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2008 United States presidential election in New York

none

Field	Value
election_name	2008 United States presidential election in New York
country	New York
flag_image	Flag of New York (1909–2020).svg
type	presidential
ongoing	no
previous_election	2004 United States presidential election in New York
previous_year	2004
next_election	2012 United States presidential election in New York
next_year	2012
election_date	November 4, 2008
turnout	63.51% ( 1.07 pp)
image_size	x200px
image1	Obama portrait crop.jpg
nominee1	Barack Obama
party1	Democratic Party (United States)
alliance1	Working Families
home_state1	Illinois
running_mate1	Joe Biden
electoral_vote1	31
popular_vote1	4,804,945
percentage1	62.88%
image2	John McCain official portrait 2009 (cropped).jpg
nominee2	John McCain
party2	Republican Party (United States)
alliance2	{{collapsible list
titlestyle	font-weight:normal;background:transparent;text-align:left;
title	Parties
home_state2	Arizona
running_mate2	Sarah Palin
electoral_vote2	0
popular_vote2	2,752,771
percentage2	36.03%
map_image	{{Switcher
map_caption
title	President
before_election	George W. Bush
before_party	Republican Party (United States)
after_election	Barack Obama
after_party	Democratic Party (United States)

Main article: 2008 United States presidential election

| Conservative | Independence | [[File:New York Presidential Election Results 2008.svg|400px]] | County results |[[File:2008 US Presidential election in New York by congressional district.svg|400px]] | Congressional district results | [[File:New York Presidential Results 2008 by Municipality.svg|400px]] | Municipality results Obama McCain Tie The 2008 United States presidential election in New York took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose 31 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Barack Obama won the state of New York with a decisive 26.9% margin of victory. Obama took 62.88% of the vote to McCain's 36.03%. At the time this was the highest Democratic vote share in New York State since 1964, although Obama would outperform his 2008 showing in New York just four years later in 2012. Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state Obama would win, or otherwise considered as a safe blue state. Located in the Northeast, a region of the country that is trending heavily towards the Democrats, elections in New York are dominated by the presence of the heavily populated, heavily diverse, liberal bastion of New York City where Democrats tend to be heavily favored to win.

, this is the last election in which Chautauqua County voted for the Democratic candidate.

Primaries

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
Cook Political Report
The Takeaway
Electoral-vote.com
The Washington Post	Washington Post
Politico
RealClearPolitics
FiveThirtyEight
CQ Politics
The New York Times
CNN
NPR
MSNBC
Fox News
Associated Press
Rasmussen Reports

Polling

Main article: Statewide opinion polling for the 2008 United States presidential election#New York

Obama won all but one pre-election poll. Since September 15, Obama won each poll with a double-digit margin of victory and each with at least 55% of the vote. He won the final Marist poll with a 36-point spread. The final 3 polls averaged Obama leading 63% to 31%.

Fundraising

McCain raised a total of $12,582,856 in the state. Barack Obama raised $58,161,743.

Advertising and visits

Obama and his interest groups spent $1,148,016. McCain and his interest groups spent just $7,310. The Republican visited the state 11 times and the Democratic ticket visited the state 4 times.

Analysis

Voting taking place in a New York City polling station

New York was once reckoned as a powerful swing state with a slight Democratic lean. However, the last time the state went Republican was for Ronald Reagan in 1984. Michael Dukakis narrowly won it against George H. W. Bush in 1988, but the state has not been seriously contested since then. It is now considered an uncontested blue state, and was heavily favored to vote for Obama by a significant margin.

Elections in New York are dominated by the presence of New York City, a Democratic stronghold for more than a century and a half. It is made up mostly of white liberals as well as ethnic and religious minorities—all voting blocs that strongly vote Democratic. Obama won Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx by margins of 5-to-1 or more and carried Queens by a 3-to-1 margin. The only borough McCain carried was Staten Island, traditionally the most conservative area of the city. Obama's combined million-vote margin in the Five Boroughs would have been enough by itself to carry the state.

However, Obama also dominated heavily Democratic Western New York, including Buffalo and Rochester, and the Capital District (Albany, Schenectady and Troy), as well as the increasingly Democratic Long Island and Syracuse areas. Even when New York was considered a swing state, a Republican had to carry Long Island and do reasonably well in either Western New York, the Capital District or Syracuse to make up for the massive Democratic margins in New York City. Obama also won a number of traditionally Republican-leaning counties in Upstate New York and became the first Democrat since Lyndon B. Johnson to win an outright majority of votes in the Upstate (although Democratic candidates had been consistently winning pluralities of the vote since 1992). Barack Obama dominated in fiercely Democratic New York City, taking 2,074,159 votes to John McCain's 524,787, giving Obama a 79.29%–20.06% landslide victory citywide. Excluding the votes of New York City, Obama still would have carried New York State, but by a smaller margin. Obama would have received 2,730,786 votes to McCain's 2,227,984, giving Obama a 55.06%–44.93% victory.

Voters lined-up outside a polling station in [[Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan

At the same time, Democrats in New York picked up three seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008. In the 13th district, which consists of Staten Island and part of Brooklyn, Democrats picked up an open seat that was vacated by former Republican Vito Fossella who resigned after he was arrested for getting a DUI. Democrat Michael McMahon solidly defeated Republican Robert Staniere by a two-to-one margin, 60.79–33.26%. His victory made the city's delegation entirely Democratic for the first time in over 70 years. In the 25th district, centered around Syracuse, Democrat Dan Maffei handily defeated Republican Dale Sweetland 55% to 42% for the open seat vacated by Republican Jim Walsh. In New York's 29th congressional district, which includes Canandaigua, Democrat Eric Massa narrowly defeated incumbent Republican Randy Kuhl by 1.7 points. This reduced the Republicans to only three of the state's 29 seats in the House—the fewest the GOP has ever won in an election. At the state level, Democrats picked up a seat in the New York State Assembly and two seats in the New York State Senate which gave Democrats control of the Senate and ultimately both chambers of the New York Legislature for the first time since 1966. This gave the Democrats complete control of New York's state government for the first time since 1935.

Results

2008 United States presidential election in New York	Party	Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage
Democratic	Barack Obama	4,645,332	60.80%
Working Families	Barack Obama	159,613	2.09%
Total	Barack Obama	Joe Biden	4,804,945	62.88%	31
Republican	John McCain	2,418,323	31.65%
Conservative	John McCain	170,475	2.23%
Independence	John McCain	163,973	2.15%
Total	John McCain	Sarah Palin	2,752,771	36.03%	0
Populist	Ralph Nader	Matt Gonzalez	41,249	0.54%	0
Libertarian	Bob Barr	Wayne Allyn Root	19,596	0.26%	0
Green	Cynthia McKinney	Rosa Clemente	12,801	0.17%	0
Socialist Workers	James Harris	Alyson Kennedy	3,615	0.05%	0
Write-ins	Write-ins	3,272	0.04%	0
Socialism and Liberation	Gloria La Riva	Eugene Puryear	1,639	0.02%	0
Constitution (write-in)	Chuck Baldwin	Darrell Castle	646	0.01%	0
Independent (write-in)	Ron Paul	341	0.01%	0
America's Independent (write-in)	Alan Keyes	Brian Rohrbough	35	0.01%	0
Socialist Equality (write-in)	Jerry White	Bill Van Auken	18	0.01%	0
Socialist (write-in)	Brian Moore	Stewart Alexander	10	0.01%	0
Independent (write-in)	Lanakila Washington	3	0.01%	0
Heartquake '08 (write-in)	Jonathan E. Allen	1	0.01%	0
Independent (write-in)	Michael Skok	1	0.01%	0
Totals	7,640,943	100.00%	31
Voter turnout (voting age population)	52.1%

New York City results

TOTAL	667,885	381,322	759,848	640,137	166,578	2,615,770	100.00%

By county

County	Barack Obama
Democratic	John McCain
Republican	Various candidates
Other parties	Margin	Total votes cast	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	Totals	4,804,945	62.88%	2,752,771	36.03%	83,232	1.09%	2,052,174	26.85%	7,640,948
	Albany		93,937		63.79%		50,586		34.35%		2,743		1.86%		43,351		29.44%		147,266
	Allegany		7,016		38.12%		11,013		59.83%		377		2.05%		−3,997		−21.71%		18,406
	Bronx		338,261		88.71%		41,683		10.93%		1,378		0.36%		296,578		77.78%		381,322
	Broome		47,204		53.14%		40,077		45.11%		1,556		1.75%		7,127		8.03%		88,837
	Cattaraugus		14,307		43.86%		17,770		54.48%		540		1.66%		−3,463		−10.62%		32,617
	Cayuga		18,128		53.28%		15,243		44.80%		651		1.92%		2,885		8.48%		34,022
	Chautauqua		29,129		49.54%		28,579		48.60%		1,094		1.86%		550		0.94%		58,802
	Chemung		18,888		48.81%		19,364		50.04%		443		1.15%		−476		−1.23%		38,695
	Chenango		10,100		48.45%		10,337		49.59%		410		1.96%		−237		−1.14%		20,847
	Clinton		20,216		60.64%		12,579		37.73%		542		1.63%		7,637		22.91%		33,337
	Columbia		17,556		55.85%		13,337		42.43%		540		1.72%		4,219		13.42%		31,433
	Cortland		11,861		54.11%		9,678		44.15%		381		1.74%		2,183		9.96%		21,920
	Delaware		9,462		46.41%		10,524		51.62%		403		1.97%		−1,062		−5.21%		20,389
	Dutchess		71,060		53.71%		59,628		45.07%		1,614		1.22%		11,432		8.64%		132,302
	Erie		256,299		57.99%		178,815		40.46%		6,871		1.55%		77,484		17.53%		441,985
	Essex		10,390		55.88%		7,913		42.55%		292		1.57%		2,477		13.33%		18,595
	Franklin		10,571		60.34%		6,676		38.11%		273		1.55%		3,895		22.23%		17,520
	Fulton		9,695		44.42%		11,709		53.65%		420		1.93%		−2,014		−9.23%		21,824
	Genesee		10,762		40.02%		15,705		58.40%		423		1.58%		−4,943		−18.38%		26,890
	Greene		9,850		44.10%		12,059		53.99%		426		1.91%		−2,209		−9.89%		22,335
	Hamilton		1,225		35.91%		2,141		62.77%		45		1.32%		−916		−26.86%		3,411
	Herkimer		12,094		44.49%		14,619		53.78%		471		1.73%		−2,525		−9.29%		27,184
	Jefferson		18,166		46.72%		20,220		52.00%		500		1.28%		−2,054		−5.28%		38,886
	Kings		603,525		79.43%		151,872		19.99%		4,451		0.58%		451,653		59.44%		759,848
	Lewis		4,986		44.77%		5,969		53.59%		183		1.64%		−983		−8.82%		11,138
	Livingston		13,655		45.29%		16,030		53.17%		484		1.54%		−2,375		−7.88%		30,149
	Madison		14,692		49.30%		14,434		48.43%		676		2.27%		258		0.87%		29,802
	Monroe		207,371		58.18%		144,262		40.47%		4,781		1.35%		63,109		17.71%		356,424
	Montgomery		9,080		45.01%		10,711		53.09%		384		1.90%		−1,631		−8.08%		20,175
	Nassau		342,185		53.84%		288,776		45.43%		4,657		0.73%		53,409		8.41%		635,618
	New York		572,370		85.70%		89,949		13.47%		5,566		0.83%		482,421		72.23%		667,885
	Niagara		47,303		49.65%		46,348		48.65%		1,621		1.70%		955		1.00%		95,272
	Oneida		43,506		46.10%		49,256		52.20%		1,603		1.70%		−5,750		−6.10%		94,365
	Onondaga		129,317		59.25%		84,972		38.94%		3,950		1.81%		44,345		20.31%		218,239
	Ontario		25,103		49.20%		25,171		49.34%		746		1.46%		−68		−0.14%		51,020
	Orange		78,326		51.54%		72,042		47.40%		1,614		1.06%		6,284		4.14%		151,982
	Orleans		6,614		39.88%		9,708		58.54%		262		1.58%		−3,094		−18.66%		16,584
	Oswego		24,777		50.21%		23,571		47.76%		1,001		2.03%		1,206		2.45%		49,349
	Otsego		13,570		51.95%		12,026		46.04%		525		2.01%		1,544		5.91%		26,121
	Putnam		21,613		45.75%		25,145		53.22%		486		1.03%		−3,532		−7.47%		47,244
	Queens		480,692		75.09%		155,221		24.25%		4,224		0.76%		325,471		50.84%		640,137
	Rensselaer		39,753		53.73%		32,840		44.39%		1,393		1.88%		6,913		9.34%		73,986
	Richmond		79,311		47.61%		86,062		51.66%		1,205		0.73%		−6,751		−4.05%		166,578
	Rockland		69,543		52.61%		61,752		46.71%		898		0.68%		7,791		5.90%		132,193
	Saratoga		56,645		50.85%		52,855		47.45%		1,887		1.70%		3,790		3.40%		111,387
	Schenectady		38,611		55.28%		29,758		42.61%		1,473		2.11%		8,853		12.67%		69,842
	Schoharie		6,009		41.72%		8,071		56.04%		322		2.24%		−2,062		−14.32%		14,402
	Schuyler		3,933		45.73%		4,542		52.81%		125		1.46%		−609		−7.08%		8,600
	Seneca		7,422		50.35%		7,038		47.74%		281		1.91%		384		2.61%		14,741
	St. Lawrence		23,706		57.36%		16,956		41.03%		664		1.61%		6,750		16.33%		41,326
	Steuben		17,148		40.92%		24,203		57.75%		560		1.33%		−7,055		−16.83%		41,911
	Suffolk		346,549		52.53%		307,021		46.53%		6,209		0.94%		39,528		6.00%		659,779
	Sullivan		16,850		54.04%		13,900		44.58%		433		1.38%		2,950		9.46%		31,183
	Tioga		10,172		43.98%		12,536		54.20%		423		1.82%		−2,364		−10.22%		23,131
	Tompkins		29,826		70.09%		11,927		28.03%		799		1.88%		17,899		42.06%		42,552
	Ulster		54,320		60.93%		33,300		37.35%		1,529		1.72%		21,020		23.58%		89,149
	Warren		16,281		50.49%		15,429		47.85%		535		1.66%		852		2.64%		32,245
	Washington		12,741		49.52%		12,533		48.71%		456		1.77%		208		0.81%		25,730
	Wayne		18,184		44.30%		22,239		54.18%		622		1.52%		−4,055		−9.88%		41,045
	Westchester		261,810		63.39%		147,824		35.79%		3,410		0.82%		113,986		27.60%		413,044
	Wyoming		6,379		36.11%		10,998		62.25%		290		1.64%		−4,619		−26.14%		17,667
	Yates		4,890		47.57%		5,269		51.25%		121		1.18%		−379		−3.68%		10,280

Hold}} {{col-end}}

;Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Dutchess (county seat: Poughkeepsie)
Orange (county seat: Goshen)
Rockland (county seat: New City)
Saratoga (county seat: Ballston Spa)
Cayuga (county seat: Auburn)
Chautauqua (county seat: Mayville)
Cortland (county seat: Cortland)
Essex (county seat: Elizabethtown)
Otsego (county seat: Cooperstown)
Seneca (county seat: Waterloo)
Sullivan (county seat: Monticello)
Oswego (county seat: Waterloo)
Washington (county seat: Hudson Falls)
Madison (county seat: Wampsville)
Warren (county seat: Queensbury)

By congressional district

Barack Obama won 25 of the state's 29 districts, including one held by a Republican. McCain carried 4 districts, including two that elected Democrats.

District	McCain	Representative
47.62%	51.44%	Tim Bishop
43.09%	56.13%	Steve Israel
51.90%	47.27%	Peter T. King
41.35%	57.99%	Carolyn McCarthy
36.06%	63.24%	Gary Ackerman
10.68%	89.03%	Gregory W. Meeks
20.37%	79.12%	Joseph Crowley
25.45%	73.70%	Jerrold Nadler
43.92%	55.32%	Anthony D. Weiner
8.70%	91.03%	Edolphus Towns
9.07%	90.49%	Yvette D. Clark
13.12%	86.17%	Nydia Velasquez
50.56%	48.74%	Vito Fossella ([110th Congress](110th-united-states-congress))
	Michael McMahon ([111th Congress](111th-united-states-congress))
20.92%	78.19%	Carolyn B. Maloney
6.17%	93.21%	Charlie Rangel
5.04%	94.76%	Jose Serrano
27.53%	71.92%	Eliot L. Engel
37.57%	61.66%	Nita Lowey
48.37%	50.65%	John Hall
47.70%	50.70%	Kirsten Gillibrand ([110th Congress](110th-united-states-congress))
	Scott Murphy ([111th Congress](111th-united-states-congress))
40.00%	58.14%	Paul Tonko
39.31%	59.23%	Maurice Hinchey
46.59%	51.81%	John M. McHugh
47.97%	50.33%	Mike Arcuri
42.62%	55.74%	James T. Walsh ([110th Congress](110th-united-states-congress))
	Dan Maffei ([111th Congress](111th-united-states-congress))
52.15%	46.43%	Thomas M. Reynolds ([110th Congress](110th-united-states-congress))
	Christopher Lee ([111th Congress](111th-united-states-congress))
44.03%	54.19%	Brian Higgins
30.29%	68.47%	Louise Slaughter
50.46%	48.24%	Randy Kuhl ([110th Congress](110th-united-states-congress))
	Eric Massa ([111th Congress](111th-united-states-congress))

Electors

Main article: List of 2008 United States presidential electors

Technically the voters of New York cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. New York is allocated 31 electors because it had 29 congressional districts under the 2000 census and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 31 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and their running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 31 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 their 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 31 electors were pledged to Barack Obama and Joe Biden:

Velda Jeffrey
June O'Neill
Dennis Mehiel
David Paterson
Andrew Cuomo
Thomas DiNapoli
Sheldon Silver
Malcolm Smith
Maria Luna
Robert Master
Pamela Green-Perkins
Helen D. Foster
Jon Cooper
Hakeem Jeffries
Richard Fife
Deborah Slott
Terrence Yang
George Arthur
George Gresham
Alan Van Capelle
Inez Dickens
Suzy Ballantyne
Alan Lubin
Bethaida Gonzalez
Christine Quinn
William Thompson
Stuart Applebaum
Maritza Davila
Ivan Young
Barbara J. Fiala
Frank A. Bolz

References

(2009-01-01). "D.C.'s Political Report: The complete source for campaign summaries.".
(2015-05-05). "Presidential".
(2009-04-22). "Vote 2008 - The Takeaway - Track the Electoral College vote predictions".
"Electoral-vote.com: President, Senate, House Updated Daily".
Based on Takeaway.
"POLITICO's 2008 Swing State Map - POLITICO.com".
"RealClearPolitics - Electoral Map".
"CQ Presidential Election Maps, 2008".
(2008-11-04). "The Electoral Map: Key States". The New York Times.
(2008-10-31). "October – 2008 – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs". CNN.
(April 27, 2010). "Winning The Electoral College". Fox News.
"roadto270".
"Election 2008: Electoral College Update - Rasmussen Reports".
[http://uselectionatlas.org/POLLS/PRESIDENT/2008/pollsa.php?fips=36 Election 2008 Polls - Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections]
"Presidential Campaign Finance".
"Map: Campaign Ad Spending - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN.
"Map: Campaign Candidate Visits - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN.
"Electoral College". [[California Secretary of State]].
[https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/2008-certificates/index.html#ny U. S. Electoral College 2008 Election - Certificates]

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