January 29, 2008 (2008-01-29) 2012 → 604,932 286,089 31.03% 14.68% | 701,761 604,932 36.00% 31.03% | |
← 2004 January 29, 2008 (2008-01-29) | ||
The 2008 Florida Republican primary was held on January 29, 2008, with 57 delegates at stake on a winner-take-all basis. The Republican National Committee removed half of Florida's delegates because the state committee moved its Republican primary before February 5. Arizona Senator John McCain was the winner of the primary. Rudy Giuliani dropped out of the race the next day, due to poor results.
Contents
Campaign
Rudy Giuliani campaigned quite heavily in Florida, which he expected to use as his "launch pad" for a "strong showing" on Super Tuesday. He campaigned almost entirely in Florida, and largely ignored South Carolina and other states voting before February 5. Polls taken before the primary showed that John McCain was the slight front runner over Mitt Romney. Giuliani had been campaigning with virtually no opposition; however, following the South Carolina Republican primary, 2008, several candidates flew down to Florida to begin campaigning up to January 29 when the primary occurred.
Pre-primary polls
As of January 29, RealClearPolitics reported that the average support from polls taken in the days immediately prior to primary day placed McCain slightly in the lead with 30.7%, followed by Romney with 30.1%, Giuliani with 14.7%, Huckabee with 12.9%, and Paul with 3.6%. Fmr. Sen. Fred Thompson and Rep. Duncan Hunter, though already out of the race, still remained on the ballot in the Florida primary.
Results
The Florida Secretary of State has released the official results showing that John McCain is the winner.
* Candidate dropped out of the race prior to primary.