2008 United States presidential election in Georgia

The 2008 United States presidential election in Georgia took place on November 4, 2008. Voters chose 15 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

2008 United States presidential election in Georgia

November 4, 2008
Turnout	59.6%[1] 2.8 pp
Nominee John McCain Barack Obama Party Republican Democratic Home state Arizona Illinois Running mate Sarah Palin Joe Biden Electoral vote 15 0 Popular vote 2,048,759 1,844,123 Percentage 52.10% 46.90%
County Results McCain   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90% Obama   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%
President before election George W. Bush Republican Elected President Barack Obama Democratic

Georgia was won by Republican nominee John McCain with a 5.2% margin of victory. Prior to the election, 15 of 17 news organizations considered this a state McCain would win, or otherwise considered as a lean red state. It is situated in the Deep South, entrenched in the Bible Belt (the city of Atlanta being an exception), and had been a much more reliable Republican stronghold. Until 2020, the Peach State had not voted for a Democratic presidential nominee since Bill Clinton narrowly won the state in 1992. Continuing on that trend, Republican John McCain was able to keep Georgia in the GOP column in 2008 despite the large African American turnout that kept the margin of victory within single digits. With its 15 electoral votes, Georgia was the second-largest prize for McCain in 2008 (behind only Texas).

Primaries

• Georgia Democratic primary, 2008
• Georgia Republican primary, 2008

Campaign

An ambitious Barack Obama targeted Georgia as potential state he could flip from red to blue, albeit as a relatively long-shot target. Democrats hoped libertarian candidate Bob Barr – whose home state was Georgia – might take away votes for John McCain and play the role of a spoiler. In the early months, Obama bought ads and even appeared in person to campaign in the state.[2]

However, polling consistently showed McCain with a double-digit lead.[3] Over the summer, Obama's campaign stumbled, and the Illinois senator even fell behind McCain for a short while in September. In light of these difficulties, the Democratic campaign started shifting resources to North Carolina, which they regarded as more competitive.[4] Obama stopped advertising in the state and moved away staff, although he retained a large volunteer force. As the campaign neared the end, Obama jumped to a national lead, helped by the September financial crisis, but remained behind in Georgia polling.

Predictions

There were 16 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day:

• D.C. Political Report: Republican[5]
• Cook Political Report: toss-up[6]
• Takeaway: leaning McCain[7]
• Electoral-vote.com: leaning McCain[8]
• Washington Post: leaning McCain[9]
• Politico: solid McCain[10]
• Real Clear Politics: toss-up[11]
• FiveThirtyEight.com: leaning McCain[9]
• CQ Politics: leaning Republican[12]
• New York Times: leaning Republican[13]
• CNN: leaning Republican[14]
• NPR: leaning Republican[9]
• MSNBC: leaning McCain[9]
• Fox News: Republican[15]
• Associated Press: Republican[16]
• Rasmussen Reports: safe Republican[17]

Polling

McCain won almost every pre-election poll. The final 3 poll average gave the Republican the lead with 50% to 47%.[18]

Fundraising

McCain raised $4,835,902. Obama raised $8,568,716.[19]

Advertising and visits

Obama spent over $4,105,888. McCain and his interest groups spent just $49,507.[20] Both McCain and Obama visited Atlanta once.[21]

Analysis

In terms of the margin, McCain won a quite narrow victory, capturing 52.23% of the popular vote to Democrat Barack Obama's 47.02% popular vote. This margin was significantly lower than that in 2004 when George W. Bush carried this state by a 17% margin, winning 58% of the popular vote to John Kerry's 41%. Obama won huge victories in the two most populous counties, DeKalb County and Fulton County which contains the state capital and largest city of Atlanta, which contributed to his popular vote percentage. He also made significant inroads in Atlanta's normally heavily Republican suburbs. For instance, Obama lost Cobb County by nine points compared to Kerry's 35-point loss. Obama lost Gwinnett County by 11 points compared to a 33-point loss for Kerry. Aside from native son Jimmy Carter sweeping every county in the state in 1976, a Democrat hadn't won either county since 1960, and would not do so until Hillary Clinton in 2016. However, McCain piled up the votes in the more rural northern and southeastern parts of the state (well over 70% in some cases) which gave him the edge and ultimate win. These two areas were among the first regions of Georgia to turn Republican; the old-line Southern Democrats in these areas began splitting their tickets as early as the 1950s, and some areas of north Georgia are among the few ancestrally Republican areas of the South.

The large African American turnout was widely attributed to the narrow margin by which McCain carried the state. However, Obama was unable to improve his percentage amongst white voters.[22] According to exit polls, 77% of white voters supported the Republican candidate - the same as in 2004. This effectively eliminated Obama's chances of winning the state.

Of the several independent and third-party candidates who ran for president in 2008, two of them were from Georgia (those being former Republican Representative Bob Barr (L) (who placed third overall in the popular vote in Georgia) and former Democratic Representative Cynthia McKinney (G)).

During the same election, incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss was held below 50% of the popular vote in a contentious U.S. Senate race against Democrat Jim Martin and Libertarian Allen Buckley. Abiding by Georgia law, this led to a runoff election in December between Chambliss and Martin. Chambliss brought in 2008 vice presidential nominee Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska to campaign for him and rally the base of the GOP. Former President Bill Clinton campaigned on behalf of Martin. Turnout was lower than in the general election and African Americans didn't turn out as largely as they did in November for Obama, all factors that led up to Chambliss's victory. The incumbent was reelected with 57.44% of the vote while Martin received 42.56%.

During the 2008 U.S. house elections, incumbent Democratic Representatives Jim Marshall (GA-8) and John Barrow (GA-12), each of whom was narrowly re-elected by 1% or less in 2006 despite the pro-Democratic political environment that year, were both re-elected by unexpectedly wide margins despite efforts by Republicans to win both of the districts.

At the state level, during the same election, Republicans picked up four seats in the Georgia House of Representatives. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Chattahoochee County voted Democratic.

Results

United States presidential election in Georgia, 2008[23]
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	John McCain	Sarah Palin	2,048,759	52.10%	15
	Democratic	Barack Obama	Joe Biden	1,844,123	46.90%	0
	Libertarian	Bob Barr	Wayne Allyn Root	28,731	0.73%	0
	Write-ins	Write-ins		6,998	0.18%	0
	Constitution	Chuck Baldwin (write-in)	Darrell Castle	1,404	0.04%	0
	Independent	Ralph Nader (write-in)	Matt Gonzalez	1,165	0.03%	0
	Independent	Ron Paul (write-in)		695	0.02%	0
	Green	Cynthia McKinney (write-in)	Rosa Clemente	250	0.01%	0
	Socialist Workers	James Harris (write-in)	Alyson Kennedy	24	0.00%	0
	Constitution	Michael Peroutka* (write-in)	n/a	23	0.00%	0
	HeartQuake '08	Jonathan Allen (write-in)	Jeffrey Stath	9	0.00%	0
	Independent	Frank Moore (write-in)	Susan Block	6	0.00%	0
	Write-in	David C. Byrne	n/a	4	0.00%	0
	Write-in	Brian R. Brown	n/a	2	0.00%	0
	Write-in	Bryan A. Schivera	n/a	2	0.00%	0
Totals				3,932,193	100.00%	15
Voter turnout						75.7%

(*Peroutka was not the Constitution Party's nominee in 2008.)

Results breakdown

By county

County	Obama %	Obama #	McCain %	McCain #	Others %	Others #
Appling	26.4%	1,846	72.6%	5,085	1.0%	71
Atkinson	32.3%	938	66.8%	1,941	1.0%	28
Bacon	20.7%	817	78.4%	3,089	0.9%	36
Baker	50.1%	846	49.0%	828	0.9%	15
Baldwin	51.8%	8,587	47.2%	7,823	0.9%	154
Banks	16.4%	1,027	81.9%	5,120	1.6%	102
Barrow	27.0%	6,657	71.6%	17,625	1.4%	351
Bartow	26.7%	9,962	71.8%	25,976	1.5%	537
Ben Hill	42.8%	2,590	56.5%	3,417	0.7%	90
Berrien	22.8%	1,471	75.9%	4,901	1.3%	81
Bibb	58.7%	38,987	40.7%	27,037	0.6%	424
Bleckley	27.1%	1,380	71.9%	3,657	0.9%	47
Brantley	17.8%	1,119	80.8%	5,080	1.4%	89
Brooks	43.0%	2,669	56.5%	3,507	0.5%	29
Bryan	28.3%	3,636	70.8%	9,112	0.9%	119
Bulloch	40.0%	9,586	59.1%	14,174	0.9%	216
Burke	54.3%	5,233	45.1%	4,344	0.6%	60
Butts	33.7%	3,065	65.3%	5,947	1.0%	92
Calhoun	60.7%	1,342	39.0%	862	0.4%	8
Camden	37.9%	6,482	61.4%	10,502	0.7%	124
Candler	34.3%	1,209	64.9%	2,286	0.8%	27
Carroll	33.0%	14,334	66.0%	28,661	1.0%	448
Catoosa	24.5%	6,025	74.0%	18,218	1.5%	362
Charlton	32.4%	1,197	66.7%	2,466	0.9%	34
Chatham	56.8%	62,755	42.4%	46,829	0.8%	858
Chattahoochee	50.1%	830	49.0%	811	0.9%	15
Chattooga	31.1%	2,596	66.8%	5,572	2.0%	169
Cherokee	23.8%	22,350	74.8%	70,279	1.4%	1,349
Clarke	64.8%	29,591	33.6%	15,333	1.6%	742
Clay	61.0%	879	38.8%	558	0.2%	3
Clayton	82.9%	82,527	16.6%	16,506	0.5%	481
Clinch	36.6%	989	62.1%	1,678	1.3%	35
Cobb	44.7%	141,216	54.1%	170,957	1.2%	3,951
Coffee	35.0%	4,811	64.5%	8,872	0.5%	75
Colquitt	30.8%	4,139	68.3%	9,185	1.9%	130
Columbia	28.3%	15,703	70.9%	39,322	0.8%	441
Cook	35.1%	2,075	63.6%	3,782	0.5%	52
Coweta	28.9%	15,521	70.0%	37,571	1.0%	543
Crawford	34.9%	1,832	64.0%	3,358	1.1%	58
Crisp	40.8%	3,085	58.6%	4,424	0.6%	45
Dade	25.0%	1,612	73.0%	4,703	2.0%	127
Dawson	16.3%	1,632	82.5%	8,242	1.1%	112
Decatur	42.6%	4,424	56.7%	5,890	0.7%	71
DeKalb	78.9%	254,594	20.3%	65,581	0.8%	2,671
Dodge	31.6%	2,595	67.4%	5,543	1.0%	86
Dooly	51.4%	2,138	47.8%	1,991	0.8%	32
Dougherty	67.2%	26,135	32.3%	12,547	0.5%	204
Douglas	50.4%	27,825	48.6%	26,812	1.0%	560
Early	48.7%	2,603	50.7%	2,711	0.5%	29
Echols	16.9%	201	82.6%	981	0.5%	6
Effingham	24.3%	4,936	74.9%	15,230	0.9%	175
Elbert	40.4%	3,366	58.4%	4,868	1.2%	98
Emanuel	37.2%	3,068	61.9%	5,110	0.9%	74
Evans	35.6%	1,374	63.8%	2,462	0.5%	20
Fannin	24.5%	2,611	73.4%	7,807	2.1%	225
Fayette	34.2%	20,313	64.8%	38,501	1.1%	627
Floyd	31.1%	10,691	67.4%	23,132	1.5%	499
Forsyth	20.4%	15,406	78.4%	59,166	1.2%	931
Franklin	23.6%	1,914	74.9%	6,069	1.5%	120
Fulton	67.1%	272,000	32.1%	130,136	0.9%	3,489
Gilmer	23.4%	2,614	75.2%	8,408	1.5%	164
Glascock	14.7%	210	84.2%	1,202	1.1%	16
Glynn	37.9%	12,676	61.3%	20,479	0.7%	248
Gordon	24.2%	4,268	74.3%	13,113	1.6%	274
Grady	37.8%	3,539	61.6%	5,775	0.6%	57
Greene	42.2%	3,339	57.2%	4,532	0.6%	50
Gwinnett	44.3%	129,025	54.6%	158,746	1.1%	3,167
Habersham	19.5%	2,900	79.2%	11,766	1.3%	193
Hall	24.0%	14,457	74.8%	44,962	1.2%	711
Hancock	81.3%	3,535	18.3%	795	0.4%	18
Haralson	20.2%	2,248	77.8%	8,658	2.0%	224
Harris	28.0%	4,184	71.2%	10,648	0.8%	113
Hart	33.6%	3,365	65.2%	6,537	1.2%	122
Heard	24.6%	1,042	74.0%	3,133	1.3%	56
Henry	45.8%	40,527	53.3%	47,115	0.9%	762
Houston	39.4%	22,094	59.6%	33,392	1.0%	548
Irwin	31.2%	1,197	67.8%	2,605	1.0%	38
Jackson	21.5%	4,950	77.2%	17,776	1.3%	290
Jasper	32.7%	1,935	66.2%	3,916	1.0%	60
Jeff Davis	25.7%	1,356	73.2%	3,867	1.2%	63
Jefferson	57.3%	4,149	42.3%	3,061	0.3%	25
Jenkins	43.1%	1,482	56.2%	1,936	0.7%	24
Johnson	32.8%	1,198	66.5%	2,426	0.7%	26
Jones	36.7%	4,572	62.5%	7,782	0.9%	106
Lamar	35.7%	2,752	63.2%	4,873	1.0%	80
Lanier	36.9%	1,062	62.0%	1,787	1.1%	31
Laurens	38.9%	7,769	60.4%	12,052	0.7%	142
Lee	23.6%	3,100	75.7%	9,925	0.7%	87
Liberty	63.9%	10,474	35.5%	5,828	0.6%	98
Lincoln	37.3%	1,650	61.7%	2,731	1.0%	43
Long	37.2%	1,288	61.2%	2,119	1.5%	53
Lowndes	44.8%	17,651	54.0%	21,296	1.2%	465
Lumpkin	23.3%	2,586	75.0%	8,326	1.8%	196
McDuffie	42.2%	3,989	57.1%	5,400	0.7%	66
McIntosh	46.6%	2,905	52.6%	3,282	0.8%	49
Macon	65.2%	3,251	34.3%	1,712	0.4%	21
Madison	26.1%	2,965	72.4%	8,226	1.5%	174
Marion	43.3%	1,381	55.6%	1,772	1.1%	35
Meriwether	46.9%	4,465	52.3%	4,982	0.7%	71
Miller	29.9%	818	69.3%	1,899	0.8%	23
Mitchell	47.6%	3,872	51.7%	4,201	0.7%	59
Monroe	33.8%	4,106	65.3%	7,933	0.9%	108
Montgomery	29.1%	1,045	70.2%	2,521	0.8%	27
Morgan	33.7%	3,091	65.3%	5,987	0.9%	87
Murray	26.4%	3,026	71.5%	8,180	2.1%	241
Muscogee	59.5%	44,158	39.9%	29,568	0.6%	436
Newton	50.2%	20,827	49.0%	20,337	0.8%	318
Oconee	28.1%	4,825	70.6%	12,120	1.3%	229
Oglethorpe	34.5%	2,232	64.1%	4,144	1.3%	87
Paulding	30.2%	17,229	68.7%	39,192	1.1%	655
Peach	52.9%	5,927	46.2%	5,173	0.9%	96
Pickens	20.3%	2,595	78.1%	10,004	1.7%	214
Pierce	18.4%	1,253	80.9%	5,500	0.6%	44
Pike	19.2%	1,575	79.6%	6,547	1.2%	99
Polk	28.6%	4,052	69.6%	9,850	1.8%	251
Pulaski	34.8%	1,377	64.4%	2,553	0.8%	32
Putnam	33.9%	3,102	65.3%	5,966	0.8%	71
Quitman	53.5%	597	45.6%	509	0.9%	10
Rabun	26.2%	2,001	71.9%	5,487	1.9%	145
Randolph	57.0%	1,833	42.6%	1,370	0.4%	14
Richmond	65.6%	52,100	33.8%	26,842	0.6%	480
Rockdale	54.3%	20,526	44.8%	16,921	0.9%	337
Schley	27.5%	479	72.0%	1,252	0.5%	8
Screven	46.6%	3,024	52.8%	3,423	0.6%	40
Seminole	41.4%	1,660	57.8%	2,315	0.8%	32
Spalding	40.1%	10,141	58.8%	14,885	1.1%	269
Stephens	25.6%	2,705	72.9%	7,689	1.5%	158
Stewart	61.9%	1,305	37.1%	783	1.0%	21
Sumter	52.7%	6,454	46.7%	5,717	0.7%	84
Talbot	64.0%	2,369	35.2%	1,301	0.8%	31
Taliaferro	64.9%	643	34.2%	339	0.8%	8
Tattnall	28.7%	1,932	70.3%	4,730	1.0%	64
Taylor	42.8%	1,536	56.3%	2,021	0.8%	30
Telfair	42.6%	1,862	56.8%	2,486	0.6%	28
Terrell	56.6%	2,501	42.8%	1,890	0.7%	30
Thomas	41.7%	7,720	57.5%	10,642	0.7%	132
Tift	33.3%	4,749	66.1%	9,431	0.6%	89
Toombs	30.5%	2,964	68.6%	6,658	0.8%	82
Towns	24.1%	1,391	74.5%	4,292	1.4%	81
Treutlen	37.5%	1,112	61.6%	1,826	0.8%	24
Troup	40.1%	10,455	59.0%	15,391	0.9%	222
Turner	40.1%	1,427	58.9%	2,096	0.9%	33
Twiggs	53.1%	2,402	46.2%	2,087	0.7%	33
Union	23.3%	2,486	75.0%	8,013	1.8%	191
Upson	35.5%	4,061	63.8%	7,291	0.7%	82
Walker	25.8%	6,095	72.3%	17,110	1.9%	449
Walton	23.5%	8,469	75.5%	27,253	1.0%	357
Ware	32.4%	4,034	66.8%	8,311	0.7%	91
Warren	58.4%	1,554	40.8%	1,087	0.8%	21
Washington	51.9%	4,607	47.5%	4,216	0.6%	55
Wayne	27.0%	2,858	71.9%	7,601	1.1%	116
Webster	46.4%	515	52.9%	588	0.7%	8
Wheeler	35.9%	794	63.6%	1,408	0.5%	12
White	20.1%	2,174	78.4%	8,467	1.5%	158
Whitfield	29.4%	8,167	69.2%	19,230	1.4%	394
Wilcox	30.9%	978	68.2%	2,159	0.9%	27
Wilkes	45.8%	2,315	53.5%	2,705	0.8%	40
Wilkinson	49.1%	2,298	50.2%	2,349	0.7%	31
Worth	30.3%	2,542	69.0%	5,780	0.7%	60

By congressional district

John McCain carried eight congressional districts in Georgia, including all 7 held by Republicans and 1 district held by a Democrat.

District	McCain	Obama	Representative
1st	62.81%	36.39%	Jack Kingston
2nd	45.91%	53.55%	Sanford Bishop
3rd	63.87%	35.27%	Lynn Westmoreland
4th	20.65%	78.61%	Hank Johnson
5th	20.01%	79.12%	John Lewis
6th	62.26%	36.56%	Tom Price
7th	59.68%	39.28%	John Linder
8th	56.34%	42.98%	Jim Marshall
9th	75.33%	23.46%	Nathan Deal
10th	61.12%	37.96%	Paul Broun
11th	65.60%	33.12%	Phil Gingrey
12th	45.25%	54.09%	John Barrow
13th	28.38%	70.85%	David Scott

Electors

Technically the voters of Georgia cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Georgia is allocated 15 electors because it has 13 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 15 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 15 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 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 15 were pledged to John McCain and Sarah Palin:[24]

1. Esther Clark
2. Dennis Coxwell
3. Norma Edenfield
4. Randy Evans
5. Sue P. Everhart
6. Leigh Ann Gillis
7. Judy Goddard
8. Linda Herren
9. Rufus Montgomery
10. Clint Murphy
11. Sunny Park
12. Alec Poitevint
13. John Sours
14. Allan Vigil
15. John White

References

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4. Maya Curry; Marti Covington; Michael Scherer (2008-09-23). "Obama Scales Back His 50-State Strategy". Time Magazine. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
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9. Based on Takeaway
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15. "Winning the Electoral College". Fox News. 2010-04-27.
16. roadto270
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21. "Map: Campaign Candidate Visits - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
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23. "Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". Retrieved 2013-01-13.
24. "Presidential Electors for the November 2, 2010 General Election". Archived from the original on November 27, 2008. Retrieved July 4, 2009.