2004 United States presidential election in Utah

The 2004 United States presidential election in Utah took place on November 2, 2004. It was part of the 2004 United States presidential election. Voters chose five representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

2004 United States presidential election in Utah

November 2, 2004
 
Nominee George W. Bush John Kerry
Party Republican Democratic
Home state Texas Massachusetts
Running mate Dick Cheney John Edwards
Electoral vote 5 0
Popular vote 663,742 241,199
Percentage 71.54% 26.00%

County Results
Bush
  50-60%
  60-70%
  70-80%
  80-90%


President before election

George W. Bush
Republican

Elected President

George W. Bush
Republican

Utah was won by incumbent President George W. Bush by a 45.5% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 12 news organizations considered this a state Bush would win, or otherwise considered as a safe red state. It is a strongly Republican state that in 2004 had a state legislature with a "super-majority" of Republicans in its make-up (meaning the minority parties are unable to block a veto by its members), both U.S. Senators being Republican as well as two of the three members of the U.S. House of Representatives. With 71.54 percent of the popular vote, Utah was Bush's strongest state in the 2004 election.[1]

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.[2]

  1. D.C. Political Report: Solid Republican
  2. Associated Press: Solid Bush
  3. CNN: Bush
  4. Cook Political Report: Lean 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

The final three polls averaged Bush with 67 percent to Kerry with 25 percent.[3]

Fundraising

Bush raised $561,645.[4] Kerry raised $262,031.[5]

Advertising and visits

Neither campaign advertised or visited this state during the fall election.[6][7]

Analysis

Republicans dominate Utah state politics because of the very high Mormon population that accounts for almost seventy percent of the residents throughout the state. Mormons have been known for having very conservative values. While every county voted for Bush, areas such as Park City (ski resort), Moab (becoming an outpost for environmental activists), Carbon County (largely blue collar), Salt Lake City (urban area with some diversity) and San Juan County (economically distressed and mostly Native American) did give a number of their votes to Kerry. However, other areas were uniformly Republican in voting. Utah County's (home of Provo and Brigham Young University) Republican vote (86%) was by far the largest percentage of any county its size in America.

Results

2004 United States presidential election in Utah[8]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican George W. Bush (incumbent) 663,742 71.54% 5
Democratic John Kerry 241,199 26.00% 0
Unaffiliated Ralph Nader 11,305 1.22% 0
Constitution Party Michael Peroutka 6,841 0.74% 0
Libertarian Party Michael Badnarik 3,375 0.36% 0
Personal Choice Party Charles Jay 946 0.10% 0
Socialist Workers Party Roger Calero 393 0.04% 0
Green Party David Cobb 39 0.00% 0
Write Ins 4 0.00% 0
Totals - 100.00% 5
Voter turnout (Voting age population) 57.7%

Results by county

County George Walker Bush
Republican
John Forbes Kerry
Democratic
Ralph Nader[9]
Unaffiliated
Michael A. Peroutka[9]
Constitution
Various candidates[9]
Other parties
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # % # % # %
Beaver 2,023 79.52% 493 19.38% 12 0.47% 9 0.35% 7 0.28% 1,530 60.14% 2,544
Box Elder 15,751 85.75% 2,244 12.22% 145 0.79% 144 0.78% 84 0.46% 13,507 73.54% 18,368
Cache 32,486 81.76% 6,375 16.05% 413 1.04% 274 0.69% 183 0.46% 26,111 65.72% 39,731
Carbon 4,950 58.18% 3,415 40.14% 83 0.98% 22 0.26% 38 0.45% 1,535 18.04% 8,508
Daggett 380 76.31% 108 21.69% 6 1.20% 3 0.60% 1 0.20% 272 54.62% 498
Davis 86,187 78.88% 20,893 19.12% 1,055 0.97% 695 0.64% 432 0.40% 65,294 59.76% 109,262
Duchesne 4,742 85.38% 738 13.29% 27 0.49% 32 0.58% 15 0.27% 4,004 72.09% 5,554
Emery 3,781 80.83% 831 17.76% 23 0.49% 29 0.62% 14 0.30% 2,950 63.06% 4,678
Garfield 1,848 85.48% 264 12.21% 22 1.02% 16 0.74% 12 0.56% 1,584 73.27% 2,162
Grand 2,130 51.15% 1,858 44.62% 118 2.83% 20 0.48% 38 0.91% 272 6.53% 4,164
Iron 12,815 82.97% 2,267 14.68% 111 0.72% 169 1.09% 83 0.54% 10,548 68.29% 15,445
Juab 2,681 78.46% 605 17.71% 20 0.59% 98 2.87% 13 0.38% 2,076 60.76% 3,417
Kane 2,414 79.15% 576 18.89% 25 0.82% 19 0.62% 16 0.52% 1,838 60.26% 3,050
Millard 4,084 83.76% 626 12.84% 28 0.57% 118 2.42% 20 0.41% 3,458 70.92% 4,876
Morgan 3,301 85.96% 472 12.29% 25 0.65% 24 0.63% 18 0.47% 2,829 73.67% 3,840
Piute 646 83.57% 123 15.91% 3 0.39% 1 0.13% 0 0.00% 523 67.66% 773
Rich 922 88.91% 109 10.51% 5 0.48% 1 0.10% 0 0.00% 813 78.40% 1,037
Salt Lake 215,728 59.57% 135,949 37.54% 6,025 1.66% 2,199 0.61% 2,235 0.62% 79,779 22.03% 362,136
San Juan 2,971 60.07% 1,906 38.54% 30 0.61% 24 0.49% 15 0.30% 1,065 21.53% 4,946
Sanpete 7,004 82.33% 1,189 13.98% 58 0.68% 217 2.55% 39 0.46% 5,815 68.36% 8,507
Sevier 6,597 86.34% 920 12.04% 37 0.48% 60 0.79% 27 0.35% 5,677 74.30% 7,641
Summit 7,936 51.83% 6,977 45.57% 265 1.73% 36 0.24% 98 0.64% 959 6.26% 15,312
Tooele 12,181 73.10% 4,130 24.79% 150 0.90% 111 0.67% 91 0.55% 8,051 48.32% 16,663
Uintah 8,518 85.57% 1,266 12.72% 42 0.42% 99 0.99% 30 0.30% 7,252 72.85% 9,955
Utah 128,269 85.99% 17,357 11.64% 1,289 0.86% 1,621 1.09% 637 0.43% 110,912 74.35% 149,173
Wasatch 5,503 73.26% 1,854 24.68% 60 0.80% 65 0.87% 30 0.40% 3,649 48.58% 7,512
Washington 35,633 80.95% 7,513 17.07% 301 0.68% 362 0.82% 209 0.47% 28,120 63.88% 44,018
Wayne 1,062 78.09% 279 20.51% 10 0.74% 5 0.37% 4 0.29% 783 57.57% 1,360
Weber 51,199 70.43% 19,862 27.32% 917 1.26% 368 0.51% 345 0.47% 31,337 43.11% 72,691
Totals663,74271.54%241,19926.00%11,3051.22%6,8410.74%4,7570.51%422,54345.54%927,844

Results by congressional district

Bush won all three congressional districts.

District Bush Kerry Representative
1st 73% 25% Rob Bishop
2nd 66% 31% Jim Matheson
3rd 77% 20% Chris Cannon

Electors

Technically the voters of Utah cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Utah is allocated five electors because it has three congressional districts and two senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of five electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins a plurality of votes in the state is awarded all five 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 5 were pledged to Bush/Cheney:

  1. Olene S. Walker
  2. Gayle McKeachnie
  3. Lewis K. Billings
  4. Joseph A. Cannon
  5. Scott F. Simpson

References

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