United States presidential election in Mississippi, 2008

United States presidential election in Mississippi, 2008

November 4, 2008

Nominee John McCain Barack Obama Party Republican Democratic Home state Arizona Illinois Running mate Sarah Palin Joe Biden Electoral vote 6 0 Popular vote 724,597 554,662 Percentage 56.2% 43.0%

County Results McCain   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%   80-90% Obama   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%   80-90%

President before election George W. Bush Republican Elected President Barack Obama Democratic

Elections in Mississippi
Federal government Presidential Elections 1820 1824 1828 1832 1836 1840 1844 1848 1852 1856 1860 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 Presidential Primaries Democratic 2008 2016 Republican 2008 2012 2016 U.S. Senate elections 1972 1976 1978 1982 1984 1988 1990 1994 1996 2000 2002 2006 2008 2008 Special 2012 2014 2018 2018 Special U.S. House elections 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 Special Elections 4th district, 1981 1st district, 2008 1st district, 2015
State government State elections 2003 2007 2011 2015 Gubernatorial elections 1873 1877 1881 1885 1889 1895 1899 1903 1907 1911 1915 1919 1923 1927 1931 1935 1939 1943 1947 1951 1955 1959 1963 1967 1971 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019
Ballot measures 2004 Amendment 1
City of Jackson Mayoral elections 2005 2009 2013 2014 2017

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.

Mississippi was won by Republican nominee John McCain with a 13.2% 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. Although the state has the largest African American percentage in the country, Mississippi remains a safe red state at the presidential level, having voted Republican every election year since 1980. While there was comparably high African American turnout compared to previous elections in Mississippi, it was not enough to overcome the state's strong Republican leanings.

Primaries

• Mississippi Democratic primary, 2008
• Mississippi Republican primary, 2008

Campaign

Analysis

Mississippi is one of the most racially polarized states in presidential elections. African Americans uniformly vote Democratic while Caucasians vote Republican nearly as uniformly. In 2004, 14% of Caucasians voted for John Kerry and 10% of African Americans voted for Bush, according to exit polling.^[19]

White Democrats began splitting their tickets in national elections as early as the 1940s when the national party became more friendly to the Civil Rights Movement, culminating when Barry Goldwater carried the state with a staggering 87 percent of the vote in 1964. The Republican trend accelerated in the late 1970s with the rise of the religious right. The last Democratic presidential nominee to win Mississippi was Jimmy Carter in 1976, even then, he only won it by 1.9 points. Due to its status as a safe red state, little campaigning took place in Mississippi by either of the two major party candidates. Indeed, the state was last seriously contested in 1980.

In 2008, Barack Obama was able to improve on Kerry's performance by six percent, mainly due to the higher African American turnout. Obama's main support was in the Black Belt, the western delta counties next to the Mississippi River. In contrast, McCain's margins came from the regions bordering the Gulf Coast, the northeast Appalachian area and the Jackson and Memphis suburbs. Voting became even more polarized: nine in ten whites voted Republican, and nearly all blacks voted Democratic in Mississippi, according to exit polls.^[19] As expected, McCain carried the Magnolia State by a comfortable 13.18-point margin over Obama. McCain's margin of victory, however, was less than that of George W. Bush's 19.69-point margin of victory over John Kerry in 2004.

Mississippi was also the only state to list the official candidates of the Reform Party on their ballot.^[20]

At the same time, incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Thad Cochran was reelected with 61.44% of the vote over Democrat Erik Fleming who received 38.56%. Appointed U.S. Senator Roger Wicker stood for election as well in 2008 against former Democratic Governor Ronnie Musgrove. The race was expected to be much closer, but the Republicans ran ads accusing Musgrove of supporting gay rights, not a popular position in this strongly socially conservative state. Wicker defeated Musgrove by almost 10 points, 54.96%-45.04%.

Results

Results breakdown

Electors

Technically the voters of Mississippi cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Mississippi is allocated 6 electors because it has 4 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 6 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 6 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.^[22] 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 6 were pledged to John McCain and Sarah Palin:^[23]

1. Jim Barksdale
2. Barry Bridgforth
3. Fred Carl
4. Bobby Chain
5. Charles Doty
6. Victor Mavar

References

See also