% 1,880 0.4% 26
Talladega 38.0% 11,374 61.3% 18,331 0.6% 193
Tallapoosa 30.4% 5,451 69.0% 12,392 0.6% 109
Tuscaloosa 37.9% 26,447 61.4% 42,877 0.7% 506
Walker 31.8% 9,016 67.6% 19,167 0.6% 184
Washington 38.1% 3,145 61.4% 5,060 0.5% 42
Wilcox 67.5% 3,838 32.3% 1,834 0.2% 10
Winston 21.5% 2,236 78.0% 8,130 0.5% 57

By congressional district

Republican George W. Bush won every congressional district, except the 7th, which is a Democratic stronghold.

District Bush Kerry Representative
1st 64% 35% Jo Bonner
2nd 67% 33% Terry Everett
3rd 58% 41% Mike D. Rogers
4th 71% 28% Robert Aderholt
5th 60% 39% Bud Cramer
6th 78% 22% Spencer Bachus
7th 35% 64% Artur Davis
[10]

Electors

Technically the voters of Alabama cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Alabama is allocated 9 electors because it has 7 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 9 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 9 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for president and vice president. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them. An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector.

The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 13, 2004, to cast their votes for president and vice president. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All were pledged to and voted for George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.[11][12]

  1. Beth Chapman
  2. Marty Connors
  3. Martha Hosey
  4. Will Sellers
  5. Mike Hubbard
  6. Floyd Lawson
  7. Elbert Peters
  8. Bettye Fine Collins
  9. Martha Stokes

References

  1. "Election 2004 Polls - Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". Uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved October 8, 2014.
  2. "George W Bush - $374,659,453 raised, '04 election cycle, Republican Party, President". Campaignmoney.com. Retrieved October 8, 2014.
  3. "John F Kerry - $345,826,176 raised, '04 election cycle, Democratic Party, President". Campaignmoney.com. Retrieved October 8, 2014.
  4. "CNN.com Specials". Cnn.com. Retrieved October 8, 2014.
  5. "CNN.com Specials". Cnn.com. Retrieved October 8, 2014.
  6. "CNN.com Election 2004". Cnn.com. Retrieved October 8, 2014.
  7. Archived May 13, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  8. "CNN.com Election 2004". Cnn.com. Retrieved October 8, 2014.
  9. "Swing State Project". Swingstateproject.com. Retrieved October 8, 2014.
  10. Archived March 26, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  11. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". Uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved October 8, 2014.
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