United States presidential election in Alaska, 2004

Main article: United States presidential election, 2004

United States presidential election in Alaska, 2004

November 2, 2004

Nominee George W. Bush John Kerry Party Republican Democratic Home state Texas Massachusetts Running mate Dick Cheney John Edwards Electoral vote 3 0 Popular vote 190,889 111,025 Percentage 61.1% 35.5%

Borough & Census Area Results   Kerry—50-60%   Kerry—<50%   Bush—<50%   Bush—50-60%   Bush—60-70%   Bush—70-80%

President before election George W. Bush Republican Elected President George W. Bush Republican

The 2004 United States presidential election in Alaska took place on November 2, 2004 throughout all 50 states and D.C., which was part of the 2004 presidential election. Voters chose 3 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.

Alaska was won by incumbent President George W. Bush by a 25.6% 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 has voted for a Republican presidential nominee in every presidential election since statehood, except for 1964.

Primaries

• Alaska Democratic primary, 2004

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. D.C. Political Report: Solid Republican
2. Associated Press: Solid Bush
3. CNN: Bush
4. Cook Political Report: Solid 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

Main article: Statewide opinion polling for the United States presidential election, 2004: Alaska

Only one pre-election poll was conducted in this state. Bush won the poll with 57% to 30%.

Fundraising

Bush raised $263,269. Kerry raised $169,533.

Advertising and visits

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

Analysis

The Democratic presidential ticket though did better here in 2004 compared to 2000, narrowing the Republican advantage from around 31 percentage points in 2000 to approximately 25 percentage points in 2004. John Kerry obtained nearly 36 percent of the vote, approximately 8 percentage points (or 32,021 votes) more than Al Gore's showing of around 28 percent in 2000. In comparison, incumbent President George W. Bush only increased his vote in Alaska by around 2 percent (or 23,491 votes) from nearly 59 percent in 2000 to approximately 61 percent in 2004.

Results

United States presidential election in Alaska, 2004
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	George W. Bush	190,889	61.1%	3
	Democratic	John Kerry	111,025	35.5%	0
	Populist	Ralph Nader	5,069	1.6%	0
	Alaska Independence	Michael Peroutka	2,092	0.7%	0
	Libertarian	Michael Badnarik	1,675	0.5%	0
	Green	David Cobb	1,058	0.3%	0
	Independent	Write Ins	790	0.3%	0
Totals			312,598	100.00%	3
Voter turnout (Voting age)					68%

Results breakdown

By congressional district

Due to the state's low population, only one congressional district is allocated. This district, called the At-Large district, because it covers the entire state, and thus is equivalent to the statewide election results.

District	Bush	Kerry	Representative
At-large	61.1%	35.5%	Don Young

Electors

Main article: List of United States presidential electors, 2004

Technically the voters of Alaska cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Alaska is allocated 3 electors because it has 1 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 3 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 3 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 were pledged to and voted for George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

1. Gloria J. Tokar
2. Frederick H. Hahn
3. Roberly R. Waldron