2008 United States presidential election in Connecticut

none June 2025 September 2023 2008 United States presidential election 2008 United States presidential election in Connecticut Connecticut presidential no 2004 United States presidential election in Connecticut 2004 2012 United States presidential election in Connecticut 2012 78.14%https://cslib.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p128501coll2/id/317643 Register and manual - State of Connecticut. - Page 842 CT State Library November 4, 2008 x200px Obama portrait crop.jpg Barack Obama Democratic Party (United States) Illinois Joe Biden 7 997,773 60.59% John McCain official portrait 2009 (cropped).jpg John McCain Republican Party (United States) Arizona Sarah Palin 0 629,428 38.22% 250px County results 250px Municipality results 250px Congressional district 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% President George W. Bush Republican Party (United States) Barack Obama Democratic Party (United States) The 2008 United States presidential election in Connecticut took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose seven representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. Connecticut was won by Democratic nominee Barack Obama with a 22.4% margin of victory. Connecticut was one of the six states that had every county—including traditionally Republican Litchfield County—go for Obama, the others being Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Connecticut has not voted for a Republican presidential nominee since 1988 when the state was carried by George H. W. Bush over Michael Dukakis. 2024 11 As of the 2024 presidential election, this is the last election in which Litchfield County voted for the Democratic candidate, also making it the last time any presidential candidate has won every single county in the state. To date, this is the last time that the city of Torrington and the towns of Barkhamsted, Colebrook, New Hartford, Preston, Scotland, Thompson, and Winchester voted Democratic. The town of Warren would not vote Democratic again until 2024. Primaries 2008 Connecticut Democratic presidential primary 2008 Connecticut Republican 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 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.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 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 https://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#Connecticut Statewide opinion polling for the 2008 United States presidential election: Connecticut Barack Obama won every single poll taken in the state, and every one of them by a double-digit margin of victory. Fundraising John McCain raised a total of $3,966,985. Barack Obama raised $9,727,617.http://www.fec.gov/DisclosureSearch/MapAppState.do?stateName=CT&cand_id=P00000001 Presidential Campaign Finance 2009-08-03 https://web.archive.org/web/20090324090103/http://www.fec.gov/DisclosureSearch/MapAppState.do?stateName=CT&cand_id=P00000001 2009-03-24 dead Advertising and visits Obama spent $730,335 while McCain spent nothing on the state.http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/map/ad.spending/ CNN Map: Campaign Ad Spending - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com May 26, 2010 Neither campaign visited the state.http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/map/candidate.visits/ CNN Map: Campaign Candidate Visits - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com May 26, 2010 Analysis Connecticut is a part of New England, an area of the country that has in recent decades become a Democratic stronghold. The state went Republican in most of the elections from 1948 to 1988, the exceptions being the three in the 1960s. However, following Bill Clinton's narrow victory in the state in 1992, it has not been seriously contested by Republicans since. McCain ceded the state to Obama early on, despite the endorsement of the state's incumbent Senator Joe Lieberman, a Democrat-turned-Independent who still caucused with the Democrats but backed McCain for president in 2008. In 2006, Democrats knocked off two incumbent Republicans and picked up two U.S. House seats in CT-02 and CT-05 (Joe Courtney and Chris Murphy, respectively). Although then-Governor M. Jodi Rell and Lieutenant Governor Michael Fedele were both moderate Republicans, all other statewide offices were held by Democrats. Democrats also enjoyed a supermajority status in both chambers of the Connecticut state legislature. In 2008, Democrat Jim Himes defeated incumbent Republican Christopher Shays, who was at the time the only Republican member of the U.S. House from New England, for the U.S. House seat in Connecticut's 4th congressional district. This was largely because Obama carried the district with a staggering 60% of the vote—one of his best performances in a Republican-held district. Shays' defeat meant that for the first time in almost 150 years, there were no Republican Representatives from New England. In no other part of the country is a major political party completely shut out. At the state level, Democrats picked up 6 seats in the Connecticut House of Representatives and 1 seat in the Connecticut Senate. Results 2008 United States presidential election in ConnecticutPartyCandidateVotesPercentageElectoral votes Democratic Barack Obama 997,773 60.59% 7 Republican John McCain 629,428 38.22% 0 Independent Ralph Nader 19,162 1.16% 0 Constitution (Write-in) Chuck Baldwin (Write-in) 311 0.02% 0 Green (Write-in) Cynthia A. McKinney (Write-in) 90 0.01% 0 Socialist (Write-in) Brian Moore (Write-in) 19 0.00% 0 Socialist Workers (Write-in) Roger Calero (Write-in) 10 0.00% 0 Totals 1,646,793 100.00% 7 Voter turnout (voting age population) 62.1% By county County Barack ObamaDemocratic John McCainRepublican Various candidatesOther parties Margin Total votes cast # % # % # % # % Fairfield 242,936 58.72% 167,736 40.54% 3,059 0.74% 75,200 18.18% 413,741 Hartford 268,721 65.11% 138,984 33.67% 5,023 1.21% 129,737 31.44% 412,728 Litchfield 51,041 51.57% 46,173 46.66% 1,752 1.77% 4,868 4.91% 98,966 Middlesex 52,984 60.72% 32,918 37.73% 1,351 1.55% 20,066 22.99% 87,253 New Haven 233,589 61.01% 144,650 37.78% 4,647 1.22% 88,939 23.23% 382,886 New London 74,776 59.88% 48,491 38.83% 1,607 1.29% 26,285 21.05% 124,874 Tolland 45,043 59.67% 29,266 38.76% 1,182 1.57% 15,777 20.91% 75,501 Windham 28,673 56.39% 21,210 41.72% 961 1.89% 7,463 14.67% 50,844Totals997,77360.59%629,42838.22%19,5921.19%368,34522.37%1,646,793 right 300px Swing by county Legend #77e3ff Democratic — +5-7.5% #4bdbff Democratic — +7.5-10% #09ceff Democratic — +10-12.5% #00bdec Democratic — +12.5-15% #00a1c8 Democratic — +>15% 300px Trend relative to the state by county Legend #aaeeff Democratic — +2.5-5% #d5f6ff Democratic — +0-2.5% #ffd5d5 Republican — +0-2.5% #ffaaaa Republican — +2.5-5% 300px County flips Legend Democratic #92c5de Hold #0671b0 Flip Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic Litchfield (largest borough: Litchfield) By congressional district Barack Obama carried all five of Connecticut's congressional districts.https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/sots/electionservices/statementofvote_pdfs/2008sovpdf.pdf?rev=2ab75b4a5e5a4455a9bb43e30dbbfc33&hash=F3A5E0391DCF5E4991291C4C7D0ED3FA Statement of Vote Secretary of the State of Connecticut May 15, 2025 live https://web.archive.org/web/20250317003421/https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/sots/electionservices/statementofvote_pdfs/2008sovpdf.pdf?rev=2ab75b4a5e5a4455a9bb43e30dbbfc33&hash=F3A5E0391DCF5E4991291C4C7D0ED3FA 2025-03-17 District McCain Obama RepresentativeConnecticut 1 1st 33% 66%John LarsonConnecticut 2 2nd 40% 58%Joe CourtneyConnecticut 3 3rd 36% 62%Rosa DeLauroConnecticut 4 4th40%60%Chris Shays (110th Congress)Jim Himes (111th Congress)Connecticut 5 5th 42% 56%Chris Murphy Electors List of 2008 United States presidential electors Technically the voters of Connecticut cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Connecticut is allocated 7 electors because it has 5 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 7 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and their running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all sevenelectoral 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 capitols. The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 7 were pledged to Barack Obama and Joe Biden:U. S. Electoral College 2008 Election - Certificates Shirley Steinmetz Nicholas Paindiris Andrea Jackson-Brooks Jim Ezzes Lorraine McQueen Deborah McFadden Ken Delacruz See also United States presidential elections in Connecticut Presidency of Barack Obama References Connecticut 2008 Category:2008 Connecticut elections