2004 United States presidential election in New Jersey

Main article: 2004 United States presidential election

2004 United States presidential election in New Jersey

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Nominee John Kerry George W. Bush Party Democratic Republican Home state Massachusetts Texas Running mate John Edwards Dick Cheney Electoral vote 15 0 Popular vote 1,911,430 1,670,003 Percentage 52.92% 46.24%

County results Congressional district results Municipality results Kerry   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%   90–100% Bush   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   90–100%

President before election George W. Bush Republican Elected President George W. Bush Republican

The 2004 United States presidential election in New Jersey took place on November 2, 2004, and was part of the 2004 United States presidential election. Voters chose 15 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. Democratic nominee John Kerry defeated Republican incumbent President George W. Bush by a 6.68% margin of victory in New Jersey. However, Bush was re-elected to the presidency.

Prior to the election, most news organizations considered New Jersey a blue state that Kerry would win. Due to the impact of the September 11, 2001 attacks and Democratic Governor Jim McGreevey's resignation following threats of a sexual harassment lawsuit, political observers believed that the presidential contest in New Jersey would be closer than usual. Polls showed Senator John F. Kerry with a slim lead throughout the campaign, and the Republicans invested some campaign funds in the state.^{[ citation needed ]}

Primaries

• 2004 New Jersey Democratic presidential primary

Campaign

Predictions

There were 12 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election. The table below shows their final predictions before Election Day. ^[1]

Source	Ranking
D.C. Political Report	Lean D
Cook Political Report	Likely D
Research 2000	Solid D
Zogby International	Likely D
Washington Post	Likely D
Washington Dispatch	Likely D
Washington Times	Solid D
The New York Times	Lean D
CNN	Likely D
Newsweek	Lean D
Associated Press	Solid D
Rasmussen Reports	Likely D

Polling

Kerry led by small margins in most pre-election polls taken in New Jersey. A final three-poll rolling average showed Kerry leading Bush, 49% to 42%. ^[2]

Fundraising

Bush raised $5,934,011 from New Jersey donors, ^[3] while Kerry raised $6,513,274. ^[4]

Results

2004 United States presidential election in New Jersey [5] [6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	John Kerry	1,911,430	52.92%	15
	Republican	George W. Bush (Inc.)	1,670,003	46.24%	0
	Independent	Ralph Nader	19,418	0.54%	0
	Libertarian	Michael Badnarik	4,514	0.12%	0
	Constitution	Michael Peroutka	2,750	0.08%	0
	Green	David Cobb	1,807	0.05%	0
	Socialist	Walt Brown	664	0.02%	0
	Socialist Equality	Bill Van Auken	575	0.02%	0
	Socialist Workers	Roger Calero	530	0.01%	0
Totals			3,611,691	100.00%	15
Voter Turnout (Voting age/Registered)					56%/72%

By county

Results of the general election by municipality, darker colors indicate higher win percentage:
-Blue municipalities won by Kerry
-Red municipalities won by Bush

County	John Kerry Democratic		George W. Bush Republican		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Atlantic	55,746	52.54%	49,487	46.64%	864	0.81%	6,259	5.90%	106,097
Bergen	207,666	51.88%	189,833	47.43%	2,745	0.69%	17,833	4.45%	400,244
Burlington	110,411	53.09%	95,936	46.13%	1,609	0.77%	14,475	6.96%	207,956
Camden	137,765	62.36%	81,427	36.86%	1,741	0.79%	56,338	25.50%	220,933
Cape May	21,475	42.31%	28,832	56.80%	455	0.90%	−7,357	−14.49%	50,762
Cumberland	27,875	52.41%	24,362	45.81%	948	1.78%	3,513	6.60%	53,185
Essex	203,681	70.39%	83,374	28.81%	2,293	0.79%	120,307	41.58%	289,348
Gloucester	66,835	52.23%	60,033	46.91%	1,096	0.86%	6,802	5.32%	127,964
Hudson	127,447	67.24%	60,646	31.99%	1,461	0.77%	66,801	35.25%	189,554
Hunterdon	26,050	39.07%	39,888	59.82%	742	1.11%	−13,838	−20.75%	66,680
Mercer	91,580	61.25%	56,604	37.86%	1,326	0.89%	34,976	23.39%	149,510
Middlesex	166,628	56.33%	126,492	42.76%	2,685	0.91%	40,136	13.57%	295,805
Monmouth	133,773	44.60%	163,650	54.56%	2,516	0.84%	−29,877	−9.96%	299,939
Morris	98,066	41.70%	135,241	57.51%	1,847	0.79%	−37,175	−15.81%	235,154
Ocean	99,839	38.93%	154,204	60.13%	2,424	0.95%	−54,365	−21.20%	256,467
Passaic	94,962	55.43%	75,200	43.90%	1,149	0.67%	19,762	11.53%	171,311
Salem	13,749	46.17%	15,721	52.79%	311	1.04%	−1,972	−6.62%	29,781
Somerset	66,476	47.39%	72,508	51.69%	1,295	0.92%	−6,032	−4.30%	140,279
Sussex	23,990	34.54%	44,506	64.08%	962	1.38%	−20,516	−29.54%	69,458
Union	119,372	58.66%	82,517	40.55%	1,613	0.79%	36,855	18.11%	203,502
Warren	18,044	37.43%	29,542	61.28%	622	1.29%	−11,498	−23.85%	48,208
Totals	1,911,430	52.92%	1,670,003	46.23%	30,704	0.85%	241,427	6.69%	3,612,137

County Flips:

Democratic   Hold

Republican   Hold   Gain from Democratic

By congressional district

Kerry won 7 of 13 congressional districts. ^[7]

District	Kerry	Bush	Representative
1st	61%	39%	Rob Andrews
2nd	49%	50%	Frank LoBiondo
3rd	49%	51%	Jim Saxton
4th	44%	56%	Chris Smith
5th	43%	57%	Scott Garrett
6th	57%	43%	Frank Pallone Jr.
7th	47%	53%	Mike Ferguson
8th	59%	41%	Bill Pascrell
9th	59%	41%	Steve Rothman
10th	82%	18%	Donald Payne
11th	42%	58%	Rodney Frelinghuysen
12th	54%	46%	Rush Holt Jr.
13th	69%	31%	Bob Menendez

Electors

Main article: List of 2004 United States presidential electors

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state of New Jersey in 2004. All 15 were pledged to support the Democratic ticket of John Kerry and John Edwards. ^[8]

1. Warren Wallace
2. Wilfredo Caraballo
3. Tom Canzanella
4. Carolyn Walch
5. Peggy Anastos
6. Bernard Kenny
7. Ronald Rice
8. Abed Awad
9. Jack McGreevey – (Father of former Gov. James McGreevey)
10. Wendy Benchle
11. Loni Kaplan
12. Carolyn Wade
13. Riletta L. Cream
14. Bernadette McPherson
15. Upendra Chivukula

See also

• United States presidential elections in New Jersey
• Presidency of George W. Bush

References

1. "D.C.'s Political Report's 2004 Presidential Ratings". D.C.'s Political Report. October 29, 2004. Archived from the original on November 21, 2010. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
2. "Election poll data". uselectionatlas.org. 2004.
3. "George W Bush - $374,659,453 raised, '04 election cycle, Republican Party, President". campaignmoney.com.
4. "John F Kerry - $345,826,176 raised, '04 election cycle, Democrat Party, President". campaignmoney.com.
5. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections - New Jersey 2004".
6. "Official General Election Candidates List" (PDF).
7. "Presidential Results by Congressional District, 2000-2008 – Swing State Project".
8. "U. S. Electoral College 2004 Certificate". archives.gov. May 20, 2019.

External links

• Official Results (New Jersey Division of Elections)
• Official Results by municipality