2008 United States presidential election in Arkansas

The 2008 United States presidential election in Arkansas 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.

Main article: 2008 United States presidential election
United States presidential election in Arkansas, 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 638,017 422,310
Percentage 58.72% 38.86%
County Results
President before election

George W. Bush
Republican

 Elected President

Barack Obama
Democratic

Elections in Arkansas

Arkansas was won by Republican John McCain by a 19.9% margin of victory, an even greater margin than George W. Bush did in 2004, despite the national Democratic trend. Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state McCain would win, or otherwise considered as a safe red state. The state trended dramatically Republican in 2008, as McCain performed over 4% better than Bush did in 2004, more than any other state. Only five counties swung more Democratic in 2008, and the vast majority of counties swung heavily Republican (some by as much as a 30% swing toward the Republicans).[1] Of the 10 counties with the largest % swing to the Republicans in 2008, 6 of them, a majority, were in Arkansas.[2] Barack Obama became the first Democrat to win the White House without carrying Arkansas. Arkansas was one of the six states where neither Obama nor McCain won during the primary season.

Socialism and Liberation candidate, Gloria La Riva, had the notable achievement of winning the precinct of Murray in Newton County, ahead of major party candidates Barack Obama and John McCain.[3]

Primaries

Arkansas swung and trended more Republican than any other state in the nation during the election

  • Arkansas Democratic primary, 2008
  • Arkansas Republican primary, 2008

Campaign

Predictions

There were 16 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day:

Polling

John McCain won every single opinion poll taken in Arkansas prior to the election. Although, McCain polled just in the low 50% range.[17] RealClearPolitics gave the state an average of 52.3% for McCain, compared to 38.8% for Obama. The margin of victory on election day was more than double of the RCP average.[18] The state was not seriously contested by either campaign.

Fundraising

Obama raised $1,004,783. McCain raised $934,884. Both candidates raised the most in Pulaski County.[19][20]

Advertising and visits

Obama spent over $110,350. McCain spent only $459.[21] Neither candidate visited the state.[22]

Analysis

Although former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, easily carried his home state of Arkansas in 1992 and 1996, the state was largely considered a safe state for McCain. Early polls gave McCain a double-digit lead among possible voters on Election Day.[23] Although the state was still strongly Democratic at the state and local levels, on Election Day, Arkansas voted for McCain by a margin of approximately 20%--ten points better than Bush's showing four years earlier. A possible factor for such the large swing away from the Democrats could have been the fact that Hillary Clinton, who once served as First Lady of Arkansas while her husband was Governor, did not receive the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. The polls showed Clinton defeating McCain in Arkansas. Obama became the first Democrat in history to win the White House without carrying Arkansas.

During the same election, however, freshman Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Pryor faced no Republican opposition, and was reelected in a landslide victory over Rebekah Kennedy of the Green Party. The four members of the state's delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives (three Democrats and one Republican) were also reelected with no major-party opposition. Republicans, however, picked up three seats in the Arkansas House of Representatives and one Democratic state representative became a Green (he later returned to the Democratic Party in 2009).

Results
United States presidential election in Arkansas, 2008[24]
Party Candidate Running mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican John McCain Sarah Palin 638,017 58.72% 6
Democratic Barack Obama Joe Biden 422,310 38.86% 0
Independent Ralph Nader Matt Gonzalez 12,882 1.19% 0
Libertarian Bob Barr Wayne Allyn Root 4,776 0.44% 0
Constitution Chuck Baldwin Darrell Castle 4,023 0.37% 0
Green Cynthia McKinney Rosa Clemente 3,470 0.32% 0
Socialism and Liberation Gloria La Riva Eugene Puryear 1,139 0.10% 0
Totals 1,086,617 100.00% 6
Voter turnout 64.52%

By congressional district

McCain swept every congressional district in Arkansas, three of which were held by Democrats.

District McCain Obama Representative
1st 58.69% 38.41% Marion Berry
2nd 53.98% 44.07% Vic Snyder
3rd 64.16% 33.45% John Boozman
4th 58.14% 39.33% Michael Avery Ross

By county
County Obama% Obama# McCain% McCain# Others% Others# Total
Arkansas37.53%2,61959.97%4,1852.49%1746,978
Ashley34.44%2,97662.55%5,4063.01%2608,642
Baxter32.73%6,53964.32%12,8522.95%59019,981
Benton30.67%23,33167.20%51,1242.13%1,61876,073
Boone28.66%4,43568.34%10,5753.%46415,474
Bradley41.57%1,68055.98%2,2622.45%994,041
Calhoun31.17%69165.94%1,4622.89%642,217
Carroll39.44%4,17257.50%6,0833.06%32410,579
Chicot58.43%3,04340.69%2,119.88%465,208
Clark46.92%4,26750.67%4,6082.41%2199,094
Clay40.72%2,24455.02%3,0324.26%2355,511
Cleburne26.03%2,95170.22%7,9623.75%42511,338
Cleveland25.99%91169.93%2,4514.08%1433,505
Columbia37.18%3,55461.32%5,8611.5%1439,558
Conway38.70%3,14957.64%4,6913.66%2988,138
Craighead36.47%11,29460.97%18,8812.56%79330,968
Crawford25.51%5,23871.54%14,6882.95%60620,532
Crittenden56.59%10,33041.91%7,6501.51%27518,255
Cross36.19%2,58061.61%4,3932.2%1577,130
Dallas44.33%1,47152.95%1,7572.71%903,318
Desha54.92%2,56942.73%1,9992.35%1104,678
Drew39.30%2,59858.40%3,8602.3%1526,610
Faulkner36.32%14,95561.59%25,3622.09%86241,179
Franklin28.86%1,86968.12%4,4113.01%1956,475
Fulton38.90%1,81957.78%2,7023.31%1554,676
Garland36.37%15,89961.36%26,8252.28%99543,719
Grant22.99%1,56273.94%5,0233.06%2086,793
Greene33.36%4,54163.02%8,5783.62%49313,612
Hempstead39.04%2,86958.14%4,2732.82%2077,349
Hot Spring35.87%4,28860.30%7,2093.83%45811,955
Howard36.03%1,74661.02%2,9572.95%1434,846
Independence29.99%3,68867.12%8,2552.89%35612,299
Izard34.34%1,79261.19%3,1934.47%2335,218
Jackson39.54%2,20755.86%3,1184.6%2575,582
Jefferson62.19%18,46535.89%10,6551.92%56929,689
Johnson37.09%3,03460.17%4,9222.74%2248,180
Lafayette39.04%1,13358.06%1,6852.89%842,902
Lawrence36.67%2,13857.58%3,3575.75%3355,830
Lee60.14%2,26338.64%1,4541.22%463,763
Lincoln38.81%1,71057.04%2,5134.15%1834,406
Little River34.03%1,75363.02%3,2472.95%1525,152
Logan28.91%2,28667.66%5,3503.43%2717,907
Lonoke25.14%5,96872.63%17,2422.24%53123,741
Madison33.88%2,14462.77%3,9723.35%2126,328
Marion33.29%2,38463.17%4,5243.55%2547,162
Miller32.32%4,86965.81%9,9131.87%28115,063
Mississippi47.59%6,66749.79%6,9762.62%36714,010
Monroe46.83%1,61550.86%1,7542.32%803,449
Montgomery30.15%1,09265.30%2,3654.56%1653,622
Nevada40.55%1,47456.73%2,0622.72%993,635
Newton29.85%1,18265.35%2,5884.8%1903,960
Ouachita43.63%4,34654.49%5,4271.88%1879,960
Perry31.60%1,35264.10%2,7434.3%1844,279
Phillips63.50%5,69534.53%3,0971.97%1778,969
Pike27.46%1,08968.76%2,7273.78%1503,966
Poinsett34.59%2,74261.84%4,9033.57%2837,928
Polk25.48%1,95771.25%5,4733.27%2517,681
Pope27.18%6,00270.51%15,5682.31%50922,079
Prairie31.00%1,04865.75%2,2233.25%1103,381
Pulaski55.07%88,85443.52%70,2121.41%2,277161,343
Randolph39.07%2,46957.21%3,6153.72%2356,319
Saline28.43%12,69569.38%30,9812.19%97744,653
Scott26.36%1,05369.86%2,7913.78%1513,995
Searcy24.98%96170.86%2,7264.16%1603,847
Sebastian31.64%13,67366.27%28,6372.09%90243,212
Sevier28.19%1,29168.23%3,1253.58%1644,580
Sharp33.59%2,43662.53%4,5353.87%2817,252
St. Francis57.72%5,48641.21%3,9171.07%1029,505
Stone30.02%1,59866.38%3,5343.61%1925,324
Union36.03%6,19062.15%10,6771.82%31217,179
Van Buren32.09%2,15163.79%4,2764.12%2766,703
Washington42.44%29,02155.52%37,9632.04%1,39668,380
White24.97%6,73272.22%19,4672.8%75626,955
Woodruff51.14%1,41243.68%1,2065.18%1432,761
Yell33.18%2,00363.09%3,8083.73%2256,036

Electors
Main article: List of 2008 United States presidential electors

Technically the voters of Arkansas cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Arkansas 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.[25] 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:[26]

  1. Jim Burnett
  2. Reta Hamilton
  3. Rose Bryant Jones
  4. Phyllis Kincannon
  5. Steve Lux
  6. Kermit Parks

References
  1. "Arkansas Swing 2008". Uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved 2013-10-27.
  2. "2008 Election Statistics". Uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved 2019-05-04.
  4. "D.C.'s Political Report: The complete source for campaign summaries". Dcpoliticalreport.com. Archived from the original on 2009-01-01. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
  5. "Presidential | The Cook Political Report". Cookpolitical.com. Archived from the original on May 5, 2015. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
  6. Vote 2008 - The Takeaway - Track the Electoral College vote predictions Archived April 22, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  7. "President, Senate, House Updated Daily". Electoral-vote.com. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
  8. Based on Takeaway
  9. "POLITICO's 2008 Swing State Map". Politico.Com. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
  10. "Electoral Map". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
  11. CQ Politics | CQ Presidential Election Maps, 2008 Archived June 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  12. "Electoral College Map". The New York Times. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  13. "October – 2008 – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  14. "Winning the Electoral College". Fox News. April 27, 2010.
  15. "roadto270". Hosted.ap.org. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
  16. "Election 2008: Electoral College Update - Rasmussen Reports™". Rasmussenreports.com. 2008-11-03. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
  17. "Election 2008 Polls - Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". Uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
  18. "Alabama: McCain vs. Obama". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved May 31, 2009.
  19. "Map: Campaign money race - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  20. Archived January 18, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  21. "Map: Campaign Ad Spending - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  22. "Map: Campaign Candidate Visits - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  23. "RealClearPolitics - Election 2008 - Arkansas". Retrieved 2008-12-17.
  24. "Official General Election Results". Arkansas Secretary of State. Retrieved 2008-12-12.
  25. "Electoral College". California Secretary of State. Archived from the original on October 30, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
  26. "U. S. Electoral College 2008 Election - Certificates". Archives.gov. Retrieved 2012-07-26.

See also
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