2008 United States presidential election in Utah

The 2008 United States presidential election in Utah took place on November 4, 2008. It was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose five representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

2008 United States presidential election in Utah

November 4, 2008
 
Nominee John McCain Barack Obama
Party Republican Democratic
Home state Arizona Illinois
Running mate Sarah Palin Joe Biden
Electoral vote 5 0
Popular vote 596,030 327,670
Percentage 62.24% 34.22%

County Results

President before election

George W. Bush
Republican

Elected President

Barack Obama
Democratic

Utah was won by Republican nominee John McCain by a 28.0% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state McCain would win, or otherwise considered as a safe red state. Highlighting its status as a GOP bastion, the Beehive State gave McCain one of his largest victories over Democrat Barack Obama, a near two-to-one margin. Obama did, however, manage to carry three counties, and he greatly improved on John Kerry's performance here in 2004.

Primaries

Campaign

Predictions

There were 16 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day:

Polling

McCain won every pre-election poll conducted in this state, each with a double-digit margin and with at least 55% of the vote. The final three-poll average showed McCain leading 59% to 31%.[17]

Fundraising

John McCain raised a total of $1,165,621 in the state. Barack Obama raised $2,121,563.[18]

Advertising and visits

Obama spent $297,645. McCain spent just $250.[19] Neither campaign visited the state.[20]

Analysis

Utah is a heavily Republican state that has not voted for a Democratic presidential nominee since Lyndon B. Johnson's landslide in 1964, and even then the margin of victory was small. Johnson is also the last Democrat to manage even 40 percent of Utah's popular vote. The majority of the state's population is Mormon and highly conservative, especially on social issues. Utah gave George W. Bush his largest margin of victory in 2004 over John Kerry, as Bush received over 71 percent to Kerry's 26 percent and carried every county in the state.[21]

With 62.15 percent of the popular vote, Utah proved to be McCain's third strongest state in the 2008 election after Oklahoma and neighboring Wyoming.[22]

Although McCain easily won Utah in 2008, Obama did very well for a Democrat in this Republican stronghold. Obama was able to reduce McCain's margin of victory by narrowly winning Salt Lake County, the state's most populous county that contains the state capital of Salt Lake City, by a mere 296 votes–the first time a Democrat had carried that county since 1964. Obama also carried Summit and Grand counties, both of which have significantly lower Mormon populations than the rest of the state.[23][24][25]

Election 2008 proved to be remarkable as it was a Democratic presidential nominee's best showing in the Beehive State since 1968.[26] In substantially Native American and non-Mormon – but historically heavily Republican – San Juan County, Obama’s performance was the best by a Democratic presidential candidate since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940.

During the same election, popular incumbent Republican Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. was reelected to a second term in a massive landslide victory, taking in 77.74 percent of the vote over Democrat Bob Springmeyer's 19.65 percent and Libertarian Dell Schanze's 2.62 percent. At the state level, however, Democrats did manage to pick up two seats in the Utah House of Representatives.

Results

2008 United States presidential election in Utah
Party Candidate Running mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican John McCain Sarah Palin 596,030 62.24% 5
Democratic Barack Obama Joe Biden 327,670 34.22% 0
Constitution Chuck Baldwin Darrell Castle 12,012 1.25% 0
Peace and Freedom Ralph Nader Matt Gonzalez 8,416 0.88% 0
Libertarian Bob Barr Wayne Allyn Root 6,966 0.73% 0
Write-ins Write-ins 5,224 0.55% 0
Green Cynthia McKinney Rosa Clemente 982 0.10% 0
Others Others 290 0.03% 0
Totals 957,590 100.00% 5
Voter turnout (Voting age population) 55.5%

Results by county

County[27] John Sidney McCain III
Republican
Barack Hussein Obama
Democratic
Charles Obadiah Baldwin[28]
Constitution
Ralph Nader[28]
Peace and Freedom
Robert Laurence Barr Jr.[28]
Libertarian
Various candidates[28]
Other parties
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # % # % # % # %
Beaver 1,902 75.81% 542 21.60% 30 1.20% 21 0.84% 12 0.48% 2 0.08% 1,360 54.20% 2,509
Box Elder 15,228 79.90% 3,311 17.37% 221 1.16% 147 0.77% 127 0.67% 24 0.13% 11,917 62.53% 19,058
Cache 29,127 70.47% 10,294 24.91% 1,153 2.79% 315 0.76% 372 0.90% 71 0.17% 18,833 45.57% 41,332
Carbon 4,091 52.60% 3,468 44.59% 62 0.80% 90 1.16% 48 0.62% 18 0.23% 623 8.01% 7,777
Daggett 297 67.65% 131 29.84% 2 0.46% 8 1.82% 1 0.23% 0 0.00% 166 37.81% 439
Davis 77,341 69.74% 30,477 27.48% 1,175 1.06% 956 0.86% 811 0.73% 142 0.13% 46,864 42.26% 110,902
Duchesne 4,689 81.63% 911 15.86% 66 1.15% 27 0.47% 37 0.64% 14 0.24% 3,778 65.77% 5,744
Emery 3,358 75.49% 973 21.88% 43 0.97% 39 0.88% 26 0.58% 9 0.20% 2,385 53.62% 4,448
Garfield 1,663 79.12% 402 19.12% 13 0.62% 9 0.43% 10 0.48% 5 0.24% 1,261 59.99% 2,102
Grand 1,871 45.89% 2,067 50.70% 28 0.69% 56 1.37% 30 0.74% 25 0.61% -196 -4.81% 4,077
Iron 12,518 76.10% 3,258 19.81% 352 2.14% 138 0.84% 163 0.99% 21 0.13% 9,260 56.29% 16,450
Juab 2,683 74.20% 741 20.49% 129 3.57% 30 0.83% 28 0.77% 5 0.14% 1,942 53.71% 3,616
Kane 2,212 70.13% 856 27.14% 27 0.86% 31 0.98% 24 0.76% 4 0.13% 1,356 42.99% 3,154
Millard 3,653 77.08% 758 15.99% 264 5.57% 27 0.57% 34 0.72% 3 0.06% 2,895 61.09% 4,739
Morgan 3,311 79.57% 689 16.56% 102 2.45% 28 0.67% 29 0.70% 2 0.05% 2,622 63.01% 4,161
Piute 635 79.57% 141 17.67% 13 1.63% 7 0.88% 2 0.25% 0 0.00% 494 61.90% 798
Rich 831 82.60% 154 15.31% 9 0.89% 5 0.50% 5 0.50% 2 0.20% 677 67.30% 1,006
Salt Lake 176,692 48.58% 176,988 48.66% 3,229 0.89% 3,768 1.04% 2,556 0.70% 516 0.14% -296 -0.08% 363,749
San Juan 2,638 51.42% 2,406 46.90% 45 0.88% 25 0.49% 14 0.27% 2 0.04% 232 4.52% 5,130
Sanpete 6,664 75.98% 1,631 18.60% 324 3.69% 87 0.99% 54 0.62% 11 0.13% 5,033 57.38% 8,771
Sevier 6,394 79.86% 1,359 16.97% 131 1.64% 52 0.65% 53 0.66% 18 0.22% 5,035 62.88% 8,007
Summit 6,956 41.38% 9,532 56.71% 75 0.45% 126 0.75% 104 0.62% 16 0.10% -2,576 -15.33% 16,809
Tooele 10,998 63.44% 5,830 33.63% 206 1.19% 151 0.87% 137 0.79% 15 0.09% 5,168 29.81% 17,337
Uintah 8,441 83.15% 1,462 14.40% 157 1.55% 45 0.44% 37 0.36% 9 0.09% 6,979 68.75% 10,151
Utah 122,224 77.71% 29,567 18.80% 2,877 1.83% 1,119 0.71% 1,311 0.83% 181 0.12% 92,657 58.91% 157,279
Wasatch 5,430 63.65% 2,892 33.90% 81 0.95% 86 1.01% 30 0.35% 12 0.14% 2,538 29.75% 8,531
Washington 37,311 75.33% 10,826 21.86% 628 1.27% 312 0.63% 413 0.83% 39 0.08% 26,485 53.47% 49,529
Wayne 940 71.54% 335 25.49% 10 0.76% 12 0.91% 12 0.91% 5 0.38% 605 46.04% 1,314
Weber 45,885 62.52% 25,666 34.97% 557 0.76% 697 0.95% 485 0.66% 104 0.14% 20,219 27.55% 73,394
Totals596,03062.58%327,67034.41%12,0121.26%8,4160.88%6,9660.73%1,2760.13%268,36028.18%952,370


By congressional district

John McCain swept all three of the state's congressional districts.

District McCain Obama Representative
1st 63.62% 33.42% Rob Bishop
2nd 57.72% 39.55% Jim Matheson
3rd 67.35% 29.25% Chris Cannon (110th Congress)
Jason Chaffetz (111th Congress)

Electors

Technically the voters of Utah cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Utah is allocated 5 electors because it has 3 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 5 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 5 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.[29] 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 15, 2008, 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 John McCain and Sarah Palin:[30]

  1. Scott Simpson
  2. Richard Snelgrove
  3. Stan Lockhart
  4. Enid Greene-Mickelesen
  5. Mark Shurtleff

References

  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-01-01. Retrieved 2009-12-25.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on May 5, 2015. Retrieved May 4, 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on April 22, 2009. Retrieved November 14, 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. http://electoral-vote.com/evp2008/Pres/Maps/Dec31.html
  5. Based on Takeaway
  6. http://www.politico.com/convention/swingstate.html
  7. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/maps/obama_vs_mccain/?map=5
  8. Based on Takeaway
  9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on June 14, 2009. Retrieved December 20, 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. Nagourney, Adam; Zeleny, Jeff; Carter, Shan (2008-11-04). "The Electoral Map: Key States". The New York Times. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  11. "October 2008 CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs". CNN. 2008-10-31. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
  12. Based on Takeaway
  13. Based on Takeaway
  14. "Winning The Electoral College". Fox News. 2010-04-27.
  15. http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/campaign_plus/roadto270/
  16. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections2/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/election_2008_electoral_college_update
  17. http://uselectionatlas.org/POLLS/PRESIDENT/2008/pollsa.php?fips=49
  18. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-03-24. Retrieved 2009-12-25.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  19. "Map: Campaign Ad Spending - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
  20. "Map: Campaign Candidate Visits - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
  21. "CNN Election Center 2004 - Utah Results". Retrieved 2008-11-13.
  22. "2008 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2018-03-05.
  23. "CNN Election Center 2008 - Utah Results". Retrieved 2008-11-13.
  24. "ksl.com - Final Tally: Obama Wins Salt Lake County". Retrieved 2008-11-19.
  25. "elections.utah.gov-Official Canvass of Utah Vote". Archived from the original on June 11, 2009. Retrieved 2008-11-28.
  26. "1968 General Election Results - Utah". Retrieved 2008-11-19.
  27. "NPR and NewsHour 2008 Election Results". Archived from the original on February 18, 2012. Retrieved 2008-11-30.
  28. Our Campaigns; UT US Presidential Election November 04 2008
  29. "Electoral College". California Secretary of State. Archived from the original on October 30, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
  30. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 8, 2008. Retrieved November 8, 2008.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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