The 2008 United States presidential election in California took place on November 4, 2008, in California as part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose 55 electors, the most out of any of the 50 states, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
California was won by Democratic nominee Barack Obama with a 24.1% margin of victory. No Republican has carried the state in a presidential election since George H. W. Bush in 1988. Prior to the election, California was considered to be a state Obama would win or as a safe blue state. With its 55 electoral votes, California was Obama's largest electoral prize in 2008. A number of media outlets called several West Coast statesincluding California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washingtonfor Obama once polls closed in those states. This pushed Obama above the threshold of 270 Electoral College votes needed for victory, and so these outlets declared him president-elect.
As of the 2024 presidential election, this is the last time the Democratic candidate carried Trinity County in a presidential election. This was also the first time since 1936 that a Democratic presidential candidate won more than 60% of the vote in California, which the Democrats have done in every election since, except for 2024.
Primaries For other parties, see California state elections, February 2008.
On February 5, 2008, presidential primaries were held by all parties with ballot access in the state.
Democratic
The 2008 California Democratic presidential primary took place on February 5, 2008, also known as Super Tuesday. California was dubbed the "Big Enchilada" by the media because it offers the most delegates out of any other delegation. Hillary Clinton won the primary.
Process In the primary, 370 of California's 441 delegates to the Democratic National Convention were selected. The remaining delegates were superdelegates not obligated to vote for any candidate at the convention. Of these delegates, 241 were awarded at the congressional district level, and the remaining 129 were awarded to the statewide winner. Candidates were required to receive at least 15% of either the district or statewide vote to receive any delegates. Registered Democrats and Decline to State voters were eligible to vote.
Number of delegates Congressionaldistricts 3 20, 47 4 2, 3, 11, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 25, 26, 31, 32, 34, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 48, 49, 51, 52 5 1, 4, 5, 7, 10, 13, 15, 17, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 33, 35, 36, 37, 50, 53 6 6, 8, 9, 12, 14, 30
Polls
The latest six polls were averaged (only counting the latest Zogby poll).
Candidate Mean of pollsreleased inFebruary 2008 Median of pollsreleased inFebruary 2008 RCP average Hillary Clinton 42.8% 40.5% 44.2% Barack Obama 40.3% 40.4% 41.6%
Results
Key: Withdrew prior to contest 2008 California Democratic presidential primaryCandidateVotesPercentageNational delegates Hillary Clinton 2,608,184 51.47% 204 Barack Obama 2,186,662 43.16% 166 John Edwards 193,617 3.82% 0 Dennis Kucinich 24,126 0.48% 0 Bill Richardson 19,939 0.39% 0 Joe Biden 18,261 0.36% 0 Mike Gravel 8,184 0.16% 0 Christopher Dodd 8,005 0.16% 0 Willie Carter (write-in) 4 0.00% 0 Eric Hinzman (write-in) 4 0.00% 0 Phil Epstein (write-in) 3 0.00% 0 Brian Calef (write-in) 2 0.00% 0 David Frey (write-in) 1 0.00% 0 Joseph McAndrew (write-in) 1 0.00% 0 Keith Judd (write-in) 0 0.00% 0 John Stein (write-in) 7 0.0000001% 0 Totals 5,066,993 100.00% 370 Voter turnout — —
Republican
The 2008 California Republican primary was held on February 5, 2008, with a total of 173 national delegates at stake.
Process The delegates represented California at the Republican National Convention. There were three delegates to every congressional district and fourteen bonus delegates. The winner in each of the 53 congressional districts was awarded all of that district's delegates. The statewide winner was awarded 11 of the 14 bonus delegates, with the 3 remaining delegates assigned to party leaders. Voting in the primary was restricted to registered Republican voters.
Polls
Early polls showed Rudy Giuliani in the lead. Polls taken closer to the primary either showed Mitt Romney or John McCain as the favored candidate.Statewide opinion polling for the Republican Party presidential primaries, 2008#California
Results
Key: Withdrew prior to contest 2008 California Republican presidential primaryCandidateVotesPercentageNational delegates John McCain 1,238,988 42.25% 155 Mitt Romney 1,013,471 34.56% 15 Mike Huckabee 340,669 11.62% 0 Rudy Giuliani 128,681 4.39% 0 Ron Paul 125,365 4.27% 0 Fred Thompson 50,275 1.71% 0 Duncan Hunter 14,021 0.48% 0 Alan Keyes 11,742 0.40% 0 John H. Cox 3,219 0.11% 0 Tom Tancredo 3,884 0.13% 0 Sam Brownback 2,486 0.08% 0 Karen Irish (write-in) 6 0.00% 0 Michael Shaw (write-in) 2 0.00% 0 Edward Marshall (write-in) 1 0.00% 0 Joel Neuberg (write-in) 1 0.00% 0 Robert Brickell (write-in) 0 0.00% 0 Brian Calef (write-in) 0 0.00% 0 David Frey (write-in) 0 0.00% 0 Walter Rothnie (write-in) 0 0.00% 0 John Sutherland (write-in) 0 0.00% 0 Uncommitted delegates 3 Totals 2,932,811 100.00% 173 Voter turnout 56.08% —
American Independent Party The American Independent Party held its primary February 5, 2008
2008 California AIP presidential primaryCandidateVotesPercentage Don J. Grundmann 16,603 36.08% Dianne Beall Templin 15,302 33.25% Mad Max Riekse 14,099 30.64% David Andrew Larson (write-in) 18 0.04% Totals 46,022 100.00%
Green Party The Green Party held its primary February 5, 2008.
2008 California Green Party presidential primaryCandidateVotesPercentageNational delegates Ralph Nader 21,726 60.61% - Cynthia McKinney 9,534 26.60% - Elaine Brown1,598 4.46% - Kat Swift 1,084 3.02% - Kent Mesplay 727 2.03% - Jesse Johnson 619 1.73% - Jared Ball 556 1.55% - Totals 35,844 100.00% 168
Libertarian The Libertarian Party held its primary February 5, 2008.
2008 California Libertarian Party presidential primaryCandidateVotesPercentage Christine Smith 4,241 25.16% Steve Kubby 2,876 17.06% Wayne Allen Root 2,360 14.00% Bob Jackson 1,486 8.81% Barry Hess 891 5.29% George Phillies 852 5.05% Michael P. Jingozian 774 4.19% Robert Milnes 721 4.28% Daniel Imperato 707 4.19% John Finan 706 4.19% Dave Hollist 678 4.02% Alden Link 565 3.35% Leon L. Ray (write-in) 1 0.01% Totals 16,858 100.00%
Peace and Freedom The Peace and Freedom Party held its primary February 5, 2008.
2008 California Peace and Freedom Party presidential primaryCandidateVotesPercentage Ralph Nader 2,620 40.66% Cynthia McKinney 1,385 21.49 Gloria La Riva 1,292 20.05% Brian P. Moore 335 5.51% John Crockford 346 5.37% Stewart A. Alexander 340 5.28% Stanley Hetz 106 1.64% Totals 6,444 100.00%
Campaign Predictions
Name PredictionAssociated PressCNNCNN CQ PoliticsCQ PoliticsD.C. Political ReportElectoral-vote.comElectoral-vote.comFox NewsFox NewsPoliticoPoliticoReal Clear PoliticsReal Clear PoliticsRasmussen ReportsRasmussen Reports
Polling
Characterized early on as “The Big Enchilada” by some pundits, ultimately Obama won most opinion polls taken prior to the election. Until October 9, his lead ranged from 7 to 15 points in most polls. However, after October 9, his lead expanded to more than 20 consistently. In the final three polls he averaged 59%, while McCain averaged 34%; which is close to the results on election day.
Fundraising Obama raised a total of $124,325,459 from the state. McCain raised a total of $26,802,024.
Advertising and visits The Obama campaign spent almost $5,570,641. The McCain campaign spent $1,885,142. Obama visited the state six times. McCain visited the state eight times.
Analysis California was once a Republican leaning swing state, supporting Republican candidates in every election from 1952 through 1988, except in 1964. However, since the 1990s, California has become a reliably Democratic state with a highly diverse ethnic population (mostly Latino) and liberal bastions such as the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles County. The last time the state was won by a Republican candidate was in 1988 by George H. W. Bush.
Obama won by a historic margin, with 61.01% of the votes. Most news organizations called California for Obama as soon as the polls in the state closed. He was projected the winner of the state along with Washington, Hawaii, and Oregon at the same time, whose combined electoral votes caused all news organizations to declare Obama the president-elect. The last time the margin was higher in the state was in 1936 when Franklin D. Roosevelt won with 66.95% of the vote.
In San Francisco and Alameda County (which includes Oakland and Berkeley), four out of five voters backed the Democratic candidate. Elsewhere in the Bay Area, Obama won every county by a three to two margin or greater. In Los Angeles County, Obama won almost 70% of the votes. His combined margin in the Bay Area and Los Angeles County would have been more than enough to carry the state.
Obama also made considerable headway in historically Republican areas of the state. Fresno County, for example, a heavily populated county in the Central Valley, went from giving Bush a 16% margin to a 2% margin for Obama. San Diego County moved from a six-percent margin for Bush to a 10-point margin for Obama—only the second time since World War II that a Democrat has carried this military-dominated county. San Bernardino and Riverside went from double-digit Republican victories to narrow Democratic wins. Ventura County also moved from Republican to Democratic. Orange County, historically one of the most Republican suburban counties in the nation, went from a 21-point margin for Bush to only a 2.5-point margin for McCain.
Voter turnout was also fairly higher than the national average. The 79% turnout of registered voters in the state was the highest since the 1976 presidential election. Despite the Democratic landslide in California, during the same election, a ballot proposition to ban same-sex marriage narrowly passed. A number of counties that had voted for Obama voted yes to it, as it was supported by Hispanics and African Americans. Even though Obama considered marriage to be between a man and a woman at the time, he opposed the "divisive and discriminatory efforts to amend the California Constitution... the U.S. Constitution or those of other states". Arnold Schwarzenegger, the state's Republican governor and a supporter of John McCain, opposed the proposition, though McCain supported it. There was also a proposed ballot proposition called the Presidential Election Reform Act in the state to alter the way the state's electors would be distributed among presidential candidates, but the initiative failed to get onto the ballot.
Results 2008 United States presidential election in California Party Candidate Running mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes Democratic Barack Obama Joe Biden 8,274,473 61.01% 55 Republican John McCain Sarah Palin 5,011,781 36.95% 0 Peace and Freedom Ralph Nader Matt Gonzalez 108,381 0.80% 0 Libertarian Bob Barr Wayne Allyn Root 67,582 0.50% 0 American Independent Alan Keyes Brian Rohrbough 40,673 0.30% 0 Green Cynthia McKinney Rosa Clemente 38,774 0.29% 0 Independent Ron Paul (write-in) Gail Lightfoot 17,006 0.13% 0 Independent Chuck Baldwin (write-in) Darrell Castle 3,145 0.02% 0 Independent James Harris (write-in) Alyson Kennedy 49 0.00% 0 Independent Frank Moore (write-in) Susan Block 36 0.00% 0 Valid votes 13,561,900 98.68% — Invalid or blank votes 181,277 1.32% — Totals 13,743,177 100.00% 55 Voter turnout 79.42% —
By county