United States presidential election in Louisiana, 2004

Updated on Nov 21, 2023

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9 0 56.7% 42.2%		1,102,169 820,299 Start date November 2, 2004

The 2004 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 2, 2004 throughout all 50 states and D.C., which was part of the 2004 United States presidential election. Voters chose 9 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.

Louisiana was won by incumbent President George W. Bush by a 14.5% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 12 news organizations considered this a state Bush would win, or otherwise considered as a safe red state. Bush's performance was much wider margin than that of his 2000 results which was 6.8% less. The state, like other states in the Deep South, is racially polarized when it comes to presidential elections, as a wide majority of the white population votes Republican, and a wide majority of the black population votes Democratic.

Primaries

Louisiana Democratic primary, 2004

Predictions

There were 12 news organizations who made state by state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day.

D.C. Political Report: Leans Republican
Associated Press: Leans Bush
CNN: Bush
Cook Political Report: Lean Republican
Newsweek: Solid Bush
New York Times: Solid Bush
Rasmussen Reports: Bush
Research 2000: Solid Bush
Washington Post: Bush
Washington Times: Solid Bush
Zogby International: Bush
Washington Dispatch: Bush

Polling

Bush won every single pre-election poll, and won each by at least 48% of the vote. The final 3 polls averaged Bush leading 51% to 39%.

Fundraising

Bush raised $1,933,549. Kerry raised $1,303,859.

Advertising and visits

Neither campaign advertised or visited this state during the fall election.

Analysis

Bush performed here better than he did in 2000. He won four more parishes: Caddio, Bienville, St. Landry, and West Baton Rouge (WBR), but he won each with very slim margins of victory of less than two percent, except for WBR which he won with 54% of the vote indicating that the parish is trending Republican. In the northern portion of the state, he barely lost in Madison and Tensas. The only two parishes in which he got less than 40% of the vote in were East Carroll and Orleans. Bush also won six of seven congressional districts in the state, each with at least 58% of the vote. The Louisiana's 2nd congressional district, which covers the parish and city of Orleans, was won by Kerry with 70% of the vote. In other words, no CD in the state was competitive.

By congressional district

Bush won 6 of 7 congressional districts.

Electors

Technically the voters of Louisiana cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Louisiana is allocated 9 electors because it has 7 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 9 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 9 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 the state. All 9 were pledged to Bush/Cheney: