United States presidential election in Utah, 2004

United States presidential election in Utah, 2004
Utah
November 2, 2004
 
Nominee George W. Bush John Kerry
Party Republican Democratic
Home state Texas Massachusetts
Running mate Dick Cheney John Edwards
Electoral vote 5 0
Popular vote 663,742 241,199
Percentage 71.5% 26.0%

County Results
  Bush—50-60%
  Bush—60-70%
  Bush—70-80%
  Bush—80-90%
President before election

George W. Bush
Republican

 Elected President

George W. Bush
Republican

The 2004 United States presidential election in Utah 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 5 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.

Utah was won by incumbent President George W. Bush by a 45.5% 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. It is a strongly Republican state that in 2004 had a state legislature with a "super-majority" of Republicans in its make-up (meaning the minority parties are unable to block a veto by its members), both U.S. Senators being Republican as well as two of the three members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Utah was Bush's strongest state in the 2004 election.

Primaries

Campaign

Predictions

There were 12 news organizations who made state by state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day.[1]

  1. D.C. Political Report: Solid Republican
  2. Associated Press: Solid Bush
  3. CNN: Bush
  4. Cook Political Report: Lean Republican
  5. Newsweek: Solid Bush
  6. New York Times: Solid Bush
  7. Rasmussen Reports: Bush
  8. Research 2000: Solid Bush
  9. Washington Post: Bush
  10. Washington Times: Solid Bush
  11. Zogby International: Bush
  12. Washington Dispatch: Bush

Polling

The final 3 polls averaged Bush with 67% to Kerry with 25%.[2]

Fundraising

Bush raised $561,645.[3] Kerry raised $262,031.[4]

Advertising and visits

Neither campaign advertised or visited this state during the fall election.[5][6]

Analysis

Republicans dominate Utah state politics because of the very high Mormon population that accounts for almost 70% of the residents throughout the state. Mormons have been known for having very conservative values. While every county voted for Bush, areas such as Park City (ski resort), Moab (becoming an outpost for environmental activists), Carbon County (largely blue collar), Salt Lake City (urban area with some diversity) and San Juan County (economically distressed and mostly Native American) did give a number of their votes to Kerry. However, other areas were uniformly Republican in voting. Utah County's (home of Provo and Brigham Young University) Republican vote (86%) was by far the largest percentage of any county its size in America.

Results

United States presidential election in Utah, 2004
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican George W. Bush (incumbent) 663,742 71.5% 5
Democratic John Kerry 241,199 26.0% 0
Independent Ralph Nader 11,305 1.2% 0
Constitution Party Michael Peroutka 6,841 0.7% 0
Libertarian Party Michael Badnarik 3,375 0.4% 0
Personal Choice Party Charles Jay 946 0.1% 0
Socialist Workers Party Roger Calero 393 0.0% 0
Green Party David Cobb 39 0.0% 0
Write Ins 4 0.0% 0
Totals - 100.00% 5
Voter turnout (Voting age population) 57.7%

Results breakdown

By county

County Bush% Bush# Kerry% Kerry#
Beaver 79.52% 2,023 19.38% 493
Box Elder 85.75% 15,751 12.22% 2,244
Cache 81.76% 32,486 16.05% 6,375
Carbon 58.18% 4,950 40.14% 3,415
Daggett 76.15% 380 21.64% 108
Davis 78.88% 86,187 19.12% 20,893
Duchesne 85.35% 4,742 13.28% 738
Emery 80.83% 3,781 17.76% 831
Garfield 85.48% 1,848 12.21% 264
Grand 51.14% 2,130 44.61% 1,858
Iron 82.97% 12,815 14.68% 2,267
Juab 78.46% 2,681 17.71% 605
Kane 79.12% 2,414 18.88% 576
Millard 83.74% 4,084 12.84% 626
Morgan 85.94% 3,301 12.29% 472
Piute 83.57% 646 15.91% 123
Rich 88.91% 922 10.51% 109
Salt Lake 59.57% 215,728 37.54% 135,949
San Juan 59.68% 2,971 38.29% 1,906
Sanpete 82.33% 7,004 13.98% 1,189
Sevier 86.34% 6,597 12.04% 920
Summit 51.83% 7,936 45.57% 6,977
Tooele 73.10% 12,181 24.78% 4,130
Uintah 85.55% 8,518 12.71% 1,266
Utah 85.99% 128,269 11.64% 17,357
Wasatch 73.26% 5,503 24.68% 1,854
Washington 80.95% 35,633 17.07% 7,513
Wayne 78.09% 1,062 20.51% 279
Weber 70.43% 51,199 27.32% 19,862

By congressional district

Bush won all three congressional districts.

District Bush Kerry Representative
1st 73% 25% Rob Bishop
2nd 66% 31% Jim Matheson
3rd 77% 20% Chris Cannon

Electors

Technically the voters of Utah cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Utah is allocated 5 electors because it has 3 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 5 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 5 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 5 were pledged to Bush/Cheney:

  1. Olene S. Walker
  2. Gayle McKeachnie
  3. Lewis K. Billings
  4. Joseph A. Cannon
  5. Scott F. Simpson

References

  1. ↑ http://www.dcpoliticalreport.com/members/2004/Pred2.htm#NW[]
  2. ↑ http://uselectionatlas.org/USPRESIDENT/GENERAL/CAMPAIGN/2004/polls.php?fips=49
  3. ↑ http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/campaigns/george_w_bush.asp?cycle=04
  4. ↑ http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/campaigns/john_f_kerry.asp?cycle=04
  5. ↑ http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/special/president/campaign.ads/
  6. ↑ http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/special/president/tracking/10.25.html

See also

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