2008 United States presidential election in Oklahoma

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Main article: 2008 United States presidential election
2008 United States presidential election in Oklahoma
← 2004 November 4, 2008 2012 →
  John McCain official portrait 2009.jpg Obama portrait crop.jpg
Nominee John McCain Barack Obama
Party Republican Democratic
Home state Arizona Illinois
Running mate Sarah Palin Joe Biden
Electoral vote 7 0
Popular vote 960,165 502,496
Percentage 65.65% 34.35%
400px
County Results
McCain
  50-60%
  60-70%
  70-80%
  80-90%
President before election

George W. Bush
Republican

 Elected President

Barack Obama
Democratic
Elections in Oklahoma
Seal of Oklahoma.svg
This box:

The 2008 United States presidential election in Oklahoma took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose 7 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Oklahoma was won by Republican nominee John McCain with a 31.3% 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. A strongly conservative state located in the Bible Belt where evangelical Christianity plays a large role, Oklahoma has swung and trended more to the Republicans in recent years than any other state. Having voted for the Republican presidential nominee in every election since 1968, Oklahoma once again showcased its status as a Republican stronghold in 2008 with Republican John McCain capturing 65.65% of the vote.[1]

Primaries

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

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Main article: Statewide opinion polling for the United States presidential election, 2008: Oklahoma

McCain won every single pre-election poll, and each with a double-digit margin of victory. The final 3 polls averaged McCain leading 62% to 34%.[15]

Fundraising

John McCain raised a total of $2,050,335 in the state. Barack Obama raised $1,711,069.[16]

Advertising and visits

Obama spent $613,515. McCain and his interest groups spent just $6,565.[17] Neither campaign visited the state.[18]

Analysis

Oklahoma gave John McCain his strongest showing in Election 2008 with a rounded percentage of 66% (65.65%) going to him.[19] The Sooner State was also the only state in the country where every single county voted for McCain. Although the results were similar to 2004 in which George W. Bush swept every county in the state with 65.57% of the vote, McCain's margin of victory was slightly better - 0.08% more - in 2008.[20] Oklahoma was one of five states where McCain outperformed George W. Bush, the other four being Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

Oklahoma, despite the large concentration of Native Americans in the state, remains one of the most reliably Republican states in the country. Although Democrats still had a majority of registered voters at the time, the state's Democrats are very conservative by national standards. Oklahoma is part of the Bible Belt, and voters in the state have a strong penchant for being values voters; that is, they are strongly and deeply conservative on social issues such as abortion and gay rights. McCain's selection of the socially conservative Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska proved to be an excellent fit for the Sooner State. Obama was at a disadvantage beforehand in Oklahoma during the primary season when voters in the Sooner State backed Hillary Rodham Clinton with 54.76% of the vote compared to Obama's 31.19% and a significant amount (10.24%) going to John Edwards. Clinton won every county in the Oklahoma Democratic Primary except for Oklahoma County, home of Oklahoma City which Obama just narrowly carried. Most of Oklahoma's Democratic establishment were early endorsers of Hillary Clinton as well. Another fallback for Obama was that U.S. Representative Dan Boren, the only Democrat from Oklahoma's five-member delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives, refused to endorse Obama.

Another key to McCain's victory was the highly populated counties of Tulsa County, which he won with over 62%, and Oklahoma County, which he won with over 58%. He also dominated the heavily Republican Oklahoma Panhandle by an almost four-to-one margin. Despite the Republican landslide, Obama did improve upon John Kerry's performance in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. However, this was more than canceled out by his extremely weak showing in Southeast Oklahoma, historically the most Democratic region in the state. This socially conservative but fiscally liberal area, known as "Little Dixie," still votes Democratic at the local level and state levels. It also warmly supported Bill Clinton of neighboring Arkansas in 1992 and 1996; Clinton's populism struck a chord among the region's voters. The last two Democratic nominees, on the other hand, have proven spectacularly bad fits for the region and the state as a whole. Obama lost many counties in Southeast Oklahoma by more than two-to-one margins.

Also, Oklahoma is the only state in the country that didn't have a third-party candidate on the ballot, mostly because the state has the toughest ballot access laws in the country.

During the same election, incumbent Republican U.S. Senator James Inhofe was solidly reelected over Democratic State Senator Andrew Rice. Inhofe received 56.68% while Rice took in 39.18% and Independent Stephen P. Wallace received the remaining 4.14%. At the state level, Republicans made gains in the Oklahoma Legislature, picking up four seats in the Oklahoma House of Representatives and two seats in the Oklahoma Senate which gave the GOP control of the state legislature for the first time since statehood.

Results

2008 United States presidential election in Oklahoma
Party Candidate Running mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican John McCain Sarah Palin 960,165 65.65% 7
Democratic Barack Obama Joe Biden 502,496 34.35% 0
Totals 1,462,661 100.00% 7
Voter turnout (Voting age population) 54.8%

Results breakdown

By county

County McCain# McCain% Obama# Obama%
Adair 4,636 69% 2,049 31%
Alfalfa 2,023 83% 411 17%
Atoka 3,509 72% 1,370 28%
Beaver 2,197 89% 265 11%
Beckham 5,769 78% 1,625 22%
Blaine 3,100 75% 1,011 25%
Bryan 9,295 68% 4,423 32%
Caddo 6,401 65% 3,395 35%
Canadian 36,411 76% 11,422 24%
Carter 13,241 70% 5,603 30%
Cherokee 9,182 56% 7,193 44%
Choctaw 3,729 67% 1,859 33%
Cimarron 1,119 88% 152 12%
Cleveland 64,730 62% 39,673 38%
Coal 1,609 74% 570 26%
Comanche 20,127 59% 14,120 41%
Cotton 1,793 72% 690 28%
Craig 3,858 65% 2,072 35%
Creek 20,181 71% 8,318 29%
Custer 7,842 75% 2,660 25%
Delaware 10,274 67% 5,084 33%
Dewey 1,857 84% 346 16%
Ellis 1,627 85% 282 15%
Garfield 17,066 75% 5,545 25%
Garvin 7,708 72% 3,028 28%
Grady 15,187 73% 5,516 27%
Grant 1,836 78% 514 22%
Greer 1,548 73% 566 27%
Harmon 757 69% 333 31%
Harper 1,342 86% 221 14%
Haskell 3,206 69% 1,474 31%
Hughes 3,132 65% 1,705 35%
Jackson 6,716 75% 2,263 25%
Jefferson 1,649 67% 805 33%
Johnston 2,707 68% 1,246 32%
Kay 13,229 71% 5,462 29%
Kingfisher 5,372 84% 1,009 16%
Kiowa 2,536 67% 1,226 33%
Latimer 2,860 69% 1,313 31%
LeFlore 11,603 69% 5,136 31%
Lincoln 10,468 75% 3,503 25%
Logan 12,555 69% 5,716 31%
Love 2,589 67% 1,257 33%
Major 2,955 85% 515 15%
Marshall 3,729 69% 1,642 31%
Mayes 10,231 64% 5,749 36%
McClain 11,184 76% 3,550 24%
McCurtain 7,744 74% 2,792 26%
McIntosh 4,903 60% 3,318 40%
Murray 3,746 70% 1,592 30%
Muskogee 15,276 58% 11,286 42%
Noble 3,881 77% 1,174 23%
Nowata 3,029 68% 1,411 32%
Okfuskee 2,642 64% 1,478 36%
Oklahoma 163,099 58% 116,133 42%
Okmulgee 8,724 59% 6,187 41%
Osage 12,150 62% 7,493 38%
Ottawa 6,904 62% 4,266 38%
Pawnee 4,533 69% 2,063 31%
Payne 18,435 63% 10,601 37%
Pittsburg 11,739 68% 5,454 32%
Pontotoc 9,749 68% 4,511 32%
Pottawatomie 17,728 69% 7,906 31%
Pushmataha 3,208 72% 1,265 28%
Roger 1,502 84% 286 16%
Rogers 27,732 72% 10,770 28%
Seminole 5,599 65% 2,977 35%
Sequoyah 9,465 68% 4,454 32%
Stephens 14,392 76% 4,538 24%
Texas 5,332 85% 923 15%
Tillman 2,195 68% 1,042 32%
Tulsa 158,322 62% 96,106 38%
Wagoner 21,426 71% 8,805 29%
Washington 16,457 72% 6,308 28%
Washita 3,716 78% 1,050 22%
Woods 3,043 78% 870 22%
Woodward 6,402 83% 1,348 17%

By congressional district

John McCain carried every congressional district in Oklahoma, including the one district held by a Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives rather strongly.

District McCain Obama Representative
1st 64.21% 35.79% John A. Sullivan
2nd 65.59% 34.41% Dan Boren
3rd 72.82% 27.18% Frank Lucas
4th 66.37% 33.63% Tom Cole
5th 59.32% 40.68% Mary Fallin

Electors

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Main article: List of 2008 United States presidential electors

Technically the voters of Oklahoma cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Oklahoma is allocated 7 electors because it has 5 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 7 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 7 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.[21] 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 7 were pledged to John McCain and Sarah Palin:[22]

  1. Virginia Chrisco
  2. Gail Stice
  3. Pete Katzdorn
  4. Robert Cleveland
  5. Mary Phyllis Gorman
  6. Bunny Chambers
  7. Diane Murphy Gunther

References

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See also

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