2004 United States presidential election in Delaware

2004 United States presidential election in Delaware

← 2000 November 2, 2004 2008 →

Nominee John Kerry George W. Bush Party Democratic Republican Home state Massachusetts Texas Running mate John Edwards Dick Cheney Electoral vote 3 0 Popular vote 200,152 171,660 Percentage 53.35% 45.75%

County Results Kerry   60-70% Bush   50-60%   60-70%

President before election George W. Bush Republican Elected President George W. Bush Republican

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

Delaware was won by Democratic nominee John Kerry by a 7.6% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 12 news organizations considered this a state Kerry would win, or otherwise considered as a safe blue state. The state was once a bellwether state, but has voted Democratic in every presidential election since 1992. Kerry easily won this state, but with a reduced margin compared to Al Gore's margin four years earlier. As of 2020, this is the last election in which Delaware was decided by a single digit margin, and the only time since 1948 that Delaware has not backed the popular vote winner.

Primaries[]

• 2004 Delaware Democratic presidential primary

Campaign[]

Predictions[]

Elections in Delaware
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There were 12 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day.^[1]

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

Polling[]

Just two pre-election polls were taken (specifically in September), and Kerry won both of them with 45% and 50% respectively.^[2]

Fundraising[]

Bush raised $523,150.^[3] Kerry raised $260,657.^[4]

Advertising and visits[]

Neither campaign advertised or visited this state during the fall campaign.^[5][6]

Analysis[]

Delaware, a blue state in presidential elections, had not voted for a Republican presidential nominee for 16 years going into 2004. The last Republican to win Delaware was Bush's father George H. W. Bush in 1988. Since then, the state has consistently delivered to the Democrats at the presidential level.

Results[]

2004 United States presidential election in Delaware[7]
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	John Kerry	John Edwards	200,152	53.35%	3
	Republican	George W. Bush (Inc.)	Dick Cheney	171,660	45.75%	0
	Independent	Ralph Nader	Peter Camejo	2,153	0.57%	0
	Libertarian	Michael Badnarik	Wayne Allyn Root	586	0.16%	0
	Constitution	Chuck Baldwin	Michael Peroutka	289	0.08%	0
	Green	David Cobb	Rosa Clemente	250	0.07%	0
	Natural Law	Walt Brown	Mary Alice Herbert	100	0.03%	0
Totals				375,190	100.00%	3
Voter turnout (Voting Age population)						60.6%

Results breakdown[]

By county[]

County	Kerry%	Kerry#	Bush%	Bush#	Others%	Others#
New Castle	60.5%	146,179	38.5%	93,079	0.9%	2,203
Kent	42.6%	23,875	56.4%	31,578	0.9%	527
Sussex	38.7%	30,098	60.5%	47,003	0.8%	648

By congressional district[]

Due to the state's low population, only one congressional district is allocated. This district, called the At-Large district, because it covers the entire state, and thus is equivalent to the statewide election results.

District	Bush	Kerry	Representative
At-large	45.8%	53.4%	Mike Castle

Electors[]

Technically the voters of Delaware cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Delaware is allocated three electors because it has one congressional district and two 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 his or her running mate. Whoever wins the majority 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. 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 Delaware. All were pledged to and voted for John Kerry and John Edwards:^[8]

1. James Johnson
2. Nancy W. Cook
3. Timothy G. Willard

See also[]

• United States presidential elections in Delaware

References[]

General

Specific

• "Federal Elections 2004: Election Results for the U.S. President, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives" (PDF). Federal Elections Commission. May 2005. p. 28. Retrieved 2008-01-13.
• "New Castle County by Office" (PDF). 2004 General Election. State of Delaware Elections System. 2004-11-02. p. 1. Retrieved 2008-01-13.