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 County results Congressional district results
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| Elections in Utah | ||||||
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Ballot measures
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The2008 United States presidential election in Utah took place on November 4, 2008. It was part of the2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose five representatives, or electors to theElectoral College, who voted forpresident andvice president.
Utah was won by Republican nomineeJohn McCain by a 28% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all leading news organizations considered this a state McCain would win, or otherwise considered as a safered state. Highlighting its status as a GOP bastion, Utah gave McCain one of his largest victories over DemocratBarack Obama, a near two-to-one margin. Obama did nevertheless manage to carry three counties, and significantly improved upon John Kerry's performance in2004.
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 |
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 three-poll average showed McCain leading 59% to 31%.[14]
John McCain raised a total of $1,165,621 in the state. Barack Obama raised $2,121,563.[15]
Obama spent $297,645. McCain spent just $250.[16] Neither campaign visited the state.[17]
Utah is a heavily Republican state that has not voted for a Democratic presidential nominee sinceLyndon B. Johnson's landslide in1964, and even then the state voted considerably to the right of the nation. Johnson is also the last Democrat to manage even 40 percent of Utah's popular vote. The majority of the state's population isMormon and highlyconservative, especially on social issues. Utah gaveGeorge W. Bush his largest margin of victory in2004 overJohn Kerry, as Bush received over 71 percent to Kerry's 26 percent and carried every county in the state.[18]
With 62.15 percent of the popular vote, Utah proved to be McCain's third strongest state in the 2008 election afterOklahoma and neighboringWyoming.[19]
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 winningSalt Lake County, the state's most populous county that contains the state capital ofSalt Lake City, by a mere 296 votes–the first time a Democrat had carried that county since 1964. Obama also carriedSummit andGrand counties, both of which have significantly lower Mormon populations than the rest of the state.[20][21][22] Nonetheless, Obama became the first Democrat to win theWhite House without carryingCarbon County sinceWoodrow Wilson in1912.
This election was the Democratic presidential nominee's best showing in Utah since1968.[23] In substantiallyNative American and non-Mormon – but historically heavily Republican –San Juan County, Obama's performance was the best by a Democratic presidential candidate sinceFranklin D. Roosevelt in1940.
During the same election, popular incumbent RepublicanGovernorJon 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 theUtah House of Representatives.
| 2008 United States presidential election in Utah | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Running mate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes | |
| Republican | John McCain | Sarah Palin | 596,030 | 62.58% | 5 | |
| Democratic | Barack Obama | Joe Biden | 327,670 | 34.41% | 0 | |
| Constitution | Chuck Baldwin | Darrell Castle | 12,012 | 1.26% | 0 | |
| Peace and Freedom | Ralph Nader | Matt Gonzalez | 8,416 | 0.88% | 0 | |
| Libertarian | Bob Barr | Wayne Allyn Root | 6,966 | 0.73% | 0 | |
| Green | Cynthia McKinney | Rosa Clemente | 982 | 0.10% | 0 | |
| Others | Others | 293 | 0.03% | 0 | ||
| Totals | 952,370 | 100.00% | 5 | |||
| Voter turnout (Voting age population) | 55.5% | |||||
| County | John McCain Republican | Barack Obama Democratic | Charles Baldwin[24] Constitution | Ralph Nader[24] Peace and Freedom | Bob Barr[24] Libertarian | Various candidates[24] Other parties | Margin | Total votes cast | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Beaver | 1,902 | 75.54% | 542 | 21.53% | 30 | 1.19% | 21 | 0.83% | 12 | 0.48% | 11 | 0.44% | 1,360 | 54.01% | 2,518 |
| Box Elder | 15,228 | 79.24% | 3,311 | 17.23% | 221 | 1.15% | 147 | 0.76% | 127 | 0.66% | 183 | 0.95% | 11,917 | 62.01% | 19,217 |
| Cache | 29,127 | 69.48% | 10,294 | 24.56% | 1,153 | 2.75% | 315 | 0.75% | 372 | 0.89% | 661 | 1.58% | 18,833 | 44.92% | 41,922 |
| Carbon | 4,091 | 52.30% | 3,468 | 44.34% | 62 | 0.79% | 90 | 1.15% | 48 | 0.61% | 63 | 0.81% | 623 | 7.96% | 7,822 |
| Daggett | 297 | 66.89% | 131 | 29.50% | 2 | 0.45% | 8 | 1.80% | 1 | 0.23% | 5 | 1.13% | 166 | 37.39% | 444 |
| Davis | 77,341 | 69.74% | 30,477 | 27.48% | 1,175 | 1.06% | 956 | 0.86% | 811 | 0.73% | 142 | 0.13% | 46,864 | 42.26% | 110,902 |
| Duchesne | 4,689 | 81.24% | 911 | 15.78% | 66 | 1.14% | 27 | 0.47% | 37 | 0.64% | 42 | 0.73% | 3,778 | 65.46% | 5,772 |
| Emery | 3,358 | 75.02% | 973 | 21.74% | 43 | 0.96% | 39 | 0.87% | 26 | 0.58% | 37 | 0.83% | 2,385 | 53.28% | 4,476 |
| Garfield | 1,710 | 78.37% | 405 | 18.56% | 16 | 0.73% | 11 | 0.50% | 11 | 0.50% | 29 | 1.32% | 1,305 | 59.81% | 2,182 |
| Grand | 1,871 | 45.65% | 2,067 | 50.43% | 28 | 0.68% | 56 | 1.37% | 30 | 0.73% | 47 | 1.05% | -196 | -4.78% | 4,099 |
| Iron | 12,518 | 75.06% | 3,258 | 19.53% | 352 | 2.11% | 138 | 0.83% | 163 | 0.98% | 249 | 1.50% | 9,260 | 55.53% | 16,678 |
| Juab | 2,683 | 73.19% | 741 | 20.21% | 129 | 3.52% | 30 | 0.82% | 28 | 0.76% | 55 | 1.50% | 1,942 | 52.98% | 3,666 |
| Kane | 2,212 | 69.65% | 856 | 26.95% | 27 | 0.85% | 31 | 0.98% | 24 | 0.76% | 26 | 0.82% | 1,356 | 42.70% | 3,176 |
| Millard | 3,653 | 77.08% | 758 | 15.99% | 264 | 5.57% | 27 | 0.57% | 34 | 0.72% | 3 | 0.06% | 2,895 | 61.09% | 4,739 |
| Morgan | 3,311 | 79.06% | 689 | 16.45% | 102 | 2.44% | 28 | 0.67% | 29 | 0.69% | 29 | 0.69% | 2,622 | 62.61% | 4,188 |
| Piute | 635 | 79.28% | 141 | 17.60% | 13 | 1.62% | 7 | 0.87% | 2 | 0.25% | 3 | 0.37% | 494 | 61.68% | 801 |
| Rich | 831 | 82.36% | 154 | 15.26% | 9 | 0.89% | 5 | 0.50% | 5 | 0.50% | 5 | 0.50% | 677 | 67.10% | 1,009 |
| Salt Lake | 176,692 | 48.09% | 176,988 | 48.17% | 3,229 | 0.88% | 3,768 | 1.03% | 2,556 | 0.70% | 4,211 | 1.15% | -296 | -0.08% | 367,444 |
| San Juan | 2,638 | 51.42% | 2,406 | 46.90% | 45 | 0.88% | 25 | 0.49% | 14 | 0.27% | 2 | 0.04% | 232 | 4.52% | 5,130 |
| Sanpete | 6,664 | 75.06% | 1,631 | 18.37% | 324 | 3.65% | 87 | 0.98% | 54 | 0.61% | 118 | 1.33% | 5,033 | 56.69% | 8,878 |
| Sevier | 6,394 | 79.35% | 1,359 | 16.87% | 131 | 1.63% | 52 | 0.65% | 53 | 0.66% | 69 | 0.85% | 5,035 | 62.48% | 8,058 |
| Summit | 6,956 | 41.11% | 9,532 | 56.34% | 75 | 0.44% | 126 | 0.74% | 104 | 0.61% | 127 | 0.75% | -2,576 | -15.23% | 16,920 |
| Tooele | 10,998 | 62.98% | 5,830 | 33.38% | 206 | 1.18% | 151 | 0.86% | 137 | 0.78% | 141 | 0.81% | 5,168 | 29.60% | 17,463 |
| Uintah | 8,441 | 82.84% | 1,462 | 14.35% | 157 | 1.54% | 45 | 0.44% | 37 | 0.36% | 47 | 0.46% | 6,979 | 68.49% | 10,189 |
| Utah | 122,224 | 77.71% | 29,567 | 18.80% | 2,877 | 1.83% | 1,119 | 0.71% | 1,311 | 0.83% | 181 | 0.12% | 92,657 | 58.91% | 157,279 |
| Wasatch | 5,430 | 62.96% | 2,892 | 33.53% | 81 | 0.94% | 86 | 1.00% | 30 | 0.35% | 106 | 1.23% | 2,538 | 29.43% | 8,625 |
| Washington | 37,311 | 74.57% | 10,826 | 21.64% | 628 | 1.26% | 312 | 0.62% | 413 | 0.83% | 545 | 1.09% | 26,485 | 52.93% | 50,035 |
| Wayne | 940 | 70.04% | 335 | 24.96% | 10 | 0.75% | 12 | 0.89% | 12 | 0.89% | 33 | 2.46% | 605 | 45.08% | 1,342 |
| Weber | 45,885 | 61.99% | 25,666 | 34.67% | 557 | 0.75% | 697 | 0.94% | 485 | 0.66% | 732 | 0.99% | 20,219 | 27.32% | 74,022 |
| Totals | 596,030 | 62.15% | 327,670 | 34.17% | 12,012 | 1.25% | 8,416 | 0.88% | 6,966 | 0.73% | 7,902 | 0.82% | 268,360 | 27.98% | 958,996 |
| Democratic Hold Gain from Republican | Republican Hold |
McCain won all three of the state's congressional districts, including one held by a Democrat.
| 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) |
| Jason Chaffetz (111th Congress) |
Technically the voters of Utah cast their ballots for electors: representatives to theElectoral College. Utah is allocated 5 electors because it has 3congressional districts and 2senators. 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 their 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.[25] 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 capitols.
The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 5 were pledged toJohn McCain andSarah Palin:[26]
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