2008 United States presidential election in Vermont (Redirected from United States presidential election in Vermont, 2008)

2008 United States presidential election in Vermont

← 2004 November 4, 2008 2012 →
 
Nominee Barack Obama John McCain
Party Democratic Republican
Home state Illinois Arizona
Running mate Joe Biden Sarah Palin
Electoral vote 3 0
Popular vote 219,262 98,974
Percentage 67.46% 30.45%


President before election

George W. Bush
Republican

Elected President

Barack Obama
Democratic

The 2008 United States presidential election in Vermont took place on November 4, 2008, concurrent with the federal election in all 50 states and D.C., which was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose three representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Vermont was won by Democratic nominee Barack Obama with 67.46%, to Republican John McCain's 30.45%, a Democratic victory margin of 37.01%.

Obama carried every county by more than 60% of the vote with the exception of Essex County, which he won with 56%. He also broke 70% in 3 counties. A very liberal Northeastern state, Vermont was the second most Democratic state in the nation, weighing in as a whopping 30% more Democratic than the national average in the 2008 election. Obama's landslide win in Vermont outperformed Lyndon Johnson's 1964 Democratic landslide in the state, making the results of 2008 the strongest Democratic victory in Vermont's history.

Vermont was one of three states, along with Obama's home state of Illinois and Biden's home state of Delaware, where Obama outperformed Franklin Roosevelt in all four of his runs and Lyndon Johnson in his landslide reelection.

Primaries

Campaign

Predictions

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 Likely D
Cook Political Report Solid D
The Takeaway Solid D
Electoral-vote.com Solid D
Washington Post Solid D
Politico Solid D
RealClearPolitics Solid D
FiveThirtyEight Solid D
CQ Politics Solid D
The New York Times Solid D
CNN Safe D
NPR Solid D
MSNBC Solid D
Fox News Likely D
Associated Press Likely D
Rasmussen Reports Safe D

Polling

Obama won every single pre-election poll, and each with a double-digit margin of victory. The final 3 polls averaged Obama leading 59% to 35%.

Fundraising

Obama raised a total of $2,071,271 in the state. McCain raised $206,395.

Advertising and visits

Neither campaign spent any money on advertising in Vermont. Neither campaign visited the state.

Analysis

Vermont was once the quintessential Yankee Republican state. It identified with the newly formed GOP in 1856 and remained in the Republican fold for over 130 years. From 1856 to 1988, it only voted for a Democrat once, in Lyndon Johnson's 44-state landslide of 1964. Vermont and Maine were the only states that Franklin D. Roosevelt didn't carry in any of his four elections.

However, the brand of Republicanism practiced in the Green Mountain State has historically been a moderate one. Coupled with an influx of more liberal newcomers from out of state, this made Vermont considerably friendlier to Democrats as the national GOP moved further to the right. After narrowly supporting George H. W. Bush in 1988, Vermont gave Bill Clinton a 16-point margin in 1992. Republicans have not seriously contested the state since then, and Vermont is now reckoned as part of a bloc of solidly blue states spanning most of the Northeast.

The 2008 race kept this tradition going. Obama won with 67% of the vote to McCain's 30%. The state was called for Obama almost as soon as the polls closed, and was the first state called for Obama. Obama was the first Democrat to get over 70% of the vote in any Vermont county since 1964, and the first for either party since 1972.

Vermont was Obama's second-best state and his best in the contiguous 48 states; only topped by the staggering 71% he received in Hawaii, the state where he was born. The Obama-Biden ticket won every county in the state, including several northeastern counties which had a history of voting Republican. Obama also performed better than John Kerry in every county. As a measure of how Republican Vermont once was, George W. Bush was at the time the only Republican to win the White House without carrying Vermont.

Results

2008 United States presidential election in Vermont
Party Candidate Running mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Democratic Barack Obama Joe Biden 219,262 67.46% 3
Republican John McCain Sarah Palin 98,974 30.45% 0
Independent Ralph Nader Matt Gonzalez 3,339 1.03% 0
Write-ins* Write-ins 1,464 0.45% 0
Libertarian Bob Barr Wayne Allyn Root 1,067 0.33% 0
Constitution Chuck Baldwin Darrell Castle 500 0.15% 0
Others* Others 440 0.14% 0
Totals 325,046 100.00% 3
Voter turnout (Voting age population) 66.7%

By county

County Barack Obama
Democratic
John McCain
Republican
Various candidates
Other parties
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # %
Addison 13,202 68.62% 5,667 29.46% 369 1.92% 7,535 39.16% 19,238
Bennington 12,524 65.47% 6,133 32.06% 472 2.47% 6,391 33.41% 19,129
Caledonia 8,900 60.43% 5,472 37.15% 356 2.42% 3,428 23.28% 14,728
Chittenden 59,611 71.44% 22,237 26.65% 1,592 1.91% 37,374 44.79% 83,440
Essex 1,733 55.89% 1,284 41.41% 84 2.70% 449 14.48% 3,101
Franklin 13,179 61.41% 7,853 36.59% 428 2.00% 5,326 24.82% 21,460
Grand Isle 2,694 63.11% 1,490 34.90% 85 1.99% 1,204 28.21% 4,269
Lamoille 8,914 70.37% 3,515 27.75% 239 1.88% 5,399 42.62% 12,668
Orange 9,799 64.56% 5,047 33.25% 333 2.19% 4,752 31.31% 15,179
Orleans 7,998 62.63% 4,482 35.10% 291 2.27% 3,516 27.53% 12,771
Rutland 19,355 61.22% 11,584 36.64% 678 2.14% 7,771 24.58% 31,617
Washington 22,324 69.33% 9,129 28.35% 747 2.32% 13,195 40.98% 32,200
Windham 17,585 73.02% 5,997 24.90% 499 2.08% 11,588 48.12% 24,081
Windsor 21,444 68.81% 9,084 29.15% 637 2.04% 12,360 39.66% 31,165
Totals 219,262 67.46% 98,974 30.45% 6,810 2.10% 120,288 37.01% 325,046
County Flips:

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

By congressional district

Due to the state's low population, only one congressional district is allocated. This district, called the At-Large district because it covers the entire state, is thus equivalent to the statewide election results.

District McCain Obama Representative
At-large 30.45% 67.46% Peter Welch

Electors

Technically the voters of Vermont, as they do in every state, cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Vermont is allocated three electors because it has 1 congressional district and 2 senators. 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 his or her 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. 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 elected at large as members of the Electoral College from the state. All three were pledged to Barack Obama and Joe Biden:

  1. Claire Ayer
  2. Euan Bear
  3. Kevin Christie

See also


This page was last updated at 2023-10-30 11:13 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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