2008 United States presidential election in Alabama

none June 2025 September 2023 2008 United States presidential election 2008 United States presidential election in Alabama Alabama presidential no 2004 United States presidential election in Alabama 2004 2012 United States presidential election in Alabama 2012 73.77%Comprehensive Voter Turnout 1986-2020 https://www.sos.alabama.gov/sites/default/files/election-data/2021-05/Comprehensive%20Voter%20Turnout%201986-2020.pdf Alabama Secretary of State November 4, 2008 x200px John McCain official portrait 2009 (cropped).jpg John McCain Republican Party (United States) Arizona Sarah Palin 9 1,266,546 60.32% Obama portrait crop.jpg Barack Obama Democratic Party (United States) Illinois Joe Biden 0 813,479 38.74% 300px County results 300px Congressional district results 300px Precinct results 1 McCain #f2b3be 40–50% #e27f90 50–60% #cc2f4a 60–70% #d40000 70–80% #aa0000 80–90% #800000 90–100% Obama #b9d7ff 40–50% #86b6f2 50–60% #4389e3 60–70% #1666cb 70–80% #0645b4 80–90% #002b84 90–100% President George W. Bush Republican Party (United States) Barack Obama Democratic Party (United States) The 2008 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose nine representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. Alabama was won by Republican nominee John McCain by a 21.58% margin of victory. Prior to the election, 17 news organizations considered this a state McCain would win, or a safe red state. Located in the Deep South, Alabama is one of the most conservative states in the country. Republicans have won every presidential election in Alabama since 1980, and the 2008 election was no exception. McCain carried 54 of the state's 67 counties and easily prevailed in Alabama. Despite McCain's expected victory, Obama did manage to improve on Kerry's performance by two points and was able to reduce his margin of defeat by four points which is attributed to the higher African-American turnout. In addition, Obama's raw vote total was the highest obtained by a Democrat in the state of Alabama until his running mate, Biden, broke his record 12 years later in a historically high turnout election. Obama also managed to flip Jefferson County, the state's most populous county and home to Birmingham, which had not gone Democratic since 1952 and was won by incumbent Senator Jeff Sessions in the concurrent U.S. Senate election. Marengo County also split tickets for Obama and Sessions. Primaries 2008 Alabama Democratic presidential primary 2008 Alabama 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 RCook Political Report2015-05-05 Presidential http://cookpolitical.com/presidential 2021-08-23 https://web.archive.org/web/20150505003043/http://cookpolitical.com/presidential 2015-05-05Solid RThe 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.comSolid RWashington PostBased on TakeawaySolid 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 MapSolid 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 PoliticsSolid 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 RMSNBCSolid 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 United States presidential election, 2008#Alabama Statewide opinion polling for the United States presidential election, 2008: Alabama Opinion polls taken in Alabama prior to the election consistently showed John McCain to be leading Barack Obama by double digits. RealClearPolitics gave the state an average of 56.8% for McCain, compared to 33.5% for Obama.http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/al/alabama_mccain_vs_obama-557.html Alabama: McCain vs. Obama May 31, 2009 RealClearPolitics The state was not seriously contested by either campaign. Fundraising John McCain raised a total of $1,846,574 in the state. Barack Obama raised $1,734,629.http://www.fec.gov/DisclosureSearch/MapAppState.do?stateName=AL&cand_id=P00000001 Presidential Campaign Finance: AL Contributions to All Candidates by 3 digit Zip Code May 30, 2009 Federal Election Commission https://web.archive.org/web/20090324090259/http://www.fec.gov/DisclosureSearch/MapAppState.do?stateName=AL&cand_id=P00000001 March 24, 2009 dead Advertising and visits Obama spent almost $264,945. McCain and his interest groups spent just $850.http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/map/ad.spending/ CNN Map: Campaign Ad Spending - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com May 26, 2010 Barack Obama, made at least one stop in the state, a brief visit to the Heritage Club for a Democratic Fundraiser in Huntsville, ALhttp://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/map/candidate.visits/ CNN Map: Campaign Candidate Visits - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com May 26, 2010 Analysis Alabama is one of the most conservative states in the country and one of the most reliably Republican strongholds in presidential elections. Alabama is located in the lower Bible Belt, where many people are values voters who tend to oppose social issues like abortion, gay rights, and immigration. Like most Southern states, Alabama was a one-party state dominated by conservative Democrats for the better part of a century after Reconstruction. However, it swung dramatically to the Republicans in 1964 in opposition to civil rights legislation. Since then, Democrats have carried the state only once, when Jimmy Carter of neighboring Georgia swept most of the South and East Coast. Although Democrats still maintained a majority of registered voters at the time of the 2008 elections, the Democrats have only seriously contested the state two other times since Barry Goldwater carried it in 1964; 1976 (a double-digit victory) and 1980. As in much of the Deep South, Alabama Democrats began splitting their tickets as early as the 1940s when the national party became more receptive toward the Civil Rights Movement, and the rise of the religious right in the 1970s only accelerated this trend. At the time of the election, Alabama had a Republican Governor (Bob Riley), two Republicans in the U.S. Senate (Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions), and five of its seven seats in the U.S. House of Representatives were held by Republicans. On November 4, 2008, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama predictably lost by a landslide. However, he performed 2% better in 2008 than John Kerry did in 2004 (both by popular vote and by the number of carried counties). In large part, this can be attributed to high turnout of African American voters in Alabama. Notably, Obama carried Jefferson County, which contains the state's largest city of Birmingham,http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=6092 AL US President Race Our Campaigns May 27, 2009 which last supported the official Democratic candidate for president in 1956. Strangely, many news organizations did not project the state's outcome immediately after the polls closed, possibly due to a wavering African American turnout. Voting in Alabama, like in other states of the Deep South, was heavily polarized by race. According to exit polls, 98% of black Alabamians voted Democratic while 88% of white Alabamians voted Republican. Alabama-Election Results 2008 http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/results/states/exitpolls/alabama.html New York Times 2009-06-10 Obama's 12 percent showing among white Alabamians was easily his worst in the nation, and prevented him from having any realistic chance of carrying the state.Todd, Chuck and Gawiser, Sheldon. How Barack Obama Won. New York City: Vintage, 2009. Ultimately, McCain won by running up massive landslides in the state's suburban areas; several Birmingham, Montgomery and Mobile suburbs gave McCain over 70 percent of the vote. The old-line Dixiecrats in these areas began splitting their tickets as early as the 1940s; apart from Carter, some of these areas haven't supported a Democrat for president since Adlai Stevenson II in 1952. Racial polarization was why Obama generally improved on Kerry's performance in Central Alabama, where more African Americans live. Conversely, Obama did much worse than Kerry in North Alabama, where fewer blacks live. Racial polarization was also responsible for Alabama's electoral geography: Obama, like other Democrats, won landslides in the Black Belt while losing badly everywhere else. With 60.32% of the popular vote, Alabama proved to be McCain's fifth strongest state in the 2008 election after Oklahoma, Wyoming, Utah and Idaho.https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/stats.php?year=2008&f=0&off=0&elect=0 2008 Presidential Election Statistics Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections 2018-03-05 Results PartyCandidateRunning mateVotesPercentageElectoral votes Republican John McCain Sarah Palin 1,266,546 60.32% 9 Democratic Barack Obama Joe Biden 813,479 38.74% 0 Independent Ralph Nader Matt Gonzalez 6,788 0.32% 0 Libertarian Bob Barr Wayne Allyn Root 4,991 0.24% 0 Constitution Chuck Baldwin Darrell Castle 4,310 0.21% 0Write-in candidates 3,705 0.18% 0 Totals 2,099,819 100.00% 9http://www.sos.alabama.gov/downloads/election/2008/general/statecert-2008-general-election-11-25-2008-without-write-in-appendix.pdf Certified General Election Results without write-in appendix 2008-11-25 2008-12-05 Secretary of State of Alabama https://web.archive.org/web/20081127012656/http://www.sos.alabama.gov/downloads/election/2008/general/statecert-2008-general-election-11-25-2008-without-write-in-appendix.pdf 2008-11-27 dead By county CountyJohn McCainRepublicanBarack ObamaDemocraticVarious candidatesOther partiesMarginTotal#%#%#%#%Autauga17,40373.61%6,09325.77%1450.61%11,31047.84%23,641Baldwin61,27175.26%19,38623.81%7560.93%41,88551.45%81,413Barbour5,86650.44%5,69748.99%670.58%1691.45%11,630Bibb6,26272.44%2,29926.60%830.96%3,96345.84%8,644Blount20,38984.02%3,52214.51%3561.46%16,86769.51%24,267Bullock1,39125.69%4,01174.07%130.24%-2,620-48.38%5,415Butler5,48556.49%4,18843.14%360.37%1,29713.35%9,709Calhoun32,34865.69%16,33433.17%5601.14%16,01432.52%49,242Chambers8,06753.94%6,79945.46%900.60%1,2688.48%14,956Cherokee7,29874.89%2,30623.66%1411.44%4,99251.23%9,745Chilton13,96078.49%3,67420.66%1510.85%10,28657.83%17,785Choctaw4,22353.50%3,63646.06%350.44%5877.44%7,894Clarke7,46655.57%5,91444.02%550.41%1,55211.55%13,435Clay4,98473.09%1,76025.81%751.10%3,22447.28%6,819Cleburne5,21680.35%1,16817.99%1081.66%4,04862.36%6,492Coffee14,91974.12%5,07925.23%1300.65%9,84048.89%20,128Colbert14,73959.33%9,70339.06%4011.61%5,03620.27%24,843Conecuh3,47049.98%3,42949.39%440.63%410.59%6,943Coosa3,24858.39%2,27340.86%420.76%97517.53%5,563Covington12,44478.82%3,24020.52%1030.65%9,20458.30%15,787Crenshaw4,31968.65%1,93830.81%340.54%2,38137.84%6,291Cullman28,89681.85%5,86416.61%5451.53%23,03265.24%35,305Dale13,88671.87%5,27027.28%1640.85%8,61644.59%19,320Dallas6,79832.60%13,98667.07%680.33%-7,188-34.47%20,852DeKalb17,95774.77%5,65823.56%4001.67%12,29951.21%24,015Elmore25,77775.12%8,30124.19%2370.69%17,47650.93%34,315Escambia9,37563.89%5,18835.36%1110.76%4,18728.53%14,674Etowah30,59568.39%13,49730.17%6451.44%17,09838.22%44,737Fayette5,88373.93%1,99425.06%801.01%3,88948.87%7,957Franklin8,04868.83%3,46929.67%1761.51%4,57939.16%11,693Geneva9,41780.78%2,13418.31%1060.90%7,28362.47%11,657Greene87616.51%4,40883.09%210.40%-3,532-66.58%5,305Hale3,20038.96%4,98260.65%320.39%-1,782-21.69%8,214Henry5,58564.58%3,01834.90%450.52%2,56729.68%8,648Houston29,25470.09%12,22529.29%2560.61%17,02940.80%41,735Jackson14,08367.47%6,37430.54%4171.99%7,70936.93%20,874Jefferson149,92147.07%166,12152.15%2,4820.78%-16,200-5.08%318,524Lamar5,41976.59%1,61422.81%420.60%3,80553.78%7,075Lauderdale24,06863.16%13,32934.98%7071.86%10,73928.18%38,104Lawrence9,27763.19%5,16435.18%2391.63%4,11328.01%14,680Lee32,23059.33%21,49839.57%5971.09%10,73219.76%54,325Limestone23,59870.33%9,53628.42%4171.24%14,06241.91%33,551Lowndes1,80924.86%5,44974.87%200.27%-3,640-50.01%7,278Macon1,39612.83%9,45086.88%310.29%-8,054-74.05%10,877Madison86,96556.88%64,11741.93%1,8171.19%22,84814.95%152,899Marengo5,51648.09%5,92651.66%290.29%-410-3.57%11,471Marion9,53677.18%2,60021.04%2191.78%6,93656.14%12,355Marshall25,72777.57%7,03821.22%4011.21%18,68956.35%33,166Mobile98,04954.04%82,18145.30%1,1940.66%15,8688.74%181,424Monroe6,17554.88%5,02544.66%520.46%1,15010.22%11,252Montgomery42,03140.13%62,16659.35%5460.52%-20,135-19.22%104,743Morgan36,01471.26%13,89527.49%6331.26%22,11943.77%50,542Perry1,67927.26%4,45772.37%230.37%-2,778-45.11%6,159Pickens5,43453.98%4,59445.63%390.39%8408.35%10,067Pike8,00457.36%5,87942.13%720.52%2,12515.23%13,955Randolph7,17569.10%3,06429.51%1451.39%4,11139.59%10,384Russell8,70546.02%10,08553.32%1250.66%-1,380-7.30%18,915Shelby69,06076.19%20,62522.75%9581.06%48,43553.44%90,643St. Clair27,64981.11%6,09117.87%3481.02%21,55863.24%34,088Sumter1,73124.66%5,26474.99%250.36%-3,533-50.33%7,020Talladega20,11258.80%13,77940.28%3130.92%6,33318.52%34,204Tallapoosa13,11667.92%6,06331.40%1320.68%7,05336.52%19,311Tuscaloosa45,40557.54%32,79641.56%7110.90%12,60915.98%78,912Walker20,72272.32%7,42025.90%5101.78%13,30246.42%28,652Washington5,65464.43%3,06734.95%540.61%2,58729.48%8,775Wilcox1,86828.77%4,61271.02%140.22%-2,744-42.25%6,494Winston8,10380.78%1,75717.52%1711.71%6,34663.26%10,031Totals1,266,54660.32%813,47938.74%19,7940.94%453,06721.58%2,099,819 Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic Jefferson (largest municipality: Birmingham) Marengo (largest municipality: Linden) 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% #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 Trend relative to the state by county Legend #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% #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 Republican John McCain carried six of the state's seven congressional districts, including two districts that were carried by Democrats. District McCain Obama RepresentativeAlabama 1 1st100px 61.01% 38.38%Jo BonnerAlabama 2 2nd100px63.42%36.05%Terry Everett (110th Congress)Bobby Bright (111th Congress)Alabama 3 3rd100px 56.21% 43.04%Mike D. RogersAlabama 4 4th100px 76.32% 22.48%Robert AderholtAlabama 5 5th100px60.91%37.99%Bud Cramer (110th Congress)Parker Griffith (111th Congress)Alabama 6 6th100px 75.91% 23.28%Spencer BachusAlabama 7 7th100px 27.28% 72.36%Artur Davishttps://swingstateproject.com/diary/4161/ Presidential Results by Congressional District, 2000-2008 December 15, 2008 May 31, 2009 Swing State Project Electors List of 2008 United States presidential electors Technically the voters of Alabama cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Alabama is allocated 9 electors because it has 7 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 9 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and their running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 9 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 9 were pledged to John McCain and Sarah Palin.http://www.sos.state.al.us/downloads/election/2008/general/Electors-Pledged-to-Senator-McCain-Republican-Party.pdf Archived copy November 7, 2008 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20081119161844/http://www.sos.state.al.us/downloads/election/2008/general/Electors-Pledged-to-Senator-McCain-Republican-Party.pdf November 19, 2008 Les Barnett Will Sellers Al Blythe Jack Stiefel Elbert Peters Matthew Fridy Bob Cusanelli Cam Ward Jim Wilson See also United States presidential elections in Alabama References Alabama United States presidential election 2008