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| Turnout | 66.03% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Borough and census area results(modern boundaries, estimated).svg) Borough and census area results(concurrent boundaries, estimated)
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| Elections in Alaska |
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The2008 United States presidential election in Alaska took place on November 4, 2008, as part of thenationwide presidential election held throughout all 50 states and theDistrict of Columbia. Voters chose three electors, or representatives to theElectoral College, who voted forpresident andvice president.
Prior to the election, all leading news organizations considered this a state Republican nomineeJohn McCain would win, or otherwise considered as a safered state.Democratic nomineeBarack Obama did, however, perform better in 2008 than Democratic nomineeJohn Kerry did in2004. This is the first election since its statehood in which Alaska failed to support the same candidate asVirginia, and the only time in which it did so forIndiana.
Alaska was won by McCain by a 21.53% margin. The presence of the state's popularGovernor,Sarah Palin, on the ticket as the Republican Party'svice presidential nominee appeared to help. The McCain–Palin ticket received just a slightly smaller percentage of Alaskan votes than did Bush–Cheney in 2004 despite the nation swinging Democratic by 4.66% (48.27% to 52.93%). Polls from April until August indeed showed John McCain with a slim lead, with one poll taken in early August even showing Obama five points ahead. However, from when Sarah Palin was announced as McCain's running mate on August 29, polls showed John McCain consistently ahead. RealClearPolitics gave the state an average of 55.8% for McCain, compared to 41.3% for Obama.
In addition, McCain's 193,841 vote total is the most received by a presidential candidate in the state's history. As of the2020 election, this is the last election in whichAleutians West Census Area andYukon–Koyukuk Census Area voted for the Republican candidate.
There were 16 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day:
| Source | Ranking |
|---|---|
| D.C. Political Report[1] | Likely R |
| Cook Political Report[2] | Solid R |
| The Takeaway[3] | Solid R |
| Electoral-vote.com[4] | Solid R |
| Washington Post[5] | Solid R |
| Politico[6] | Solid R |
| RealClearPolitics[7] | Solid R |
| FiveThirtyEight[5] | Solid R |
| CQ Politics[8] | Solid R |
| The New York Times[9] | Solid R |
| CNN[10] | Safe R |
| NPR[5] | Solid R |
| MSNBC[5] | Solid R |
| Fox News[11] | Likely R |
| Associated Press[12] | Likely R |
| Rasmussen Reports[13] | Safe R |
Opinion polls consistently showed John McCain to be leading Barack Obama. From April until August they showed John McCain with a slim lead, with one poll taken in early August showing Obama five points ahead. However, from whenSarah Palin was announced as McCain's running mate on August 29, polls showed John McCain consistently ahead.RealClearPolitics gave the state an average of 55.8% for McCain, compared to 41.3% for Obama.[14]
Barack Obama raised $977,438. John McCain raised $321,101.[15]
Obama spent $134,686. McCain and his interest groups spent just $1,836.[16] The Democratic ticket didn't visit the state. Alaskan nativeSarah Palin campaigned just once in the state during the fall election.[17]
At the time of the election, Alaska had a RepublicanGovernor andLieutenant Governor (Sarah Palin andSean Parnell, respectively) and was represented in both theU.S. Senate and theU.S. House of Representatives solely by Republicans (U.S. SenatorTed Stevens, who wasdefeated for reelection in 2008 by the former DemocraticMayor of AnchorageMark Begich, and U.S. SenatorLisa Murkowski, and U.S. RepresentativeDon Young). At the time of the election, Republicans held a majority in theAlaska House of Representatives whereas a coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans controlled theAlaska Senate. Furthermore, sincebecoming a state in 1959, Alaska has voted for the Republican nominee in every presidential election with the exception of1964 when Alaska voted for presidentLyndon B. Johnson in his 44-state landslide.
Early in the campaign, Obama actually bought some advertising in Alaska, apparently thinking thatLibertarianBob Barr could hold down McCain's numbers; Alaska has a history of supporting third-party candidates.[18] Also, several polls in the early summer of 2008 showed the race within single digits (with one poll from Alaska pollsterHays Research showing Obama with a five-point lead).[19]
| Party | Candidate | Running mate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | John McCain | Sarah Palin | 193,841 | 59.42% | 3 | |
| Democratic | Barack Obama | Joe Biden | 123,594 | 37.89% | 0 | |
| Independent | Ralph Nader | Matt Gonzalez | 3,783 | 1.16% | 0 | |
| Alaskan Independence | Chuck Baldwin | Darrell Castle | 1,660 | 0.51% | 0 | |
| Libertarian | Bob Barr | Wayne Allyn Root | 1,589 | 0.49% | 0 | |
| Independent | Write-in candidates | 1,730 | 0.53% | 0 | ||
| Totals | 327,341 | 100.00% | 3 | |||
| Voter turnout | 66.03% | |||||
| [20] | ||||||
| Democratic Hold Gain from Republican | Republican Hold |
Alaska has an at-large congressional equivalent to the statewide results.
Technically the voters of Alaska cast their ballots for electors—representatives to theElectoral College. Alaska is allocated 3 electors because it has 1congressional district and 2senators. 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.[21] An elector who votes for someone other than their candidate is known as afaithless elector.
The electors of each state and theDistrict 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 toJohn McCain andSarah Palin:[22]
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