2008 United States presidential election in Rhode Island

Main article: 2008 United States presidential election

2008 United States presidential election in Rhode Island

←  2004 November 4, 2008 2012  →
Turnout	66.9% [1] 4.8 pp
Nominee Barack Obama John McCain Party Democratic Republican Home state Illinois Arizona Running mate Joe Biden Sarah Palin Electoral vote 4 0 Popular vote 296,571 165,391 Percentage 62.86% 35.06%
County Results Municipality Results Obama   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90% McCain   50–60%
President before election George W. Bush Republican Elected President Barack Obama Democratic

The 2008 United States presidential election in Rhode Island 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.

Rhode Island was won by Democratic nominee Barack Obama with a 27.8% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state Obama would win, or otherwise considered as a safe blue state. At the time, the last time a Republican had carried this state or any county in it was in 1984, when Ronald Reagan won with about 52% of the vote, largely due to the support of Reagan Democrats.

To date, this is the last time that the town of West Greenwich voted Democratic.

Primaries

• 2008 Rhode Island Democratic presidential primary
• 2008 Rhode Island Republican presidential primary

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 [2]	Likely D
Cook Political Report [3]	Solid D
The Takeaway [4]	Solid D
Electoral-vote.com [5]	Solid D
Washington Post [6]	Solid D
Politico [7]	Solid D
RealClearPolitics [8]	Solid D
FiveThirtyEight [6]	Solid D
CQ Politics [9]	Solid D
The New York Times [10]	Solid D
CNN [11]	Safe D
NPR [6]	Solid D
MSNBC [6]	Solid D
Fox News [12]	Likely D
Associated Press [13]	Likely D
Rasmussen Reports [14]	Safe D

Polling

Main article: Statewide opinion polling for the 2008 United States presidential election: Rhode Island

Obama won every single pre-election poll, and each by a double-digit margin of victory. The final 3 polls averaged Obama leading with 51% to 33%. ^[15]

Fundraising

John McCain raised a total of $343,965 in the state. Barack Obama raised $1,563,473. ^[16]

Advertising and visits

Obama and his interest groups spent $671,623. McCain spent nothing. ^[17] The Democratic ticket visited the state once, while the Republican ticket didn't visit the state at all. ^[18]

Analysis

Rhode Island had historically supported a Republican candidate until 1908, but has supported Democrats all but seven times in the 24 elections that have followed.^{[ citation needed ]} In 1980, Rhode Island was one of only six states to vote against Ronald Reagan. Reagan did carry Rhode Island in his 49-state victory in 1984—only the third time since Eisenhower that a Republican won the state. However, Reagan's 3.6% margin was his second-closest in the nation, ahead of only his 2.8% margin in neighboring Massachusetts. Despite George H. W. Bush aggressively contesting the state in 1988, Michael Dukakis won it by a fairly convincing 13 points, his best performance. The state has not been seriously contested since then, often giving Democratic presidential nominees their biggest margins. It was Bill Clinton's second-best state in 1996 (behind only Massachusetts) and Al Gore's best state in 2000. In 2004, Rhode Island gave John Kerry more than a 20% margin of victory (the third-highest of any state), with 59.4% of its vote. All but three of Rhode Island's 39 cities and towns voted for the Democratic candidate. The only exceptions were East Greenwich, West Greenwich and Scituate.

This pattern continued in 2008. Rhode Island gave Barack Obama a 27.80% margin of victory with 62.86% of its vote. Rhode Island was Obama's third-strongest state nationwide, only outperforming in Hawaii and Vermont. Every single county in Rhode Island, along with Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, and Hawaii, voted for the former U.S. Senator from Illinois in 2008. Obama also won every town in Rhode Island with the exception of Scituate along with both congressional districts. Independent Ralph Nader had one of his best performances here in 2008 obtaining over 1% of the vote.

Having some of the highest taxes in the nation, Rhode Island is considered to be a liberal bastion. In addition, Rhode Island has abolished capital punishment, making it one of 15 states that have done so. Rhode Island abolished the death penalty very early, just after Michigan (the first state to abolish it), and carried out its last execution in the 1840s. At the time of the 2008 presidential election, Rhode Island was one of two states (along with Nevada) in which prostitution was legal (provided it took place indoors).

During the same election, incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Jack Reed was soundly reelected over Republican Bob Tingle in a landslide three-to-one margin and won every town in the state including Scituate. Reed received 73.07% of the vote while Tingle took in 26.47% (with write-ins obtaining the remaining 0.45%). At the state level, Democrats picked up nine seats in the Rhode Island House of Representatives to augment their supermajority in that chamber.

Results

2008 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Barack Obama	Joe Biden	296,571	62.86%	4
	Republican	John McCain	Sarah Palin	165,391	35.06%	0
	Independent	Ralph Nader	Matt Gonzalez	4,829	1.02%	0
	Write-ins	Write-ins		1,511	0.32%	0
	Libertarian	Bob Barr	Wayne Allyn Root	1,382	0.29%	0
	Green	Cynthia McKinney	Rosa Clemente	797	0.17%	0
	Constitution	Chuck Baldwin	Darrell Castle	675	0.14%	0
	Others	Others		610	0.13%	0
Totals				471,766	100.00%	4
Voter turnout (Voting age population)						58.7%

By county

County	Barack Obama Democratic		John McCain Republican		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Bristol	16,162	62.39%	9,260	35.75%	483	1.86%	6,902	26.64%	25,905
Kent	48,406	57.58%	33,780	40.18%	1,888	2.24%	14,626	17.40%	84,074
Newport	25,479	60.67%	15,717	37.42%	801	1.91%	9,762	23.25%	41,997
Providence	167,442	66.02%	81,010	31.94%	5,178	2.04%	86,432	34.08%	253,630
Washington	39,082	59.07%	25,624	38.73%	1,454	2.20%	13,458	20.34%	66,160
Totals	296,571	62.86%	165,391	35.06%	9,804	2.08%	131,180	27.80%	471,766

By congressional district

Barack Obama carried both of Rhode Island's 2 congressional districts.

District	McCain	Obama	Representative
1st	33.28%	65.10%	Patrick J. Kennedy
2nd	37.02%	61.28%	James Langevin

Electors

Main article: List of 2008 United States presidential electors

Technically the voters of Rhode Island cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Rhode Island is allocated 4 electors because it has 2 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 4 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 4 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. ^[19] 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 the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 4 were pledged to Barack Obama and Joe Biden: ^[20]

1. Maryellen Goodwin
2. Charlene Lima
3. John McConnell
4. Mark Weiner

See also

• United States presidential elections in Rhode Island

References

1. This figure is calculated by dividing the total number of votes cast in 2008 (469,767) by an estimate of the number of registered voters in Rhode Island in 2008 (701,307).
   • For the number of votes cast, see "Official 2008 Presidential General Election Results". Rhode Island Board of Elections. November 17, 2008. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
   • For the estimated number of registered voters, see "Eligible Voter October 4, 2008" (PDF). Rhode Island Board of Elections. October 4, 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 3, 2010. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
2. "D.C.'s Political Report: The complete source for campaign summaries". January 1, 2009. Archived from the original on January 1, 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
3. "Presidential". May 5, 2015. Archived from the original on May 5, 2015. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
4. "Vote 2008 - The Takeaway - Track the Electoral College vote predictions". April 22, 2009. Archived from the original on April 22, 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
5. "Electoral-vote.com: President, Senate, House Updated Daily". electoral-vote.com. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
6. Based on Takeaway
7. "POLITICO's 2008 Swing State Map - POLITICO.com". www.politico.com. Retrieved September 22, 2016.
8. "RealClearPolitics - Electoral Map". Archived from the original on June 5, 2008.
9. "CQ Presidential Election Maps, 2008". CQ Politics. Archived from the original on June 14, 2009. Retrieved December 20, 2009.
10. Nagourney, Adam; Zeleny, Jeff; Carter, Shan (November 4, 2008). "The Electoral Map: Key States". The New York Times. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
11. "October – 2008 – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs". CNN. October 31, 2008. Archived from the original on June 19, 2010. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
12. "Winning The Electoral College". Fox News. April 27, 2010.
13. "roadto270". hosted.ap.org. Retrieved September 22, 2016.
14. "Election 2008: Electoral College Update - Rasmussen Reports". www.rasmussenreports.com. Retrieved September 22, 2016.
15. "Election 2008 Polls - Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections" . Retrieved December 19, 2022.
16. "Presidential Campaign Finance". www.fec.gov. Archived from the original on January 18, 2009.
17. "Map: Campaign Ad Spending - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
18. "Map: Campaign Candidate Visits - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
19. "Electoral College". California Secretary of State. Archived from the original on October 30, 2008. Retrieved November 1, 2008.
20. U. S. Electoral College 2008 Election - Certificates