2008 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
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 4 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
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| Turnout | 66.9%[1]  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 County Results
Obama 50–60%
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| Elections in Rhode Island | ||||||
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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. The last time a Republican carried this state or any county in the state was in 1984, when Ronald Reagan won with about 52% of the vote, largely due to the support of Reagan Democrats.
Primaries
- 2008 Rhode Island Democratic primary
- 2008 Rhode Island Republican primary
Campaign
Predictions
There were 16 news organizations which made state-by-state predictions of the election. Their last predictions before election day were:
- D.C. Political Report: Democrat[2]
- Cook Political Report: Solid Democrat[3]
- Takeaway: Solid Obama[4]
- Electoral-vote.com: Strong Democrat[5]
- Washington Post: Solid Obama[6]
- Politico: Solid Obama[7]
- Real Clear Politics: Solid Obama[8]
- FiveThirtyEight.com: Solid Obama[6]
- CQ Politics: Safe Democrat[9]
- New York Times: Solid Democrat[10]
- CNN: Safe Democrat[11]
- NPR: Solid Obama[6]
- MSNBC: Solid Obama[6]
- Fox News: Democrat[12]
- Associated Press: Democrat[13]
- Rasmussen Reports: Safe Democrat[14]
Polling
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 $345,472 in the state. Barack Obama raised $1,563,410.[16]
Analysis
Rhode Island historically voted Republican until 1908, but has supported Democrats all but seven times in the 24 elections that have followed. 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 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. 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% | |||||
Results breakdown
By county
| County | Barack Hussein Obama
Democratic |
John Sidney McCain III
Republican |
Other candidates
Various parties | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | # | % | # | % | # | |
| Providence | 66% | 167,442 | 32% | 81,010 | 2% | 5,178 |
| Bristol | 62% | 16,162 | 36% | 9,260 | 2% | 483 |
| Newport | 61% | 25,479 | 37% | 15,717 | 2% | 801 |
| Washington | 59% | 39,082 | 39% | 25,624 | 2% | 1,454 |
| Kent | 58% | 48,406 | 40% | 33,780 | 2% | 1,888 |
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
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]
- Maryellen Goodwin
- Charlene Lima
- John McConnell
- Mark Weiner
References
- 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. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
- "D.C.'s Political Report: The complete source for campaign summaries". Archived from the original on 2009-01-01. Retrieved 2009-12-25.
- Presidential Archived May 5, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
- Adnaan (2008-09-20). "Track the Electoral College vote predictions". The Takeaway. Archived from the original on April 22, 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
- Electoral-vote.com: President, Senate, House Updated Daily
- Based on Takeaway
- POLITICO's 2008 Swing State Map - POLITICO.com
- http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/maps/obama_vs_mccain/?map=5
- http://innovation.cq.com/prezMap08/ Archived June 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- Nagourney, Adam; Zeleny, Jeff; Carter, Shan (2008-11-04). "The Electoral Map: Key States". The New York Times. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
- "October – 2008 – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs". CNN. October 31, 2008. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
- "Winning The Electoral College". Fox News. April 27, 2010.
- roadto270
- Election 2008: Electoral College Update - Rasmussen Reports™
- http://uselectionatlas.org/POLLS/PRESIDENT/2008/pollsa.php?fips=44
- http://www.fec.gov/DisclosureSearch/MapAppState.do?stateName=RI&cand_id=P00000001 Archived January 18, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- "Map: Campaign Ad Spending - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
- "Map: Campaign Candidate Visits - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
- "Electoral College". California Secretary of State. Archived from the original on October 30, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
- U. S. Electoral College 2008 Election - Certificates
