2008 United States presidential election in Hawaii

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Main article: 2008 United States presidential election
2008 United States presidential election in Hawaii
← 2004 November 4, 2008 2012 →
  Obama portrait crop.jpg John McCain 2009 Official.jpg
Nominee Barack Obama John McCain
Party Democratic Republican
Home state Illinois Arizona
Running mate Joe Biden Sarah Palin
Electoral vote 4 0
Popular vote 325,871 120,566
Percentage 71.85% 26.58%
Hawaii Presidential Election Results 2008.svg
County Results
Obama
  60-70%
  70-80%

President before election

George W. Bush
Republican

Elected President

Barack Obama
Democratic

Elections in Hawaii
Flag of the United States.svg Federal government
Flag of Hawaii.svg State government
Ballot measures
Flag of Honolulu, Hawaii.svg Honolulu
  • v
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The 2008 United States presidential election in Hawaii 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.

Hawaii, the state where Barack Obama was born, gave him 71.9% of the vote with a 45.3% margin of victory in 2008. Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state Obama would win, or otherwise considered as a safe blue state. Hawaii has voted Democratic in every presidential election since 1988. Obama's margin of victory in this state is only surpassed by that of the District of Columbia and is the only actual state that gave either candidate more than 70% of the vote. Turnout here was much higher than previous elections.

Caucuses[]

  • Hawaii Democratic caucuses, 2008
  • Hawaii Republican caucuses, 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:

Source Ranking
D.C. Political Report[1] Likely D
Cook Political Report[2] Solid D
The Takeaway[3] Solid D
Electoral-vote.com[4] Solid D
Washington Post[5] Solid D
Politico[6] Solid D
RealClearPolitics[7] Solid D
FiveThirtyEight[5] Solid D
CQ Politics[8] Solid D
The New York Times[9] Solid D
CNN[10] Safe D
NPR[5] Solid D
MSNBC[5] Solid D
Fox News[11] Likely D
Associated Press[12] Likely D
Rasmussen Reports[13] Safe D

Polling[]

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

Just 3 pre-election polls were ever taken in the state, averaging Obama at 64% to McCain at 30%.[14]

Fundraising[]

Obama raised $3,098,395. McCain raised $424,368.[15]

Advertising and visits[]

Obama spent $113,838 while a conservative interest group spent $31.[16] Obama visited the state once.[17]

Analysis[]

One of the most reliably blue states in the nation, Hawaii has only voted for two Republican candidates since statehood, both in national Republican landslides--Richard Nixon in 1972 and Ronald Reagan in 1984. A large concentration of Asian Americans makes the state very favorable to the Democrats. Although moderate Republicans occasionally win at the state level—for instance, then-Governor Linda Lingle and Lieutenant Governor Duke Aiona were both Republicans—Hawaii has long been reckoned as a Democratic stronghold.

It came as something of a surprise in 2004 when John Kerry only carried Hawaii with 54 percent of the vote. However, the state reverted to form in dramatic fashion in 2008, with Barack Obama (who was born in Hawaii) winning the state in a landslide over Republican John McCain. Obama outperformed Kerry by 36.3%, making Hawaii Obama's largest overperformance of Kerry in the 2008 Election. During the same election, Democrats picked up one seat in the Hawaii House of Representatives and two seats in the Hawaii Senate, giving them a super-majority in the Hawaii state legislature with 45 out of 51 seats in the Hawaii House and 23 out of 25 seats in the Hawaii Senate.

Results[]

2008 United States presidential election in Hawaii
Party Candidate Running mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Democratic Barack Obama Joe Biden 325,871 71.85% 4
Republican John McCain Sarah Palin 120,566 26.58% 0
Independent Ralph Nader Matt Gonzalez 3,825 0.84% 0
Libertarian Bob Barr Wayne Allyn Root 1,314 0.29% 0
Constitution Chuck Baldwin (write-in) Darrell Castle 1,013 0.22% 0
Green Cynthia McKinney Rosa Clemente 979 0.22% 0
Totals 453,568 100.00% 4
Voter turnout (Voting age population) 46.4%

Results breakdown[]

By county[]

County Obama Votes McCain Votes Others Votes
Overseas 81.1% 670 16.6% 137 2.3% 19
Hawaii 75.9% 50,819 22.2% 14,866 1.8% 1,231
Maui 76.7% 39,727 21.5% 11,154 1.8% 908
Kalawao 77.4% 24 22.58% 7 0.0% 0
Kauai 74.9% 20,416 22.9% 6,245 2.1% 563
Honolulu 69.8% 214,239 28.7% 88,164 1.4% 4,410

By congressional district[]

Barack Obama swept both of Hawaii’s two congressional districts easily.

District McCain Obama Representative
1st 28.14% 70.43% Neil Abercrombie
2nd 25.15% 73.14% Mazie Hirono

Electors[]

Main article: List of 2008 United States presidential electors

Technically the voters of Hawaii cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Hawaii 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.[18] 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:[19]

  1. Joy Kobashigawa
  2. Marie Dolores
  3. Amefil Agbayani
  4. Frances K. Kagawa

References[]

  1. ^ "D.C.'s Political Report: The complete source for campaign summaries". web.archive.org. 2009-01-01. Retrieved 2021-08-23.
  2. ^ "Presidential". web.archive.org. 2015-05-05. Retrieved 2021-08-23.
  3. ^ "Vote 2008 - The Takeaway - Track the Electoral College vote predictions". web.archive.org. 2009-04-22. Retrieved 2021-08-23.
  4. ^ "Electoral-vote.com: President, Senate, House Updated Daily". electoral-vote.com. Retrieved 2021-08-23.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Based on Takeaway
  6. ^ "POLITICO's 2008 Swing State Map - POLITICO.com". www.politico.com. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
  7. ^ http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/maps/obama_vs_mccain/?map=5
  8. ^ "CQ Presidential Election Maps, 2008". CQ Politics. Archived from the original on June 14, 2009. Retrieved December 20, 2009.
  9. ^ Nagourney, Adam; Zeleny, Jeff; Carter, Shan (2008-11-04). "The Electoral Map: Key States". The New York Times. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  10. ^ "October – 2008 – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs". CNN. 2008-10-31. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  11. ^ "Winning The Electoral College". Fox News. April 27, 2010.
  12. ^ "roadto270". hosted.ap.org. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
  13. ^ "Election 2008: Electoral College Update - Rasmussen Reports™". www.rasmussenreports.com. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
  14. ^ Election 2008 Polls - Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections
  15. ^ "Presidential Campaign Finance". Archived from the original on 2009-03-24. Retrieved 2009-08-20.
  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. ^ "Electoral College". California Secretary of State. Archived from the original on October 30, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
  19. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 6, 2008. Retrieved November 8, 2008.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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