Wikipedia

2008 United States presidential election in South Dakota

(Redirected from United States presidential election in South Dakota, 2008)

Main article: 2008 United States presidential election

The 2008 United States presidential election in South Dakota took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose three representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

2008 United States presidential election in South Dakota
← 2004 November 4, 2008 2012 →
 
Nominee John McCain Barack Obama
Party Republican Democratic
Home state Arizona Illinois
Running mate Sarah Palin Joe Biden
Electoral vote 3 0
Popular vote 203,054 170,924
Percentage 53.16% 44.75%
County Results
President before election

George W. Bush
Republican

Elected President

Barack Obama
Democratic

South Dakota was won by Republican nominee John McCain by an 8.4 point margin of victory. Prior to the election, 16 of 17 news organizations considered this a state McCain would win, or otherwise considered as a red state. Like the other states located in the Great Plains region, South Dakota is a predominantly rural and sparsely populated state with conservative voting tendencies which favors the Republicans, who dominate elections at the state and federal level. Although South Dakota stayed in the GOP column in 2008 as Republican John McCain carried the state with 53.16% of the popular vote, Obama greatly improved upon John Kerry's performance from four years earlier. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time a Democrat won more than 40% of the vote in South Dakota, the last time the victory margin was within single digits and the last time in which Brown County, Lake County, Miner County, Minnehaha County, Moody County, and Brookings County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.[1]

Primaries

edit

Campaign

edit

Predictions

edit

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

Polling

edit
Main article: Statewide opinion polling for the 2008 United States presidential election: South Dakota

McCain won two pre-election polls, and never polled less than 47%. The highest Obama ever polled was 50%; the final poll showed McCain leading 50% to 42%.[15]

Fundraising

edit

John McCain raised a total of $287,533 in the state. Barack Obama raised $337,053.

Advertising and visits

edit

Obama and his interest groups spent $639,435. McCain and his interest groups spent just $1,531.[16] Obama did not visit the state, while McCain visited once, going to Sturgis.[17]

Analysis

edit

South Dakota, a predominantly Republican state, has not voted for a Democratic presidential nominee since Lyndon B. Johnson won the state in the landslide election of 1964. A sparsely populated state whose population largely tends towards a rural and conservative lifestyle, the state has been won handily by the Republicans in every election since then.

McCain was able to keep South Dakota in the GOP column in 2008, taking in 53.16% of the total statewide vote over Obama who received 44.75%, an 8.41-percent margin of victory. This margin of victory was considerably smaller compared to 2004 when George W. Bush carried South Dakota with 59.91% of the vote over John Kerry who received 38.44%, a 21.47% margin of victory, resulting in a 13.06% swing to the Democrats in 2008.

While McCain did well throughout the state, his main strength was in Western South Dakota, where he often won by landslide margins.[18] He was able to carry Pennington County, which contains the state's second largest city of Rapid City. In contrast, Obama ran best in Eastern South Dakota, losing most counties by fairly close margins. He also did well among Native Americans; in Western South Dakota, the only counties Obama won were majority Native American.

Obama was able to substantially improve upon John Kerry's showing in South Dakota in 2004 by a number of factors. First, it helped that South Dakota received media attention during the course of the 2008 Democratic Primary, being the last state to vote in the historic and contentious primary that gave Hillary Rodham Clinton an 11-point victory over Obama; it was Clinton's last victory in the primary. In the general election, Obama was able to cut the margin significantly by narrowly carrying Minnehaha County, which contains the state's largest city of Sioux Falls. He was also able to win Brown County, which contains Aberdeen, as well as Brookings County which contains Brookings, home of South Dakota State University. He did much better than Kerry in Eastern South Dakota, which is where most of the people live, but McCain's margins throughout the state were too large to overcome.

During the same election, incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Tim Johnson was soundly reelected over Republican State Senator Jim Dykstra by a two-to-one margin, receiving 62.49% of the vote to Dykstra's 37.51%. At the state level, Democrats made gains in the South Dakota Legislature, picking up four seats in the South Dakota House of Representatives.

Results

edit
2008 United States presidential election in South Dakota
Party Candidate Running mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican John McCain Sarah Palin 203,054 53.16% 3
Democratic Barack Obama Joe Biden 170,924 44.75% 0
Independent Ralph Nader Matt Gonzalez 4,267 1.12% 0
Constitution Chuck Baldwin Darrell Castle 1,895 0.50% 0
Independent Bob Barr Wayne Allyn Root 1,835 0.48% 0
Totals 381,975 100.00% 3
Voter turnout (Voting age population) 64.7%

Results by county

edit
County[19] John McCain
Republican 		Barack Obama
Democratic 		Ralph Nader
Independent 		Charles Baldwin
Constitution 		Bob Barr
Independent 		Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # % # % # %
Aurora 794 53.11% 655 43.81% 27 1.81% 5 0.33% 14 0.94% 139 9.30% 1,495
Beadle 4,054 52.55% 3,493 45.28% 84 1.09% 39 0.51% 44 0.57% 561 7.27% 7,714
Bennett 614 50.83% 557 46.11% 19 1.57% 11 0.91% 7 0.58% 57 4.72% 1,208
Bon Homme 1,712 53.92% 1,367 43.06% 59 1.86% 21 0.66% 16 0.50% 345 10.86% 3,175
Brookings 6,431 46.12% 7,207 51.68% 156 1.12% 68 0.49% 83 0.60% -776 -5.56% 13,945
Brown 8,067 46.29% 9,041 51.88% 173 0.99% 72 0.41% 73 0.42% -974 -5.59% 17,426
Brule 1,407 57.69% 965 39.57% 33 1.35% 16 0.66% 18 0.74% 442 18.12% 2,439
Buffalo 156 25.20% 454 73.34% 7 1.13% 1 0.16% 1 0.16% -298 -48.14% 619
Butte 2,821 66.28% 1,306 30.69% 51 1.20% 45 1.06% 33 0.78% 1,515 35.59% 4,256
Campbell 591 69.20% 243 28.45% 10 1.17% 8 0.94% 2 0.23% 348 40.75% 854
Charles Mix 2,109 53.02% 1,807 45.42% 41 1.03% 8 0.20% 13 0.33% 302 7.60% 3,978
Clark 1,065 54.90% 830 42.78% 20 1.03% 10 0.52% 15 0.77% 235 12.12% 1,940
Clay 2,296 36.78% 3,808 61.01% 83 1.33% 19 0.30% 36 0.58% -1,512 -24.23% 6,242
Codington 6,374 52.31% 5,595 45.92% 109 0.89% 48 0.39% 59 0.48% 779 6.39% 12,185
Corson 535 38.05% 837 59.53% 16 1.14% 9 0.64% 9 0.64% -302 -21.48% 1,406
Custer 2,909 64.54% 1,475 32.73% 57 1.26% 44 0.98% 22 0.49% 1,434 31.81% 4,507
Davison 4,731 55.96% 3,554 42.03% 90 1.06% 41 0.48% 39 0.46% 1,177 13.93% 8,455
Day 1,372 42.81% 1,785 55.69% 27 0.84% 11 0.34% 10 0.31% -413 -12.88% 3,205
Deuel 1,088 49.05% 1,054 47.52% 40 1.80% 23 1.04% 13 0.59% 34 1.53% 2,218
Dewey 659 32.64% 1,328 65.78% 14 0.69% 13 0.64% 5 0.25% -669 -33.14% 2,019
Douglas 1,293 73.63% 424 24.15% 21 1.20% 9 0.51% 9 0.51% 869 49.48% 1,756
Edmunds 1,213 58.43% 819 39.45% 23 1.11% 12 0.58% 9 0.43% 394 18.98% 2,076
Fall River 2,348 61.64% 1,338 35.13% 54 1.42% 43 1.13% 26 0.68% 1,010 26.51% 3,809
Faulk 739 62.00% 426 35.74% 18 1.51% 5 0.42% 4 0.34% 313 26.26% 1,192
Grant 1,951 50.94% 1,786 46.63% 56 1.46% 16 0.42% 21 0.55% 165 4.31% 3,830
Gregory 1,423 63.33% 771 34.31% 29 1.29% 11 0.49% 13 0.58% 652 29.02% 2,247
Haakon 939 81.44% 187 16.22% 12 1.04% 8 0.69% 7 0.61% 752 65.22% 1,153
Hamlin 1,661 59.60% 1,043 37.42% 50 1.79% 22 0.79% 11 0.39% 618 22.18% 2,787
Hand 1,247 62.01% 718 35.70% 30 1.49% 8 0.40% 8 0.40% 529 26.31% 2,011
Hanson 1,426 58.66% 961 39.53% 17 0.70% 16 0.66% 11 0.45% 465 19.13% 2,431
Harding 575 78.34% 135 18.39% 12 1.63% 7 0.95% 5 0.68% 440 59.95% 734
Hughes 5,298 62.56% 3,037 35.86% 82 0.97% 20 0.24% 31 0.37% 2,261 26.70% 8,468
Hutchinson 2,285 63.33% 1,242 34.42% 47 1.30% 21 0.58% 13 0.36% 1,043 28.91% 3,608
Hyde 547 69.68% 226 28.79% 9 1.15% 1 0.13% 2 0.25% 321 40.89% 785
Jackson 668 58.96% 435 38.39% 15 1.32% 9 0.79% 6 0.53% 233 20.57% 1,133
Jerauld 546 49.41% 542 49.05% 13 1.18% 4 0.36% 0 0.00% 4 0.36% 1,105
Jones 463 73.84% 147 23.44% 9 1.44% 1 0.16% 7 1.12% 316 50.40% 627
Kingsbury 1,435 51.54% 1,277 45.87% 45 1.62% 10 0.36% 17 0.61% 158 5.67% 2,784
Lake 2,993 48.61% 3,033 49.26% 81 1.32% 25 0.41% 25 0.41% -40 -0.65% 6,157
Lawrence 6,787 56.30% 4,932 40.91% 179 1.48% 72 0.60% 85 0.71% 1,855 15.39% 12,055
Lincoln 11,803 56.84% 8,642 41.61% 166 0.80% 64 0.31% 92 0.44% 3,161 15.23% 20,767
Lyman 894 54.48% 710 43.27% 18 1.10% 12 0.73% 7 0.43% 184 11.21% 1,641
Marshall 900 41.08% 1,261 57.55% 14 0.64% 6 0.27% 10 0.46% -361 -16.47% 2,191
McCook 1,646 55.89% 1,219 41.39% 40 1.36% 26 0.88% 14 0.48% 427 14.50% 2,945
McPherson 915 66.55% 441 32.07% 11 0.80% 5 0.36% 3 0.22% 474 34.48% 1,375
Meade 7,515 64.75% 3,751 32.32% 141 1.21% 119 1.03% 80 0.69% 3,764 32.43% 11,606
Mellette 445 52.79% 373 44.25% 14 1.66% 8 0.95% 3 0.36% 72 8.54% 843
Miner 577 47.37% 605 49.67% 20 1.64% 11 0.90% 5 0.41% -28 -2.30% 1,218
Minnehaha 39,251 48.73% 39,838 49.46% 754 0.94% 381 0.47% 328 0.41% -587 -0.73% 80,552
Moody 1,508 46.34% 1,663 51.11% 51 1.57% 12 0.37% 20 0.61% -155 -4.77% 3,254
Pennington 27,603 59.64% 17,802 38.47% 493 1.07% 162 0.35% 220 0.48% 9,801 21.17% 46,280
Perkins 1,102 65.36% 499 29.60% 30 1.78% 38 2.25% 17 1.01% 603 35.76% 1,686
Potter 937 65.07% 482 33.47% 6 0.42% 13 0.90% 2 0.14% 455 31.60% 1,440
Roberts 1,781 39.26% 2,672 58.91% 52 1.15% 16 0.35% 15 0.33% -891 -19.65% 4,536
Sanborn 669 55.43% 500 41.43% 26 2.15% 7 0.58% 5 0.41% 169 14.00% 1,207
Shannon 331 9.88% 2,971 88.69% 36 1.07% 8 0.24% 4 0.12% -2,640 -78.81% 3,350
Spink 1,660 50.78% 1,550 47.42% 30 0.92% 13 0.40% 16 0.49% 110 3.36% 3,269
Stanley 1,017 65.49% 510 32.84% 13 0.84% 5 0.32% 8 0.52% 507 32.65% 1,553
Sully 581 69.75% 233 27.97% 10 1.20% 7 0.84% 2 0.24% 348 41.78% 833
Todd 571 20.19% 2,208 78.08% 21 0.74% 17 0.60% 11 0.39% -1,637 -57.89% 2,828
Tripp 1,859 65.48% 914 32.19% 30 1.06% 20 0.70% 16 0.56% 945 33.29% 2,839
Turner 2,538 58.32% 1,681 38.63% 86 1.98% 31 0.71% 16 0.37% 857 19.69% 4,352
Union 4,310 55.97% 3,244 42.12% 81 1.05% 24 0.31% 42 0.55% 1,066 13.85% 7,701
Walworth 1,668 62.94% 923 34.83% 30 1.13% 20 0.75% 9 0.34% 745 28.11% 2,650
Yankton 5,039 49.72% 4,838 47.74% 167 1.65% 34 0.34% 56 0.55% 201 1.98% 10,134
Ziebach 312 35.02% 554 62.18% 9 1.01% 8 0.90% 8 0.90% -242 -27.16% 891
Totals 203,054 53.16% 170,924 44.75% 4,267 1.12% 1,895 0.50% 1,835 0.48% 32,130 8.41% 381,975
 
County Flips:

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

edit

By congressional district

edit

South Dakota has only one congressional district because of its small population compared to other states. This district, called the At-Large district because it covers the entire state, is equivalent to the statewide election results.

District McCain Obama Representative
At-large 53.2% 44.8% Stephanie Herseth Sandlin

Electors

edit
Main article: List of 2008 United States presidential electors

Technically the voters of South Dakota cast their ballots for electors, representatives to the Electoral College. The state is allocated three electors because it has one congressional district and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of three electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and the candidate's running mate. In the state's First Past the Post (plurality voting) system, the winner of a plurality of votes in the state is awarded all three 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.[20] 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 capitals.

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 3 were pledged to John McCain and Sarah Palin:[21]

  1. Mike Rounds
  2. Dennis Daugaard
  3. Larry Long

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
  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. ^ a b c d 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. ^ [1] Archived November 28, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ "Map: Campaign Ad Spending - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  17. ^ "Map: Campaign Candidate Visits - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  18. ^ "Election Results 2008". New York Times. Archived from the original on November 3, 2004. Retrieved May 17, 2009.
  19. ^ Our Campaigns; SD US Presidential Election Race, November 04, 2008
  20. ^ "Electoral College". California Secretary of State. Archived from the original on October 30, 2008. Retrieved November 1, 2008.
  21. ^ "U. S. Electoral College 2008 Election - Certificates". Archives.gov. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
Retrieved from "https://en.wiki.x.io/w/index.php?title=2008_United_States_presidential_election_in_South_Dakota&oldid=1234014438"