2008 United States presidential election in Delaware

none June 2025 September 2023 2008 United States presidential election 2008 United States presidential election in Delaware Delaware presidential no 2004 United States presidential election in Delaware 2004 2012 United States presidential election in Delaware 2012 November 4, 2008 x200px Obama portrait crop.jpg Barack Obama Democratic Party (United States) Illinois Joe Biden 3 255,459 61.94% John McCain official portrait 2009 (cropped).jpg John McCain Republican Party (United States) Arizona Sarah Palin 0 152,374 36.92% 120px County results 120px Precinct results Obama #B9D7FF 40–50% #86B6F2 50–60% #4389E3 60–70% #1666CB 70–80% #0645B4 80–90% #002B84 90–100% McCain #F2B3BE 40–50% #E27F90 50–60% #CC2F4A 60–70% Tie/No Data #D4C4DC #808080 President George W. Bush Republican Party (United States) Barack Obama Democratic Party (United States) The 2008 United States presidential election in Delaware took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose three representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. Delaware was won by Democratic nominee Barack Obama with a 25.0% margin of victory, the best-ever result for a Democratic presidential candidate in Delaware as of 2024. Obama's large margin of victory was aided by his running mate, Joe Biden, a longtime U.S. senator from the state and the first Delawarean to appear on a national presidential ticket. At the same time, Biden was also running for a seventh term in the Senate, being elected during the same time he was elected vice president. During the campaign, Delaware was considered a safe blue state, and in the end only one county of Delaware's three counties, Sussex County, went for McCain, by a margin of approximately 7,000 votes or 8.58%. Obama's winning margin of over 103,000 votes is the largest in history for a presidential candidate in Delaware, with no one else ever winning by six figures. Delaware was one of three states, along with rapidly left-trending Vermont and Obama's home state of Illinois, in which Obama outperformed Franklin D. Roosevelt in all four of his runs and Lyndon B. Johnson in his 1964 landslide. The Socialist Workers Party appeared on the ballot making it the first time that a Marxist political party appeared on the presidential ballot since the Socialist Labor Party had appeared on it in the 1976 election.July 10, 2008 Socialist Workers On in Delaware for First Time Ever Ballot Access News https://ballot-access.org/2008/07/10/socialist-workers-on-in-delaware-for-first-time-ever/ live https://web.archive.org/web/20200805183851/http://ballot-access.org/2008/07/10/socialist-workers-on-in-delaware-for-first-time-ever/ August 5, 2020 Primaries Democratic primary 2008 Delaware Democratic presidential primary The Democratic Primary was held on Super Tuesday, February 5, 2008, and had a total of 15 delegates at stake.A Super Guide for Super Tuesday http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/02/supertuesday.guide/index.html#1 CNN 2008-02-02 2008-02-02 The winner in each of Delaware's subdivisions was awarded those subdivisions' delegates, totaling 10. Another 5 delegates were awarded to the statewide winner, Barack Obama. The 15 delegates represented Delaware at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado. 8 other unpledged delegates, known as superdelegates, also attended the convention and cast their votes as well. Polls Statewide opinion polling for the 2008 Super Tuesday Democratic Party presidential primaries#Delaware Results Results of the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries 2008 Delaware Democratic Presidential Primary Results PartyCandidateVotesPercentageDelegates Democratic Barack Obama 51,148 53.07% 9 Democratic Hillary Clinton 40,760 42.29% 6 Democratic Joe Biden 2,863 2.97% 0 Democratic John Edwards 1,241 1.29% 0 Democratic Dennis Kucinich 192 0.20% 0 Democratic Christopher Dodd 170 0.18% 0 Democratic Joe Biden 440 0.12% 0 Totals 96,374 100.00% 15 Voter turnout % — Analysis Barack Obama's win in the Delaware Democratic Primary can be traced to a number of factors. According to the exit polls, 64% of voters in the Delaware Democratic Primary were Caucasian and they favored Clinton by a margin of 56-40 compared to the 28% of African American voters who backed Obama by a margin of 86–9. Obama won all age groups except senior citizens ages 65 and over who strongly backed Clinton by a margin of 56–38. Obama also won middle class and more affluent voters making over $30,000 while Clinton won lower middle class and less affluent voters making less than $30,000. Obama also won higher-educated voters (college graduates 60–35; postgraduate studies 66–32) while high school graduates backed Clinton 51–44; both candidates evenly split voters who had some college and/or an associate degree 47-47. Registered Democrats favored Obama 54-42 while Independents also backed him by a margin of 50–44; he also won all ideological groups. Regarding religion, Obama won all major denominations except Roman Catholics who backed Clinton with a 60–35 margin – Obama won Protestants 51–47, other Christians 71–24, and atheists/agnostics 60–35. Obama performed best in New Castle County, the most populous and urban part of the state which contains Wilmington as well as several African Americans, which he won by a 56.49-39.69 margin of victory. He also narrowly won neighboring Kent County to the south, which contains the state capital of Dover, with 51.76% of the vote. Clinton won Sussex County in Southern Delaware, the more rural and conservative part of the state, with 52.73% of the vote. Republican primary 2008 Delaware Republican presidential primary The Republican primary was held on February 5 (Super Tuesday). A total of 18 delegates were selected. The Delaware Republican Party rallied behind John McCain, and was the declared winner of the primary election after successfully taking all 3 Delaware counties. McCain was followed by Mitt Romney in second and then by Mike Huckabee in third. Candidates Mike Huckabee John McCain Ron Paul Mitt Romney Candidates Rudy Giuliani, Duncan Hunter, Fred Thompson, and Tom Tancredo had dropped out of the presidential race before the Delaware primary. Results +100% of precincts reportingElection Center 2008: Primary Results for Delaware http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/state/#DE CNN 2008-02-05RESULTS: Delaware http://edition.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/state/#DE CNN 2008-02-02 2008-02-02 May 8, 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20080508012111/http://edition.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/state/#DE dead Candidate Votes Percentage Delegates John McCain 22,628 45.04% 18 Mitt Romney 16,344 32.53% 0 Mike Huckabee 7,706 15.34% 0 Ron Paul 2,131 4.24% 0 Rudy Giuliani* 1,255 2.5% 0 Tom Tancredo* 175 0.35% 0 Total 50,237 100% 18 *Candidate withdrew before primary Campaign Predictions There were 16 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day: +SourceRankingD.C. Political Report2009-01-01 D.C.'s Political Report: The complete source for campaign summaries. http://www.dcpoliticalreport.com/Predictions.html 2021-08-23 usurped https://web.archive.org/web/20090101161206/http://www.dcpoliticalreport.com/Predictions.html 2009-01-01Likely DCook Political Report2015-05-05 Presidential http://cookpolitical.com/presidential 2021-08-23 https://web.archive.org/web/20150505003043/http://cookpolitical.com/presidential 2015-05-05Solid DThe Takeaway2009-04-22 Vote 2008 - The Takeaway - Track the Electoral College vote predictions http://vote2008.thetakeaway.org/2008/09/20/track-the-electoral-college-vote-predictions/ 2021-08-23 https://web.archive.org/web/20090422070127/http://vote2008.thetakeaway.org/2008/09/20/track-the-electoral-college-vote-predictions/ 2009-04-22Solid DElectoral-vote.comElectoral-vote.com: President, Senate, House Updated Daily https://electoral-vote.com/evp2008/Pres/Maps/Dec31.html 2021-08-23 electoral-vote.comSolid DWashington PostBased on TakeawaySolid DPoliticoPOLITICO's 2008 Swing State Map - POLITICO.com https://www.politico.com/convention/swingstate.html 2016-09-22 www.politico.comSolid DRealClearPolitics http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/maps/obama_vs_mccain/?map=5 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20080605003612/http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/maps/obama_vs_mccain/?map=5 2008-06-05 RealClearPolitics - Electoral MapSolid DFiveThirtyEightSolid DCQ PoliticsCQ Presidential Election Maps, 2008 http://innovation.cq.com/prezMap08/ dead https://web.archive.org/web/20090614004022/http://innovation.cq.com/prezMap08 June 14, 2009 December 20, 2009 CQ PoliticsSolid DThe New York TimesNagourney Adam Zeleny Jeff Carter Shan 2008-11-04 The Electoral Map: Key States The New York Times http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/whos-ahead/key-states/map.html?scp=1&sq=electoral%20college%20map&st=cse May 26, 2010Solid DCNN2008-10-31 October – 2008 – CNN Political Ticker CNN http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/ May 26, 2010 2010-06-19 https://web.archive.org/web/20100619013250/http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/ deadSafe DNPRSolid DMSNBCSolid DFox NewsApril 27, 2010 Winning The Electoral College Fox News http://www.foxnews.com/oreilly/winning-the-electoral-college/Likely DAssociated Pressroadto270 http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/campaign_plus/roadto270/ 2016-09-22 hosted.ap.org December 8, 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20081208002123/http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/campaign_plus/roadto270/ deadLikely DRasmussen ReportsElection 2008: Electoral College Update - Rasmussen Reports http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections2/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/election_2008_electoral_college_update 2016-09-22 www.rasmussenreports.comSafe D Polling Statewide opinion polling for the 2008 United States presidential election#Delaware Statewide opinion polling for the 2008 United States presidential election: Delaware Obama won every single pre-election poll taken in the state, and each one by a double-digit margin of victory. He won the last poll by a 30-point margin. Fundraising John McCain raised a total of $340,736. Barack Obama raised $1,010,740.http://www.fec.gov/DisclosureSearch/MapAppState.do?stateName=DE&cand_id=P00000001 Presidential Campaign Finance 2009-08-03 https://web.archive.org/web/20090324090242/http://www.fec.gov/DisclosureSearch/MapAppState.do?stateName=DE&cand_id=P00000001 2009-03-24 dead Advertising and visits No advertising was spent by either campaign.http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/map/ad.spending/ CNN Map: Campaign Ad Spending - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com 2010-05-26 Delaware native Joe Biden campaigned here 6 times.http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/map/candidate.visits/ CNN Map: Campaign Candidate Visits - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com 2010-05-26 Results 2008 United States presidential election in Delawarehttp://elections.delaware.gov/results/html/election.shtml https://web.archive.org/web/20061206132203/http://elections.delaware.gov/results/html/election.shtml dead December 6, 2006 Official General Election Results 2008-12-03 2008-12-06 PDF State of DelawarePartyCandidateRunning mateVotesPercentageElectoral votes Democratic Barack Obama Joe Biden 255,459 61.94% 3 Republican John McCain Sarah Palin 152,374 36.92% 0 Independent Ralph Nader Matt Gonzalez 2,401 0.58% 0 Libertarian Bob Barr Wayne Allyn Root 1,109 0.27% 0 Constitution Chuck Baldwin Darrell Castle 626 0.15% 0 Green Cynthia McKinney Rosa Clemente 385 0.09% 0 Socialist Workers Róger Calero Alyson Kennedy 58 0.01% 0 Totals 412,398 100.00% 3 Voter turnout 68.00% By county County Barack ObamaDemocratic John McCainRepublican Various candidatesOther parties Margin Total votes cast # % # % # % # % Kent 36,392 54.38% 29,827 44.57% 706 1.06% 6,565 9.81% 66,925 New Castle 178,768 69.66% 74,608 29.07% 3,245 1.26% 104,160 40.59% 256,621 Sussex 40,299 45.24% 47,939 53.82% 832 0.93% -7,640 -8.58% 89,070Totals255,45961.91%152,37436.93%4,7831.16%103,08524.98%412,616 Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic Kent (largest city: Dover) right 110px Swing by county Legend #00bdec Democratic — +12.5-15% #00a1c8 Democratic — +>15% 110px Trend relative to the state by county Legend #77e3ff Democratic — +5-7.5% #d5f6ff Democratic — +0-2.5% #ffaaaa Republican — +2.5-5% 110px County flips Legend Democratic #92c5de Hold #0671b0 Flip Republican #f48882 Hold By congressional district Due to the state's low population, only one congressional district is allocated. This district is called the at-large district, because it covers the entire state, and thus is equivalent to the statewide election results. District McCain Obama RepresentativeAt-large 36.94% 61.95%Mike Castle Electors List of 2008 United States presidential electors Technically the voters of Delaware cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Delaware is allocated 3 electors because it has one congressional district and two senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of three electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and their running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all three 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.http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_ec.htm Electoral College 2008-11-01 California Secretary of State dead https://web.archive.org/web/20081030041546/http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_ec.htm October 30, 2008 An elector who votes for someone other than their 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 capitals. The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 3 were pledged to Barack Obama and Joe Biden:Delaware Certificate of Ascertainment, page 1 of 2.. National Archives and Records Administration. James Johnson Ted Kaufman Harriet Smith Windsor See also United States presidential elections in Delaware References Delaware United States president 2008