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Borough & census area results
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Elections in Alaska |
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The 2008 United States presidential election in Alaska took place on November 4, 2008, as part of the nationwide presidential election held throughout all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Voters chose 3 electors, or representatives to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Alaska was won by Republican nominee John McCain with a 21.53% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state McCain would win, or otherwise considered as a safe red state. Democratic nominee Barack Obama did, however, perform better in 2008 than Democratic nominee John Kerry did in 2004. This is the first election since its statehood in which Alaska failed to support the same candidate as Virginia, and the only time in which it did so for Indiana.
The presence of the state's popular Governor, Sarah Palin, on the ticket as the Republican Party's vice 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 the 2020 election, this is the last election in which Aleutians West Census Area and Yukon–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 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. [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 native Sarah Palin campaigned just once in the state during the fall election. [17]
At the time of the election, Alaska had a Republican Governor and Lieutenant Governor (Sarah Palin and Sean Parnell, respectively) and was represented in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives solely by Republicans (U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, who was defeated for reelection in 2008 by the former Democratic Mayor of Anchorage Mark Begich, and U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, and U.S. Representative Don Young). At the time of the election, Republicans held a majority in the Alaska House of Representatives whereas a coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans controlled the Alaska Senate. Furthermore, since becoming a state in 1959, Alaska has voted for the Republican nominee in every presidential election with the exception of 1964 when Alaska voted for president Lyndon B. Johnson in his 44-state landslide.
Early in the campaign, Obama actually bought some advertising in Alaska, apparently thinking that Libertarian Bob 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 pollster Hays 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 | ||
Invalid or blank votes | 1,144 | 0.35% | — | |||
Totals | 327,341 | 100.00% | 3 | |||
Voter turnout | 66.03% | |||||
[20] |
Alaska has an at-large congressional equivalent to the statewide results.
Technically the voters of Alaska cast their ballots for electors—representatives to the Electoral College. Alaska is allocated 3 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. [21] 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 capitals.
The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 3 were pledged to John McCain and Sarah Palin: [22]
The 2008 United States presidential election in Wisconsin took place on November 4, 2008, as part of the 2008 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. State voters chose 10 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting Democratic U.S. Senator from Illinois Barack Obama, and his running mate U.S. Senator from Delaware Joe Biden, against Republican challenger and U.S. Senator from Arizona John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
The 2008 United States presidential election in Utah took place on November 4, 2008. It was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose five representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 2008 United States presidential election in Oklahoma took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose seven representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 2008 United States presidential election in Wyoming took place on November 4, 2008, and 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.
The 2008 United States presidential election in North Dakota took place on November 4, 2008, and 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.
The 2008 United States presidential election in Nebraska took place on November 4, 2008, as part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose five electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. However, Nebraska is one of the two states of the U.S. that, instead of giving all of its electors to the winner based on its statewide results, allocates just two electoral votes to the winner of the statewide popular vote. The other three electors vote based on each congressional district's results.
The 2008 United States presidential election in Montana took place on November 4, 2008, and 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.
The 2008 United States presidential election in Maine took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Maine is one of two states in the U.S. that instead of all of the state's four electors of the Electoral College to vote based upon the statewide results of the voters, two of the individual electors vote based on their congressional district because Maine has two congressional districts. The other two electors vote based upon the statewide results. See below in the section of Electors for more information.
The 2008 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose nine representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 2008 United States presidential election in Arizona took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose 10 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 2008 United States presidential election in Texas took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose 34 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 2008 United States presidential election in Arkansas took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. State voters chose six representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 2008 United States presidential election in Idaho took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 2008 United States presidential election in West Virginia took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose 5 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 2008 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 4, 2008, was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose nine representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 2008 United States presidential election in Georgia took place on November 4, 2008. Voters chose 15 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 2008 United States presidential election in Kansas took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose six representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 2008 United States presidential election in Kentucky took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters in Kentucky chose eight representatives to the Electoral College, or electors, who voted for president and vice president.
The 2008 United States presidential election in Mississippi took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose 6 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 2008 United States presidential election in Tennessee was held on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose 11 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
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