2008 United States presidential election in Utah: Difference between revisions

United States presidential election in Utah, 2008
	County Results Obama—50-60% Obama—<50% McCain—50-60% McCain—60-70% McCain—70-80% McCain—80-90%
President before election; George W. Bush; Republican	Elected President ; Barack Obama; Democratic

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The 2008 United States presidential election in Utah took place on November 4, 2008 throughout all 50 states and D.C., which was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose 5 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.

Utah was won by Republican nominee John McCain by a 28.0% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state McCain would win, or otherwise considered as a safe red state. Highlighting its status as a GOP bastion, the Beehive State gave McCain one of his largest victories over Democrat Barack Obama, a near two-to-one margin. Obama did, however, manage to carry three counties, and he greatly improved on John Kerry's performance here in 2004. However, in the next election Obama would do much worse.

Primaries

Campaign

Predictions

There were 17 news organizations who made state by state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day:

D.C. Political Report: Republican^[1]
Cook Political Report: Solid Republican^[2]
Takeaway: Solid McCain^[3]
Election Projection: Solid McCain^[4]
Electoral-vote.com: Strong Republican^[5]
Washington Post: Solid McCain^[6]
Politico: Solid McCain^[7]
Real Clear Politics: Solid McCain^[8]
FiveThirtyEight.com: Solid McCain^[9]
CQ Politics: Safe Republican^[10]
New York Times: Solid Republican^[11]
CNN: Safe Republican^[12]
NPR: Solid McCain^[13]
MSNBC: Solid McCain^[14]
Fox News: Republican^[15]
Associated Press: Republican^[16]
Rasmussen Reports: Safe Republican^[17]

Polling

McCain won every pre-election poll conducted in this state, each with a double digit margin and with at least 55% of the vote. The final 3 poll average showed McCain leading 59% to 31%.^[18]

Fundraising

John McCain raised a total of $1,165,621 in the state. Barack Obama raised $2,121,563.^[19]

Advertising and visits

Obama spent $297,645. McCain spent just $250.^[20] Neither campaign visited the state.^[21]

Analysis

Utah is a heavily Republican state that has not voted for a Democratic presidential nominee since Lyndon B. Johnson's landslide election in 1964, and even then the margin of victory was small. The majority of the state's population is Mormon and highly conservative, especially on social issues. Utah gave George W. Bush his largest margin of victory in 2004 over John Kerry, as Bush received over 71 percent to Kerry's 26 percent and carried every county in the state.^[22]

Although McCain easily won Utah in 2008, Obama did very well for a Democrat in this Republican stronghold. Obama was able to reduce McCain's margin of victory by narrowly winning Salt Lake County, the state's most populous county that contains the state capital of Salt Lake City, by a mere 296 votes. Obama also carried Summit County and Grand County, both of which have significantly lower Mormon populations than the rest of the state.^[23]^[24]^[25]

Election 2008 proved to be remarkable as it was a Democratic presidential nominee's best showing in the Beehive State since 1968.^[26]

During the same election, popular incumbent Republican Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. was reelected to a second term in a massive landslide victory, taking in 77.74 percent of the vote over Democrat Bob Springmeyer's 19.65 percent and Libertarian Dell Schanze's 2.62 percent. At the state level, however, Democrats did manage to pick up two seats in the Utah House of Representatives.

Results

United States presidential election in Utah, 2008
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	John McCain	Sarah Palin	596,030	62.24%	5
	Democratic	Barack Obama	Joe Biden	327,670	34.22%	0
	Constitution	Chuck Baldwin	Darrell Castle	12,012	1.25%	0
	Independent	Ralph Nader	Matt Gonzalez	8,416	0.88%	0
	Libertarian	Bob Barr	Wayne Allyn Root	6,966	0.73%	0
	Write-ins	Write-ins		5,224	0.55%	0
	Green	Cynthia McKinney	Rosa Clemente	982	0.10%	0
	Others	Others		290	0.03%	0
Totals				957,590	100.00%	5
Voter turnout (Voting age population)						55.5%

Results breakdown

By county

County	McCain	Votes	Obama	Votes	Others	Votes	Total^[27]
Beaver	76.4%	1,786	21.8%	509	1.8%	42	2,337
Box Elder	80.8%	14,340	17.4%	3,080	1.9%	331	17,751
Cache	71.1%	27,799	25.1%	9,806	3.8%	1,469	39,074
Carbon	53.2%	3,960	45.3%	3,368	1.5%	110	7,438
Daggett	69.0%	294	30.3%	129	0.7%	3	426
Davis	70.5%	73,317	27.7%	28,831	1.8%	1,894	104,042
Duchesne	82.1%	4,592	16.0%	897	1.8%	101	5,590
Emery	76.4%	3,338	22.1%	965	1.6%	68	4,371
Garfield	79.6%	1,663	19.2%	402	1.1%	24	2,089
Grand	46.7%	1,787	51.8%	1,981	1.4%	55	3,823
Iron	76.8%	11,786	20.1%	3,078	3.1%	473	15,337
Juab	74.9%	2,647	20.7%	730	4.4%	156	3,533
Kane	70.9%	2,194	27.5%	850	1.6%	51	3,095
Millard	77.7%	3,565	16.0%	733	6.4%	293	4,591
Morgan	80.1%	3,219	16.8%	674	3.2%	128	4,021
Piute	80.3%	635	17.8%	141	1.9%	15	791
Rich	83.1%	829	17.8%	154	1.4%	14	997
Salt Lake	49.1%	176,692	49.2%	176,988	1.6%	5,896	359,576
San Juan	52.1%	2,586	46.7%	2,322	1.2%	59	4,967
Sanpete	77.2%	6,036	18.5%	1,449	4.3%	335	7,820
Sevier	80.6%	6,222	17.1%	1,320	2.3%	182	7,724
Summit	41.7%	6,691	57.2%	9,194	1.1%	176	16,061
Tooele	64.3%	10,201	33.7%	5,349	2.0%	316	15,866
Uintah	83.6%	8,113	14.5%	1,407	1.9%	189	9,709
Utah	78.7%	111,273	18.6%	26,276	2.8%	3,899	141,448
Wasatch	64.3%	5,271	34.4%	2,818	1.3%	108	8,197
Washington	76.7%	33,594	21.1%	9,251	2.2%	946	43,791
Wayne	72.4%	930	25.9%	333	1.6%	21	1,284
Weber	63.3%	43,250	35.2%	24,028	1.5%	991	68,323

By congressional district

John McCain swept all three of the state's congressional districts.

District	McCain	Obama	Representative
1st	63.62%	33.42%	Rob Bishop
2nd	57.72%	39.55%	Jim Matheson
3rd	67.35%	29.25%	Chris Cannon (110th Congress)
3rd	67.35%	29.25%	Jason Chaffetz (111th Congress)

Electors

Technically the voters of Utah cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Utah is allocated 5 electors because it has 3 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 5 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 5 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.^[28] 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 capitols.

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 5 were pledged to John McCain and Sarah Palin:^[29]

Scott Simpson
Richard Snelgrove
Stan Lockhart
Enid Greene-Mickelesen
Mark Shurtleff

References

^ http://www.dcpoliticalreport.com/Predictions.html
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on May 5, 2015. Retrieved May 4, 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on April 22, 2009. Retrieved November 14, 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ http://www.electionprojection.com/2008elections/president08.shtml
^ http://electoral-vote.com/evp2008/Pres/Maps/Dec31.html
^ Based on Takeaway
^ http://www.politico.com/convention/swingstate.html
^ http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/maps/obama_vs_mccain/?map=5
^ Based on Takeaway
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on June 14, 2009. Retrieved December 20, 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ Nagourney, Adam; Zeleny, Jeff; Carter, Shan (2008-11-04). "The Electoral Map: Key States". The New York Times. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
^ "October – 2008 – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs". CNN. 2008-10-31. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
^ Based on Takeaway
^ Based on Takeaway
^ "Winning The Electoral College". Fox News. 2010-04-27.
^ http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/campaign_plus/roadto270/
^ http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections2/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/election_2008_electoral_college_update
^ http://uselectionatlas.org/POLLS/PRESIDENT/2008/pollsa.php?fips=49
^ http://www.fec.gov/DisclosureSearch/MapAppState.do?stateName=UT&cand_id=P00000001
^ "Map: Campaign Ad Spending - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
^ "Map: Campaign Candidate Visits - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
^ "CNN Election Center 2004 - Utah Results". Retrieved 2008-11-13.
^ "CNN Election Center 2008 - Utah Results". Retrieved 2008-11-13.
^ "ksl.com - Final Tally: Obama Wins Salt Lake County". Retrieved 2008-11-19.
^ "elections.utah.gov-Official Canvass of Utah Vote". Archived from the original on June 11, 2009. Retrieved 2008-11-28. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ "1968 General Election Results - Utah". Retrieved 2008-11-19.
^ "NPR and NewsHour 2008 Election Results". Archived from the original on February 18, 2012. Retrieved 2008-11-30. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ "Electoral College". California Secretary of State. Archived from the original on October 30, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-01. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 8, 2008. Retrieved November 8, 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

@@ Line 55: / Line 55: @@
 # D.C. Political Report: Republican<ref>http://www.dcpoliticalreport.com/Predictions.html</ref>
-# [[Cook Political Report]]: Solid Republican<ref>http://www.cookpolitical.com/presidential#belowMap</ref>
+# [[Cook Political Report]]: Solid Republican<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cookpolitical.com/presidential#belowMap |title=Archived copy |accessdate=May 4, 2015 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20150505003043/http://cookpolitical.com/presidential |archivedate=May 5, 2015 }}</ref>
-# [[The Takeaway (Radio)|Takeaway]]: Solid McCain<ref>http://vote2008.thetakeaway.org/2008/09/20/track-the-electoral-college-vote-predictions/</ref>
+# [[The Takeaway (Radio)|Takeaway]]: Solid McCain<ref>{{cite web|url=http://vote2008.thetakeaway.org/2008/09/20/track-the-electoral-college-vote-predictions/ |title=Archived copy |accessdate=November 14, 2009 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090422070127/http://vote2008.thetakeaway.org/2008/09/20/track-the-electoral-college-vote-predictions/ |archivedate=April 22, 2009 }}</ref>
 # Election Projection: Solid McCain<ref>http://www.electionprojection.com/2008elections/president08.shtml</ref>
 # [[Electoral-vote.com]]: Strong Republican<ref>http://electoral-vote.com/evp2008/Pres/Maps/Dec31.html</ref>
@@ Line 63: / Line 63: @@
 # [[Real Clear Politics]]: Solid McCain<ref>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/maps/obama_vs_mccain/?map=5</ref>
 # [[FiveThirtyEight.com]]: Solid McCain<ref>Based on Takeaway</ref>
-# [[CQ Politics]]: Safe Republican<ref>http://innovation.cq.com/prezMap08/</ref>
+# [[CQ Politics]]: Safe Republican<ref>{{cite web|url=http://innovation.cq.com/prezMap08/ |title=Archived copy |accessdate=December 20, 2009 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/20090614004022/http://innovation.cq.com:80/prezMap08 |archivedate=June 14, 2009 }}</ref>
 # [[New York Times]]: Solid Republican<ref>{{cite news| url=http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/whos-ahead/key-states/map.html?scp=1&amp;sq=electoral%20college%20map&amp;st=cse | work=The New York Times | accessdate=May 26, 2010|title=The Electoral Map: Key States|first1=Adam|first2=Jeff|first3=Shan|last1=Nagourney|last2=Zeleny|last3=Carter|date=2008-11-04}}</ref>
 # [[CNN]]: Safe Republican<ref>{{cite news| url=http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/ | work=CNN | title=October &ndash; 2008 &ndash; CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs | accessdate=2010-05-26 | date=2008-10-31}}</ref>
@@ Line 86: / Line 86: @@
 Utah is a heavily Republican state that has not voted for a Democratic presidential nominee since [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]'s landslide [[United States presidential election, 1964|election in 1964]], and even then the margin of victory was small. The majority of the state's population is [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|Mormon]] and highly [[Conservatism|conservative]], especially on social issues. Utah gave [[George W. Bush]] his largest margin of victory in [[United States presidential election, 2004|2004]] over [[John Kerry]], as Bush received over 71 percent to Kerry's 26 percent and carried every county in the state.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/UT/P/00/|title=CNN Election Center 2004 - Utah Results|accessdate=2008-11-13}}</ref>
-Although McCain easily won Utah in 2008, Obama did very well for a Democrat in this Republican stronghold. Obama was able to reduce McCain's margin of victory by narrowly winning [[Salt Lake County, Utah|Salt Lake County]], the state's most populous county that contains the state capital of [[Salt Lake City, Utah|Salt Lake City]], by a mere 296 votes. Obama also carried [[Summit County, Utah|Summit County]] and [[Grand County, Utah|Grand County]], both of which have significantly lower Mormon populations than the rest of the state.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/individual/#mapPUT|title=CNN Election Center 2008 - Utah Results|accessdate=2008-11-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=4838702|title=ksl.com - Final Tally: Obama Wins Salt Lake County|accessdate=2008-11-19}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://elections.utah.gov/CANVASS%202008.xls|title=elections.utah.gov-Official Canvass of Utah Vote |accessdate=2008-11-28}}</ref>
+Although McCain easily won Utah in 2008, Obama did very well for a Democrat in this Republican stronghold. Obama was able to reduce McCain's margin of victory by narrowly winning [[Salt Lake County, Utah|Salt Lake County]], the state's most populous county that contains the state capital of [[Salt Lake City, Utah|Salt Lake City]], by a mere 296 votes. Obama also carried [[Summit County, Utah|Summit County]] and [[Grand County, Utah|Grand County]], both of which have significantly lower Mormon populations than the rest of the state.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/individual/#mapPUT|title=CNN Election Center 2008 - Utah Results|accessdate=2008-11-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=4838702|title=ksl.com - Final Tally: Obama Wins Salt Lake County|accessdate=2008-11-19}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://elections.utah.gov/CANVASS%202008.xls |title=elections.utah.gov-Official Canvass of Utah Vote |accessdate=2008-11-28 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090611035008/http://elections.utah.gov/CANVASS%202008.xls |archivedate=June 11, 2009 }}</ref>
 Election 2008 proved to be remarkable as it was a Democratic presidential nominee's best showing in the Beehive State since [[United States presidential election, 1968|1968]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=1968&fips=49&f=0&off=0&elect=0|title=1968 General Election Results - Utah|accessdate=2008-11-19}}</ref>
@@ Line 187: / Line 187: @@
 ! Others
 ! Votes
-! Total<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www-cdn.npr.org/news/specials/election2008/presCounty.php?state=Utah|title=NPR and NewsHour 2008 Election Results|accessdate=2008-11-30}}</ref>
+! Total<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www-cdn.npr.org/news/specials/election2008/presCounty.php?state=Utah |title=NPR and NewsHour 2008 Election Results |accessdate=2008-11-30 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/20120218191418/http://www-cdn.npr.org/news/specials/election2008/presCounty.php?state=Utah |archivedate=February 18, 2012 }}</ref>
 |-
 |{{Party shading/Republican}}|[[Beaver County, Utah|Beaver]] || '''76.4%''' || '''''1,786''''' || 21.8% || ''509'' || 1.8% || ''42'' || '''2,337'''
@@ Line 278: / Line 278: @@
 {{main|List of United States presidential electors, 2008}}
-Technically the voters of Utah cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the [[Electoral College (United States)|Electoral College]]. Utah is allocated 5 electors because it has 3 [[Utah's congressional districts|congressional districts]] and 2 [[List of United States Senators from Utah|senators]]. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 5 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 5 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_ec.htm |title=Electoral College |accessdate=2008-11-01 |publisher=[[California Secretary of State]]}}</ref> An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a [[faithless elector]].
+Technically the voters of Utah cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the [[Electoral College (United States)|Electoral College]]. Utah is allocated 5 electors because it has 3 [[Utah's congressional districts|congressional districts]] and 2 [[List of United States Senators from Utah|senators]]. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 5 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 5 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_ec.htm |title=Electoral College |accessdate=2008-11-01 |publisher=[[California Secretary of State]] |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20081030041546/http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_ec.htm |archivedate=October 30, 2008 }}</ref> 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 capitols.
-The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 5 were pledged to [[John McCain]] and [[Sarah Palin]]:<ref>http://elections.utah.gov/electors.htm</ref>
+The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 5 were pledged to [[John McCain]] and [[Sarah Palin]]:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://elections.utah.gov/electors.htm |title=Archived copy |accessdate=November 8, 2008 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20081108095403/http://elections.utah.gov:80/electors.htm |archivedate=November 8, 2008 }}</ref>
 #Scott Simpson
 #Richard Snelgrove