296,571 165,391 Start date November 4, 2008 | 62.9% 35.1% | |
The 2008 United States presidential election in Rhode Island took place on November 4, 2008 throughout all 50 states and D.C., which 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.
Contents
- Primaries
- Predictions
- Polling
- Fundraising
- Advertising and visits
- Analysis
- By congressional district
- Electors
- References
Rhode Island was won by Democratic nominee Barack Obama with a 27.8% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state Obama would win, or otherwise considered as a safe blue state. The last time a Republican carried this state or any county in the state is 1984, when Reagan won with about 52% of the vote, largely due to the support of Reagan Democrats.
Primaries
Predictions
There were 17 news organizations which made state by state predictions of the election. Their last predictions before election day were:
- D.C. Political Report: Democrat
- Cook Political Report: Solid Democrat
- Takeaway: Solid Obama
- Election Projection: Solid Obama
- Electoral-vote.com: Strong Democrat
- Washington Post: Solid Obama
- Politico: Solid Obama
- Real Clear Politics: Solid Obama
- FiveThirtyEight.com: Solid Obama
- CQ Politics: Safe Democrat
- New York Times: Solid Democrat
- CNN: Safe Democrat
- NPR: Solid Obama
- MSNBC: Solid Obama
- Fox News: Democrat
- Associated Press: Democrat
- Rasmussen Reports: Safe Democrat
Polling
Obama won every single pre-election poll, and each by a double digit margin of victory. The final 3 polls averaged Obama leading with 51% to 33%.
Fundraising
John McCain raised a total of $345,472 in the state. Barack Obama raised $1,563,410.
Advertising and visits
Obama and his interest groups spent $671,623. McCain spent nothing. The Democratic ticket visited the state once, while the Republican ticket didn't visit the state at all.
Analysis
Rhode Island historically voted Republican until 1908, but has supported Democrats all but seven times in the 24 elections that have followed. In 1980, Rhode Island was one of only six states to vote against Ronald Reagan. Reagan did carry Rhode Island in his 49-state victory in 1984—only the third time since Eisenhower that a Republican carried the state. However, Reagan's 3.6 percent margin was his second-closest in the nation, ahead of only his 2.8 percent margin in Massachusetts. Despite George H. W. Bush aggressively contesting the state in 1988, Michael Dukakis won it by a fairly convincing 13 points, his best performance. The state has not been seriously contested since then, often giving Democratic candidates their biggest margins. It was Bill Clinton's second-best state in 1996 (behind only Arkansas) and Al Gore's best state in 2000. In 2004, Rhode Island gave John Kerry more than a 20-percentage-point margin of victory (the third-highest of any state), with 59.4% of its vote. All but three of Rhode Island's 39 cities and towns voted for the Democratic candidate. The only exceptions were East Greenwich, West Greenwich and Scituate.
This pattern continued in 2008. Rhode Island gave Barack Obama a 27.80-percent margin of victory with 62.86% of its vote. Every single county in Rhode Island, along with Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, and Hawaii, voted for Obama in 2008. Obama also won both congressional districts and 38 of the state's 39 towns. Scituate was the only town carried by McCain, and only narrowly. Ralph Nader had one of his best performances here in 2008 obtaining over 1% of the vote.
Having some of the highest taxes in the nation, Rhode Island is considered to be a liberal bastion. In addition, Rhode Island has abolished capital punishment, making it one of 15 states that have done so. Rhode Island abolished the death penalty very early, just after Michigan (the first state to abolish it), and carried out its last execution in the 1840s. Rhode Island is one of two states in which prostitution is legal, provided it takes place indoors, though there have been recent efforts to change this.
During the same election, incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Jack Reed was soundly reelected over Republican Jack Tingle in a landslide three-to-one margin. Reed received 73.40% of the vote while Tingle took in 26.60%. At the state level, Democrats picked up nine seats in the Rhode Island House of Representatives to augment their supermajority in that chamber.
By congressional district
Barack Obama carried both of Rhode Island’s two congressional districts.
Electors
Technically the voters of RI cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. RI 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. 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:
- Maryellen Goodwin
- Charlene Lima
- John McConnell
- Mark Weiner