2008 United States presidential election in North Dakota

none June 2025 September 2023 2008 United States presidential election 2008 United States presidential election in North Dakota North Dakota presidential no 2004 United States presidential election in North Dakota 2004 2012 United States presidential election in North Dakota 2012 November 4, 2008 File:John McCain official portrait 2009 (cropped).jpg x200px John McCain North Dakota Republican Party Arizona Sarah Palin 3 168,887 53.15% File:Obama portrait crop.jpg Barack Obama North Dakota Democratic–Nonpartisan League Party Illinois Joe Biden 0 141,403 44.62% 2008 United States presidential election in North Dakota results map by county.svg 300px County results McCain #F2B3BE 40–50% #E27F90 50–60% #CC2F4A 60–70% #D40000 70–80% Obama #86B6F2 50–60% #4389E3 60–70% #1666CB 70–80% #0645B4 80–90% President George W. Bush North Dakota Republican Party Barack Obama Democratic-NPL The 2008 United States presidential election in North 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. North Dakota was won by Republican nominee John McCain by an 8.5% margin of victory. Prior to the election, most news organizations considered this a state McCain would narrowly win, or otherwise considered to be a red state. In the final weeks of the race, some news organizations considered the race a toss-up. The state has not been won by a Democratic presidential nominee since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. Polls showed McCain and Democrat Barack Obama running unusually close in a state that gave George W. Bush a 27.4% margin of victory over John Kerry in 2004. In the end, McCain kept North Dakota in the GOP column but by a much smaller margin than Bush's landslide in 2004. 2020 11 As of the 2024 presidential election, this is the last time a Democratic presidential candidate won at least 40% of the vote in North Dakota and the last time in which Cass County, Grand Forks County, Mountrail County, Towner County, Traill County, Nelson County, and Eddy County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate. Obama's 44.6% vote share also remains the best Democratic performance in the state since 1976. Caucuses 2008 North Dakota Democratic presidential caucuses 2008 North Dakota Republican presidential caucuses 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/ 2009-04-22Lean 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 MapToss-upFiveThirtyEightSolid 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 PoliticsToss-upThe 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, 2010Lean 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/ deadToss-upNPRLean RMSNBCToss-upFox 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#North Dakota Statewide opinion polling for the 2008 United States presidential election: North Dakota Pre-election polls showed a complete toss up. The final three polls averaged gave Obama leading 45% to 44%, leaving a lot of undecided voters.Election 2008 Polls - Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections Fundraising John McCain raised a total of $184,405 in the state. Barack Obama raised $191,551.http://www.fec.gov/DisclosureSearch/MapAppState.do?stateName=ND&cand_id=P00000001 Presidential Campaign Finance 2009-08-18 https://web.archive.org/web/20090324085834/http://www.fec.gov/DisclosureSearch/MapAppState.do?stateName=ND&cand_id=P00000001 2009-03-24 dead Advertising and visits Obama and his interest groups spent $448,361. McCain and his interest groups spent $71,972.http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/map/ad.spending/ CNN Map: Campaign Ad Spending - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com 2010-05-26 Obama visited the state once, in Fargo, North Dakota, while the Republican ticket didn't visit the state once.http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/map/candidate.visits/ CNN Map: Campaign Candidate Visits - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com 2010-05-26 Analysis North Dakota has been considered a reliably red state for the past 40 years, having voted for the Republican presidential nominee of every election since 1968. In 2008, however, polls taken before September surprisingly showed the two candidates running neck-to-neck. While the polls varied throughout the campaign, McCain's selection of the socially conservative Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as his vice presidential running mate played well in North Dakota, a state that has the lowest percentage of nonreligious citizens in the country. After Palin joined the ticket in late August, McCain then took a double digit lead in the state until October, when polling once again showed a close race between the two candidates in North Dakota.http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/nd/north_dakota_mccain_vs_obama-618.html RealClearPolitics - Election 2008 - North Dakota 2008-11-19 On Election Day 2008, however, McCain captured North Dakota by a fairly safe margin of approximately 8.65 points, despite the latest polling showing him just one point ahead of Obama.http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/individual/#mapPND CNN Election Center 2008 - North Dakota 2008-11-19 Still, the statewide result was significantly closer than in 2004 when Bush carried the state by a much larger margin of more than 27%.http://www.electoral-vote.com/ Electoral-vote.com 2008-11-19 McCain did well throughout the western and central parts of the state, while Obama won the two majority Native American counties of Rolette (which has not voted Republican since Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952Sullivan, Robert David; 'How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century'; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016) in the north and Sioux in the south by more than three-to-one. More significantly, Obama carried several normally Republican counties in the east including the most populous counties of Cass County (which contains the state's largest city of Fargo) and Grand Forks County (which includes the college town of Grand Forks). In these two largest counties in the state, Obama was the first Democratic victor since Lyndon Johnson in 1964,Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 271-274 0786422173 while in rock-ribbed Republican and heavily German McIntosh County, Obama's 37.79 percent constitutes the best performance by a Democrat since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936. At the same time, popular incumbent Republican Governor John Hoeven was reelected to a third term in a landslide three-to-one victory over Democrat Tim Mathern and Independent DuWayne Hendrickson. Hoeven received 74.44% of the vote while Mathern took in 23.53% and Hendrickson with the remaining 2.03%. Democrats, however, made gains at the state level, picking up three seats in the North Dakota House of Representatives and six seats in the North Dakota Senate. Results 2008 United States presidential election in North Dakotahttp://www.uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=2008&fips=38&f=0&off=0&elect=0 Atlas of U.S. Presidential Election January 13, 2013PartyCandidateRunning mateVotesPercentageElectoral votes Republican John McCain Sarah Palin 168,887 53.15%3 Democratic-NPL Barack Obama Joe Biden 141,403 44.50% 0 Independent Ralph Nader Matt Gonzalez 4,199 1.32% 0 Write-ins Write-ins 1,123These write-in votes are not listed in some totals and were not separated by county. 0.35% 0 Libertarian Bob Barr Wayne Allyn Root 1,067 0.34% 0 Constitution Chuck Baldwin Darrell Castle 1,059 0.33% 0 Totals 317,738 100.00% 3 Voter turnout (Voting age population) 65.6% By county CountyND US President Race, November 04, 2008 https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=191886 Our CampaignsJohn McCainRepublicanBarack ObamaDemocratic-NPLRalph NaderIndependentBob BarrLibertarianCharles BaldwinConstitutionMarginTotal votes cast#%#%#%#%#%#%Adams78862.00%43534.23%292.28%60.47%131.02%35327.77%1,271Barnes2,82649.63%2,74148.14%661.16%140.25%470.83%851.49%5,694Benson77332.56%1,56966.09%210.88%50.21%60.25%-796-33.53%2,374Billings37575.15%11422.85%71.40%30.60%00.00%26152.30%499Bottineau2,05958.56%1,38739.45%401.14%130.37%170.48%67219.11%3,516Bowman1,10767.50%47829.15%372.26%50.30%130.79%62938.35%1,640Burke64067.87%28630.33%111.17%30.32%30.32%35437.54%943Burleigh25,44360.58%15,60037.14%5131.22%1130.27%1030.25%9,84323.44%41,999Cass32,56645.34%37,62252.37%7551.05%2700.38%2060.29%-5,056-7.03%71,834Cavalier1,12852.96%93043.66%562.63%60.28%100.47%1989.30%2,130Dickey1,52558.21%1,04439.85%341.30%60.23%110.42%48118.36%2,620Divide63055.70%46441.03%252.21%60.53%60.53%16614.67%1,131Dunn1,08065.69%52732.06%291.76%30.18%50.30%55333.63%1,644Eddy54847.04%58350.04%211.80%70.60%60.52%-35-3.00%1,165Emmons1,23066.96%54629.72%412.23%80.44%120.65%68437.24%1,837Foster91455.36%68741.61%311.88%80.48%110.67%22713.75%1,651Golden Valley64273.37%21024.00%141.60%10.11%80.91%43249.37%875Grand Forks14,52046.34%16,10451.40%3381.08%1100.35%810.26%-1,584-5.06%31,333Grant87364.91%40530.11%272.01%100.74%80.59%46834.80%1,345Griggs68251.90%59845.51%261.98%50.38%30.23%846.39%1,314Hettinger89366.25%40630.12%322.37%90.67%80.59%48736.13%1,348Kidder75261.24%42234.36%292.36%141.14%110.90%33026.88%1,228LaMoure1,31058.46%86838.73%411.83%100.45%120.54%44219.73%2,241Logan72668.68%29928.29%262.46%20.19%40.38%42740.39%1,057McHenry1,37456.87%98140.60%492.03%60.25%60.25%39316.27%2,416McIntosh91659.79%57937.79%291.89%20.13%60.39%33722.00%1,532McKenzie1,74064.09%93334.36%331.22%60.22%30.11%80729.73%2,715McLean2,76758.42%1,86739.42%751.58%170.36%100.21%90019.00%4,736Mercer2,78963.43%1,47633.57%892.02%190.43%240.55%1,31329.86%4,397Morton7,86958.99%5,07938.08%2191.64%540.40%430.32%2,79020.91%13,339Mountrail1,40647.86%1,47750.27%361.23%60.20%130.44%-71-2.41%2,938Nelson80045.66%90751.77%321.83%70.40%60.34%-107-6.11%1,752Oliver68265.58%33231.92%201.92%50.48%10.10%35033.66%1,040Pembina1,72252.07%1,49445.18%471.42%210.64%230.70%2286.89%3,307Pierce1,30160.82%79237.03%341.59%40.19%80.37%50923.79%2,139Ramsey2,36149.58%2,31448.59%571.20%150.31%150.31%470.99%4,762Ransom99841.02%1,37156.35%431.77%150.62%60.25%-373-15.33%2,433Renville79959.36%50537.52%292.15%100.74%30.22%29421.84%1,346Richland3,90051.57%3,51346.45%1071.41%210.28%220.29%3875.12%7,563Rolette1,04523.05%3,40375.06%531.17%170.37%160.35%-2,358-52.01%4,534Sargent77840.37%1,11557.86%261.35%40.21%40.21%-337-17.49%1,927Sheridan55569.12%22928.52%151.87%10.12%30.37%32640.60%803Sioux21515.60%1,14583.09%120.87%30.22%30.22%-930-67.49%1,378Slope29772.26%10625.79%40.97%30.73%10.24%19146.47%411Stark7,02463.13%3,80234.17%1721.55%350.31%370.33%3,22228.96%11,127Steele40439.15%61459.50%111.07%10.10%20.19%-210-20.35%1,032Stutsman5,49956.20%4,05641.46%1561.59%270.28%460.47%1,44314.74%9,784Towner53644.78%62151.88%332.76%10.08%60.50%-85-7.10%1,197Traill1,84545.66%2,13652.86%431.06%70.17%100.25%-291-7.20%4,041Walsh2,41549.47%2,32547.62%941.93%200.41%280.57%901.85%4,882Ward15,06158.45%10,14439.37%2851.11%650.25%660.26%4,91719.08%25,768Wells1,46861.76%84135.38%431.81%50.21%200.84%62726.38%2,377Williams6,29167.12%2,92131.16%1041.11%360.38%210.22%3,37035.96%9,373Totals168,88753.15%141,40344.50%4,1991.32%1,0670.34%1,0590.33%27,4848.65%317,738 Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic 22em Cass (largest city: Fargo) Eddy (largest city: New Rockford) Grand Forks (largest city: Grand Forks) Mountrail (largest city: Stanley) Nelson (largest city: Lakota) Ransom (largest city: Lisbon) Sargent (largest city: Gwinner) Towner (largest city: Cando) Traill (largest city: Mayville) right 250px 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% 250px 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% 250px 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 an at-large district, because it covers the entire state, and thus is equivalent to the statewide election results. District McCain Obama RepresentativeAt-large 53.1% 44.5%Earl Pomeroy Electors List of 2008 United States presidential electors Technically the voters of North Dakota cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. North Dakota is allocated 3 electors because it has 1 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 3 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and their running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 3 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 capitols. The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 3 pledged to John McCain and Sarah Palin:http://www.nd.gov/sos/forms/pdf/presidential-candidates.pdf Secretary of State |U. S. Electoral College 2008 CertificateKFYR-TV North Dakota's NBC News Leader https://web.archive.org/web/20090113142222/http://www.kfyrtv.com/News_Stories.asp?news=25201 January 13, 2009 Theresa Tokach - replaced Richard Elkin Susan Wefald Leon Helland See also United States presidential elections in North Dakota Presidency of Barack Obama Notes References North Dakota Category:United States presidential elections in North Dakota Category:2008 North Dakota elections