United States presidential election in Utah, 2004

United States presidential election in Utah, 2004
November 2, 2004

 
Nominee George W. Bush John Kerry
Party Republican Democratic
Home state Texas Massachusetts
Running mate Dick Cheney John Edwards
Electoral vote 5 0
Popular vote 663,742 241,199
Percentage 71.5% 26.0%
County Results
Bush
  50-60%
  60-70%
  70-80%
  80-90%

President before election

George W. Bush
Republican

 Elected President

George W. Bush
Republican

The 2004 United States presidential election in Utah took place on November 2, 2004, and was part of the 2004 United States presidential election. Voters chose 5 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Utah was won by incumbent President George W. Bush by a 45.5% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 12 news organizations considered this a state Bush would win, or otherwise considered as a safe red state. It is a strongly Republican state that in 2004 had a state legislature with a "super-majority" of Republicans in its make-up (meaning the minority parties are unable to block a veto by its members), both U.S. Senators being Republican as well as two of the three members of the U.S. House of Representatives. With 71.54% of the popular vote, Utah was Bush's strongest state in the 2004 election[1].

Primaries

  • Utah Democratic primary, 2004

Campaign

Predictions

There were 12 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day.[2]

  1. D.C. Political Report: Solid Republican
  2. Associated Press: Solid Bush
  3. CNN: Bush
  4. Cook Political Report: Lean Republican
  5. Newsweek: Solid Bush
  6. New York Times: Solid Bush
  7. Rasmussen Reports: Bush
  8. Research 2000: Solid Bush
  9. Washington Post: Bush
  10. Washington Times: Solid Bush
  11. Zogby International: Bush
  12. Washington Dispatch: Bush

Polling

The final 3 polls averaged Bush with 67% to Kerry with 25%.[3]

Fundraising

Bush raised $561,645.[4] Kerry raised $262,031.[5]

Advertising and visits

Neither campaign advertised or visited this state during the fall election.[6][7]

Analysis

Republicans dominate Utah state politics because of the very high Mormon population that accounts for almost 70% of the residents throughout the state. Mormons have been known for having very conservative values. While every county voted for Bush, areas such as Park City (ski resort), Moab (becoming an outpost for environmental activists), Carbon County (largely blue collar), Salt Lake City (urban area with some diversity) and San Juan County (economically distressed and mostly Native American) did give a number of their votes to Kerry. However, other areas were uniformly Republican in voting. Utah County's (home of Provo and Brigham Young University) Republican vote (86%) was by far the largest percentage of any county its size in America.

Results

United States presidential election in Utah, 2004
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican George W. Bush (incumbent) 663,742 71.5% 5
Democratic John Kerry 241,199 26.0% 0
Independent Ralph Nader 11,305 1.2% 0
Constitution Party Michael Peroutka 6,841 0.7% 0
Libertarian Party Michael Badnarik 3,375 0.4% 0
Personal Choice Party Charles Jay 946 0.1% 0
Socialist Workers Party Roger Calero 393 0.0% 0
Green Party David Cobb 39 0.0% 0
Write Ins 4 0.0% 0
Totals - 100.00% 5
Voter turnout (Voting age population) 57.7%

Results breakdown

By county

County Kerry% Kerry# Bush% Bush# Others% Others# Total
Beaver County19.38%49379.52%2,0231.10%282,544
Box Elder County12.22%2,24485.75%15,7512.03%37318,368
Cache County16.05%6,37581.76%32,4862.19%87039,731
Carbon County40.14%3,41558.18%4,9501.68%1438,508
Daggett County21.64%10876.15%3802.20%11499
Davis County19.12%20,89378.88%86,1872.00%2,188109,268
Duchesne County13.28%73885.35%4,7421.37%765,556
Emery County17.76%83180.83%3,7811.41%664,678
Garfield County12.21%26485.48%1,8482.31%502,162
Grand County44.61%1,85851.14%2,1304.25%1774,165
Iron County14.68%2,26782.97%12,8152.36%36415,446
Juab County17.71%60578.46%2,6813.83%1313,417
Kane County18.88%57679.12%2,4142.00%613,051
Millard County12.84%62683.74%4,0843.42%1674,877
Morgan County12.29%47285.94%3,3011.77%683,841
Piute County15.91%12383.57%6460.52%4773
Rich County10.51%10988.91%9220.58%61,037
Salt Lake County37.54%135,94959.57%215,7282.89%10,461362,138
San Juan County38.51%1,90660.02%2,9711.47%734,950
Sanpete County13.98%1,18982.33%7,0043.69%3148,507
Sevier County12.04%92086.34%6,5971.62%1247,641
Summit County45.57%6,97751.83%7,9362.61%39915,312
Tooele County24.78%4,13073.10%12,1812.12%35316,664
Uintah County12.71%1,26685.55%8,5181.74%1739,957
Utah County11.64%17,35785.99%128,2692.38%3,547149,173
Wasatch County24.68%1,85473.26%5,5032.06%1557,512
Washington County17.07%7,51380.95%35,6331.98%87244,018
Wayne County20.51%27978.09%1,0621.40%191,360
Weber County27.32%19,86270.43%51,1992.24%1,63072,691

By congressional district

Bush won all three congressional districts.

District Bush Kerry Representative
1st 73% 25% Rob Bishop
2nd 66% 31% Jim Matheson
3rd 77% 20% Chris Cannon

Electors

Technically the voters of Utah cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Utah is allocated 5 electors because it has 3 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 5 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 5 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 13, 2004, 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 5 were pledged to Bush/Cheney:

  1. Olene S. Walker
  2. Gayle McKeachnie
  3. Lewis K. Billings
  4. Joseph A. Cannon
  5. Scott F. Simpson

References

  1. ↑ "2004 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2018-03-05.
  2. ↑ http://www.dcpoliticalreport.com/members/2004/Pred2.htm#NW%5Bpermanent+dead+link%5D
  3. ↑ http://uselectionatlas.org/USPRESIDENT/GENERAL/CAMPAIGN/2004/polls.php?fips=49
  4. ↑ http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/campaigns/george_w_bush.asp?cycle=04
  5. ↑ http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/campaigns/john_f_kerry.asp?cycle=04
  6. ↑ http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/special/president/campaign.ads/
  7. ↑ http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/special/president/tracking/10.25.html

See also

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