2008 United States presidential election in South Dakota

none June 2025 September 2023 2008 United States presidential election 2008 United States presidential election in South Dakota South Dakota presidential no 2004 United States presidential election in South Dakota 2004 2012 United States presidential election in South Dakota 2012 November 4, 2008 File:John McCain official portrait 2009 (cropped).jpg 200x200px John McCain Republican Party (United States) Arizona Sarah Palin 3 203,054 53.16% File:Obama portrait crop.jpg Barack Obama Democratic Party (United States) Illinois Joe Biden 0 170,924 44.75% 2008 United States presidential election in South Dakota results map by county.svg 300px County results McCain #f2b3be 40–50% #e27f90 50–60% #cc2f4a 60–70% #d40000 70–80% #aa0000 80–90% Obama #b9d7ff 40–50% #86b6f2 50–60% #4389e3 60–70% #1666cb 70–80% #0645b4 80–90% President George W. Bush Republican Party (United States) Barack Obama Democratic Party (United States) The 2008 United States presidential election in South Dakota 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. South Dakota was won by Republican nominee John McCain by an 8.4 point margin of victory. Prior to the election, 16 of 17 news organizations considered this a state McCain would win, or otherwise considered as a red state. Like the other states located in the Great Plains region, South Dakota is a predominantly rural and sparsely populated state with conservative voting tendencies which favors the Republicans, who dominate elections at the state and federal level. Although South Dakota stayed in the GOP column in 2008 as Republican John McCain carried the state with 53.16% of the popular vote, Obama greatly improved upon John Kerry's performance from four years earlier. 2020 11 As of the 2024 presidential election, this is the last time a Democrat won more than 40% of the vote in South Dakota, the closest a Democrat has been to winning the state since 1996, the last time the victory margin was within single digits and the last time in which Brown County, Lake County, Miner County, Minnehaha County, Moody County, and Brookings County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016 This was also the last election in which South Dakota was regarded a swing state by some outlets. Primaries 2008 South Dakota Republican presidential primary 2008 South Dakota Democratic presidential 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 RCook Political Report2015-05-05 Presidential http://cookpolitical.com/presidential 2021-08-23 https://web.archive.org/web/20150505003043/http://cookpolitical.com/presidential 2015-05-05Toss-upThe 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 RElectoral-vote.comElectoral-vote.com: President, Senate, House Updated Daily https://electoral-vote.com/evp2008/Pres/Maps/Dec31.html 2021-08-23 electoral-vote.comLean RWashington PostBased on TakeawayLean RPoliticoPOLITICO's 2008 Swing State Map - POLITICO.com https://www.politico.com/convention/swingstate.html 2016-09-22 www.politico.comSolid RRealClearPolitics 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 MapLean RFiveThirtyEightSolid RCQ 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 PoliticsSafe RThe 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 RCNN2008-10-31 October – 2008 – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs 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 RNPRSolid RMSNBCLean RFox NewsApril 27, 2010 Winning The Electoral College Fox News http://www.foxnews.com/oreilly/winning-the-electoral-college/Likely RAssociated 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 RRasmussen 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 R Polling Statewide opinion polling for the 2008 United States presidential election#South Dakota Statewide opinion polling for the 2008 United States presidential election: South Dakota McCain won two pre-election polls, and never polled less than 47%. The highest Obama ever polled was 50%; the final poll showed McCain leading 50% to 42%. https://web.archive.org/web/20081128165415/http://uselectionatlas.org/POLLS/PRESIDENT/2008/pollsa.php?fips=46 November 28, 2008 Fundraising John McCain raised a total of $287,533 in the state. Barack Obama raised $337,053. Advertising and visits Obama and his interest groups spent $639,435. McCain and his interest groups spent just $1,531.http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/map/ad.spending/ CNN Map: Campaign Ad Spending - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com May 26, 2010 Obama did not visit the state, while McCain visited once, going to Sturgis.http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/map/candidate.visits/ CNN Map: Campaign Candidate Visits - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com May 26, 2010 Analysis South Dakota, a predominantly Republican state, has not voted for a Democratic presidential nominee since Lyndon B. Johnson won the state in the landslide election of 1964. A sparsely populated state whose population largely tends towards a rural and conservative lifestyle, the state has been won by the Republicans in every election since then, usually by wide margins. McCain was able to keep South Dakota in the GOP column in 2008, taking in 53.16% of the total statewide vote over Obama who received 44.75%, an 8.41-percent margin of victory. This margin of victory was considerably smaller compared to 2004 when George W. Bush carried South Dakota with 59.91% of the vote over John Kerry who received 38.44%, a 21.47% margin of victory, resulting in a 13.06% swing to the Democrats in 2008. While McCain did well throughout the state, his main strength was in Western South Dakota, where he often won by landslide margins.Election Results 2008 http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/results/president/map.html New York Times 2009-05-17 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20041103020223/http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/history/ch13.htm November 3, 2004 He was able to carry Pennington County, which contains the state's second largest city of Rapid City. In contrast, Obama ran best in Eastern South Dakota, losing most counties by fairly close margins. He also did well among Native Americans; in Western South Dakota, the only counties Obama won were majority Native American. Obama was able to substantially improve upon John Kerry's showing in South Dakota in 2004 by a number of factors. First, it helped that South Dakota received media attention during the course of the 2008 Democratic Primary, being the last state to vote in the historic and contentious primary that gave Hillary Rodham Clinton an 11-point victory over Obama; it was Clinton's last victory in the primary. In the general election, Obama was able to cut the margin significantly by narrowly carrying Minnehaha County, which contains the state's largest city of Sioux Falls. He was also able to win Brown County, which contains Aberdeen, as well as Brookings County which contains Brookings, home of South Dakota State University. He did much better than Kerry in Eastern South Dakota, which is where most of the people live, but McCain's margins throughout the state were too large to overcome. During the same election, incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Tim Johnson was soundly reelected over Republican State Senator Jim Dykstra, receiving 62.49% of the vote to Dykstra's 37.51%. At the state level, Democrats made gains in the South Dakota Legislature, picking up four seats in the South Dakota House of Representatives. Results 2008 United States presidential election in South Dakotahttps://sdsos.gov/elections-voting/assets/Archive/2002-2011Assets/2008OfficialGeneralElectionStateCanvass.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20260729002017/https://sdsos.gov/elections-voting/assets/Archive/2002-2011Assets/2008OfficialGeneralElectionStateCanvass.pdf July 29, 2026 live State Canvass Nelson Chris Chris Nelson (American politician) November 12, 2008 Secretary of State of South Dakota August 14, 2026PartyCandidateRunning mateVotesPercentageElectoral votes Republican John McCain Sarah Palin 203,054 53.16% 3 Democratic Barack Obama Joe Biden 170,924 44.75% 0 Independent Ralph Nader Matt Gonzalez 4,267 1.12% 0 Constitution Chuck Baldwin Darrell Castle 1,895 0.50% 0 Independent Bob Barr Wayne Allyn Root 1,835 0.48% 0 Totals 381,975 100.00% 3 Voter turnout (Voting age population) 64.7% By county CountyJohn McCainRepublicanBarack ObamaDemocraticVarious candidatesOther partiesMarginTotal#%#%#%#%Aurora79453.11%65543.81%463.08%1399.30%1,495Beadle4,05452.55%3,49345.28%1672.16%5617.27%7,714Bennett61450.83%55746.11%373.06%574.72%1,208Bon Homme1,71253.92%1,36743.06%963.02%34510.87%3,175Brookings6,43146.12%7,20751.68%3072.20%-776-5.56%13,945Brown8,06746.29%9,04151.88%3181.82%-974-5.59%17,426Brule1,40757.69%96539.57%672.75%44218.12%2,439Buffalo15625.20%45473.34%91.45%-298-48.14%619Butte2,82166.28%1,30630.69%1293.03%1,51535.60%4,256Campbell59169.20%24328.45%202.34%34840.75%854Charles Mix2,10953.02%1,80745.42%621.56%3027.59%3,978Clark1,06554.90%83042.78%452.32%23512.11%1,940Clay2,29636.78%3,80861.01%1382.21%-1,512-24.22%6,242Codington6,37452.31%5,59545.92%2161.77%7796.39%12,185Corson53538.05%83759.53%342.42%-302-21.48%1,406Custer2,90964.54%1,47532.73%1232.73%1,43431.82%4,507Davison4,73155.96%3,55442.03%1702.01%1,17713.92%8,455Day1,37242.81%1,78555.69%481.50%-413-12.89%3,205Deuel1,08849.05%1,05447.52%763.43%341.53%2,218Dewey65932.64%1,32865.78%321.58%-669-33.14%2,019Douglas1,29373.63%42424.15%392.22%86949.49%1,756Edmunds1,21358.43%81939.45%442.12%39418.98%2,076Fall River2,34861.64%1,33835.13%1233.23%1,01026.52%3,809Faulk73962.00%42635.74%272.27%31326.26%1,192Grant1,95150.94%1,78646.63%932.43%1654.31%3,830Gregory1,42363.33%77134.31%532.36%65229.02%2,247Haakon93981.44%18716.22%272.34%75265.22%1,153Hamlin1,66159.60%1,04337.42%832.98%61822.17%2,787Hand1,24762.01%71835.70%462.29%52926.31%2,011Hanson1,42658.66%96139.53%441.81%46519.13%2,431Harding57578.34%13518.39%243.27%44059.95%734Hughes5,29862.56%3,03735.86%1331.57%2,26126.70%8,468Hutchinson2,28563.33%1,24234.42%812.25%1,04328.91%3,608Hyde54769.68%22628.79%121.53%32140.89%785Jackson66858.96%43538.39%302.65%23320.56%1,133Jerauld54649.41%54249.05%171.54%40.36%1,105Jones46373.84%14723.44%172.71%31650.40%627Kingsbury1,43551.54%1,27745.87%722.59%1585.68%2,784Lake2,99348.61%3,03349.26%1312.13%-40-0.65%6,157Lawrence6,78756.30%4,93240.91%3362.79%1,85515.39%12,055Lincoln11,80356.84%8,64241.61%3221.55%3,16115.22%20,767Lyman89454.48%71043.27%372.25%18411.21%1,641Marshall90041.08%1,26157.55%301.37%-361-16.48%2,191McCook1,64655.89%1,21941.39%802.72%42714.50%2,945McPherson91566.55%44132.07%191.38%47434.47%1,375Meade7,51564.75%3,75132.32%3402.93%3,76432.43%11,606Mellette44552.79%37344.25%252.97%728.54%843Miner57747.37%60549.67%362.96%-28-2.30%1,218Minnehaha39,25148.73%39,83849.46%1,4631.82%-587-0.73%80,552Moody1,50846.34%1,66351.11%832.55%-155-4.76%3,254Pennington27,60359.64%17,80238.47%8751.89%9,80121.18%46,280Perkins1,10265.36%49929.60%855.04%60335.77%1,686Potter93765.07%48233.47%211.46%45531.60%1,440Roberts1,78139.26%2,67258.91%831.83%-891-19.64%4,536Sanborn66955.43%50041.43%383.15%16914.00%1,207Shannon3319.88%2,97188.69%481.43%-2,640-78.81%3,350Spink1,66050.78%1,55047.42%591.80%1103.36%3,269Stanley1,01765.49%51032.84%261.67%50732.65%1,553Sully58169.75%23327.97%192.28%34841.78%833Todd57120.19%2,20878.08%491.73%-1,637-57.89%2,828Tripp1,85965.48%91432.19%662.32%94533.29%2,839Turner2,53858.32%1,68138.63%1333.06%85719.69%4,352Union4,31055.97%3,24442.12%1471.91%1,06613.84%7,701Walworth1,66862.94%92334.83%592.23%74528.11%2,650Yankton5,03949.72%4,83847.74%2572.54%2011.98%10,134Ziebach31235.02%55462.18%252.81%-242-27.16%891Totals203,05453.16%170,92444.75%7,9972.09%32,1308.41%381,975 Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic Brookings (largest city: Brookings) Brown (largest city: Aberdeen) Lake (largest city: Madison) Marshall (largest city: Britton) Miner (largest city: Howard) Minnehaha (largest city: Sioux Falls) Moody (largest city: Flandreau) right 260px Swing by county Legend #00a1c8 Democratic — +>15% #00bdec Democratic — +12.5–15% #09ceff Democratic — +10–12.5% #4bdbff Democratic — +7.5–10% #77e3ff Democratic — +5–7.5% #aaeeff Democratic — +2.5–5% #d5f6ff Democratic — +0–2.5% #ffd5d5 Republican — +0–2.5% #ffaaaa Republican — +2.5–5% 260px Trend relative to the state by county Legend #4bdbff Democratic — +7.5–10% #77e3ff Democratic — +5–7.5% #aaeeff Democratic — +2.5–5% #d5f6ff Democratic — +0–2.5% #ffd5d5 Republican — +0–2.5% #ffaaaa Republican — +2.5–5% #ff8080 Republican — +5–7.5% #ff5555 Republican — +7.5–10% #ff2a2a Republican — +10–12.5% #ff0000 Republican — +12.5–15% #d40000 Republican — +>15% 260px County flips Legend Democratic #92c5de Hold #0671b0 Flip Republican #f48882 Hold By congressional district South Dakota has only one congressional district because of its small population compared to other states. This district, called the at-large district because it covers the entire state, is equivalent to the statewide election results. District McCain Obama RepresentativeAt-large 53.2% 44.8%Stephanie Herseth Sandlin Electors List of 2008 United States presidential electors Technically the voters of South Dakota cast their ballots for electors, representatives to the Electoral College. The state is allocated three electors because it has one congressional district and 2 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 the candidate's running mate. In the state's First Past the Post (plurality voting) system, the winner of a plurality 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 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 capitals. The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 3 were pledged to John McCain and Sarah Palin:https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/2008-certificates/index.html#sd U. S. Electoral College 2008 Election - Certificates Archives.gov 2015-05-04 Mike Rounds Dennis Daugaard Larry Long See also Presidency of Barack Obama United States presidential elections in South Dakota References 30em South Dakota Category:United States presidential elections in South Dakota Presidential