2008 United States presidential election in Massachusetts

← 2004 November 4, 2008 2012 →
Turnout	73.53%[1] ( 2.12%)
Nominee Barack Obama John McCain Party Democratic Republican Home state Illinois Arizona Running mate Joe Biden Sarah Palin Electoral vote 12 0 Popular vote 1,904,097 1,108,854 Percentage 61.80% 35.99%
County results Municipality results Congressional district results Precinct results Obama   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%   90–100% McCain   40–50%   50–60%
President before election George W. Bush Republican Elected President Barack Obama Democratic

The2008 United States presidential election in Massachusetts took place, as in all 50 states andD.C., as part of the2008 United States presidential election of November 4, 2008. Voters chose 12 representatives, or electors to theElectoral College, who, in turn, voted for the office ofpresident andvice president.

Democratic Party nomineeBarack Obama won the state by a 25.8% margin of victory: slightly better thanJohn Kerry's 25.2% margin in2004. Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations forecast that Obama would win Massachusetts, or otherwise considered it to be a safeblue state. Massachusetts had been a Democratic-leaning state since1928, and a Democratic stronghold since1960, and has maintained extremely large Democratic margins since1996. No Republican presidential nominee has won a single county in the state, nor obtained more than 40% of the vote, sinceGeorge H. W. Bush in1988.^[2][3] In 2008, DemocratBarack Obama captured the state's 12 electoral votes winning 61.80% of the popular vote to RepublicanJohn McCain's 35.99%. Massachusetts was also 1 of only 6 states in which neither Obama nor McCain won during theprimary season.^[a]

To date, this is the last time that the towns ofBerkley,Brimfield,Brookfield,Carver,Dighton,Dudley,Holland,Oxford,Phillipston,Rehoboth,Spencer, andWarren voted Democratic.

2008Massachusetts Democratic presidential primary

← 2004 February 5, 2008 (2008-02-05) 2012 →

Candidate Hillary Clinton Barack Obama Party Democratic Democratic Home state New York Illinois Delegate count 55 38 Popular vote 705,185 511,680 Percentage 56.01% 40.64%

The Massachusetts Democratic primary took place onSuper Tuesday, February 5, 2008, and had a total of 93 delegates at stake. The winner in each ofMassachusetts's 10 congressional districts was awarded all of that district's delegates, totaling 61. Another 32 delegates were awarded to the statewide winner,Hillary Clinton. The 93 delegates represented Massachusetts at theDemocratic National Convention inDenver, Colorado. 26 other unpledged delegates, known assuperdelegates, also attended the convention and cast their votes as well.

Polls indicated that Clinton was leadingBarack Obama in the days leading up to the contest in Massachusetts.^[4]

Hillary Rodham Clinton won a convincing victory in Massachusetts over Barack Obama due to a number of factors. According to exit polls, 85% of voters in the Massachusetts Democratic Primary wereCaucasians and they opted for Clinton by a margin of 58–40% compared to the 6% ofAfrican American voters who backed Obama by a margin of 66–29.Hispanics/Latinos, which comprised 5% of the total voters, backed Clinton by a margin of 56–36%. Clinton narrowly won the youth vote (those ages 18–29) by a margin of 49–48 and tied the vote among voters ages 30–44; she also won all voters over the age of 45 by a margin of 60.5–38. Pertaining to socioeconomic class, Clinton won all levels of family income except highly affluent voters making $200,000 or more a year, as they backed Obama by a narrow margin of 53–47%. As for educational attainment levels, Clinton won all categories except those with postgraduate degrees who backed Obama by a margin of 51–47%. Among self-identified Democrats in the primary, which made up 65% of the total electorate, they went for Clinton by a 58–41 margin whileIndependents, which comprised a healthy 33% of the electorate, also went for Clinton by a 54–42 margin. She also won all ideological groups. Clinton also won most major religious denominations –Protestants 53–46;Roman Catholics 64–33; other Christians 51–47; and other religions 49–46. Obama wonJews by a margin of 52–48 as well asatheists/agnostics by a margin of 53–45.

Clinton performed extremely well statewide, carrying a majority of counties and sweeping most of the majorurban areas and cities. Obama wonBoston by fewer than 10,000 votes, while Clinton won other urban and conservative towns^[5] such asSpringfield andWorcester.

Obama had picked up major endorsements from the Massachusetts Democratic establishment prior to Super Tuesday. BothU.S. SenatorsTed Kennedy andJohn Kerry threw their support behind Obama, along withGovernorDeval Patrick. Clinton also picked up a number of top-tier endorsements fromMayorThomas Menino ofBoston andSpeaker of theMassachusetts House of RepresentativesSalvatore DiMasi along withU.S. RepresentativesRichard Neal andBarney Frank, one of the three openlygay members of theU.S. Congress.

2008Massachusetts Republican presidential primary

← 2004 February 5, 2008 (2008-02-05) 2012 →

Candidate Mitt Romney John McCain Party Republican Republican Home state Massachusetts Arizona Delegate count 21 17 Popular vote 255,892 204,779 Percentage 51.92% 41.68%

The Massachusetts Republican Primary took place on February 5, 2008, with 40 national delegates.^[6] Polls indicated that formerGovernor of MassachusettsMitt Romney was leading rivalJohn McCain;^[7] Romney ended up defeating McCain by roughly 10% of the vote.

<tnowiki>*</tnowiki> Candidate dropped out of the race before the primary

2008Massachusetts Green-Rainbow presidential primary

← 2004 February 5, 2008 (2008-02-05) 2012 →

Candidate Ralph Nader Cynthia McKinney Party Green Green Home state District of Columbia Georgia Delegate count 32 0 Popular vote 744 474 Percentage 39.91% 25.43%

Town results of the Massachusetts Green presidential primaries, 2008:      Nader     McKinney      Swift     Ball      Mesplay     Brown      No Votes

The Massachusetts Green-Rainbow primary took place on February 5. Six candidates appeared on the ballot. Ralph Nader won, despite not running for the nomination of the party.

TheWorking Families Party did not have any candidates run in its presidential primary.^[11]

There were 16 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day:

Very early on the election polls were tight,^[25] with McCain even leading by 5 in one poll on January 21 and a tie in a poll on March 16, but Obama won every poll after March 18. He won each by a double-digit margin since August 8. The final 3 polls averaged Obama leading 56% to 36%.^[26]

John McCain raised $4,072,206 in the state. Barack Obama raised $24,358,264.^[27]

Obama spent $46,839 while the Republican ticket spent nothing.^[28] Neither campaign visited the state.^[29]

In terms of voting in presidential elections,Massachusetts is one of the most heavily Democratic states in the nation. Massachusetts is ethnically diverse, highly educated, and less religious. The Bay State has voted for the Democratic presidential nominee in every election since1960 except forRonald Reagan's landslide victories of1980 and1984. In1972, only Massachusetts and theDistrict of Columbia voted for DemocraticU.S. SenatorGeorge McGovern as RepublicanRichard M. Nixon won reelection.

Barack Obama won the state's 12 electoral votes with 61.80% of the vote toJohn McCain's 35.99%. This is slightly higher than Kerry's victory in 2004. Despite that, 4 counties in the state trended away from the Democratic party: Bristol, Plymouth, Norfolk, and Worcester.

Both of Massachusetts's U.S. Senators and all 10 of itsU.S. Representatives were Democrats, and Democrats heldsupermajorities in the Massachusetts Legislature. At the same time in 2008, incumbent Democratic U.S. SenatorJohn Kerry was reelected with 65.86% of the vote over Republican Jeff Beatty's 30.93% as were all of the state's delegates in theU.S. House of Representatives. At the state level, Democrats picked up three seats in theMassachusetts House of Representatives and one seat in theMassachusetts Senate.

Barack Obama swept all ten congressional districts in Massachusetts.^[30]

Technically the voters of Massachusetts cast their ballots for electors: representatives to theElectoral College. Massachusetts is allocated 12 electors because it has 10congressional districts and 2senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 12 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 12 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.^[31] An elector who votes for someone other than his or her 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 capitols.

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 12 were pledged to Obama and Biden:^[32]

1. Brenda Brathwaite
2. Mary Ann Dube
3. Patricia Marcus
4. Faye Morrison
5. Carol Pacheco
6. Corinne Wingard
7. John Brissette
8. Raymond Jordan
9. Joe Kaplan
10. Melvin Poindexter
11. Samuel Poulten
12. Jason Whittet

• United States presidential elections in Massachusetts
• 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries