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United States · Election results history · 2004 president · California
Election 2004 Results

Each election opens in its own mode: the forecast before the votes are counted, the live count while races are still too close to call, and the results once every race is decided.

2004 presidential election in California

John Kerry (Democrat) beat George W. Bush (Republican) in California in 2004, 54.3% to 44.4%, a margin of 9.9 points and 1,235,659 votes.

California voted 12.4 points more Democratic than the country as a whole, where the margin was R+2.5.

The Democratic hold continued from 2000, when Al Gore won.

Republicans led in 36 of the 58 counties and Democrats in 22. The largest, Los Angeles, cast 3,021,647 votes and went to the Democrat by 27.5 points. The closest was Mono, where 7 votes separated the two parties.

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Early projection, based on early and incomplete polling: the likely matchups, each weighted by the betting markets' odds of both nominations, not a result. Each county is its 2024 presidential margin moved by its state's projected swing; set a national vote and every state, district and county moves by the same amount from our projection. Colours run in 100 steps from a safe Republican to a safe Democratic margin. Boundaries: US Census Bureau.

Result

CandidatePartyVotesShare
John Kerry won Democratic 6,745,485 54.3%
George W. Bush Republican 5,509,826 44.4%
All other candidates 166,042 1.3%
Total12,421,353

Every county

CountyDemocratRepublicanOthersTotalMargin
Los Angeles 1,907,736 63.1% 1,076,225 35.6% 37,686 3,021,647 D+27.5
San Diego 526,437 46.4% 596,033 52.6% 11,114 1,133,584 R+6.1
Orange 419,239 39.1% 641,832 59.8% 12,225 1,073,296 R+20.7
Santa Clara 386,100 64.1% 209,094 34.7% 7,420 602,614 D+29.4
Alameda 422,585 75.4% 130,911 23.3% 7,246 560,742 D+52.0
Riverside 228,806 41.1% 322,473 57.9% 5,603 556,882 R+16.8
San Bernardino 227,789 43.6% 289,306 55.3% 5,682 522,777 R+11.8
Sacramento 236,657 49.6% 235,539 49.4% 4,569 476,765 D+0.2
Contra Costa 257,254 62.4% 150,608 36.5% 4,277 412,139 D+25.9
San Francisco 296,772 83.4% 54,355 15.3% 4,802 355,929 D+68.1
Ventura 148,859 47.6% 160,314 51.2% 3,736 312,909 R+3.7
San Mateo 197,922 69.7% 83,315 29.3% 2,840 284,077 D+40.3
Fresno 103,154 41.7% 141,988 57.4% 2,018 247,160 R+15.7
Sonoma 148,261 67.4% 68,204 31.0% 3,612 220,077 D+36.4
Kern 68,603 32.5% 140,417 66.6% 1,838 210,858 R+34.1
San Joaquin 87,012 45.9% 100,978 53.3% 1,515 189,505 R+7.4
Santa Barbara 90,314 53.4% 76,806 45.4% 2,005 169,125 D+8.0
Placer 55,573 36.3% 95,969 62.7% 1,403 152,945 R+26.4
Solano 85,096 57.2% 62,301 41.9% 1,349 148,746 D+15.3
Stanislaus 58,829 40.4% 85,407 58.7% 1,278 145,514 R+18.3
Marin 99,070 73.4% 34,378 25.5% 1,471 134,919 D+47.9
San Luis Obispo 58,742 45.7% 67,995 52.9% 1,910 128,647 R+7.2
Monterey 75,241 60.4% 47,838 38.4% 1,465 124,544 D+22.0
Santa Cruz 89,102 73.2% 30,354 24.9% 2,277 121,733 D+48.3
Tulare 32,494 32.9% 65,399 66.2% 846 98,739 R+33.3
Butte 42,448 44.3% 51,662 54.0% 1,625 95,735 R+9.6
El Dorado 32,242 37.4% 52,878 61.3% 1,158 86,278 R+23.9
Shasta 24,339 31.4% 52,249 67.4% 983 77,571 R+36.0
Yolo 42,885 59.6% 28,005 38.9% 1,119 72,009 D+20.7
Humboldt 37,988 58.0% 25,714 39.3% 1,808 65,510 D+18.7
Merced 24,491 42.3% 32,773 56.6% 681 57,945 R+14.3
Napa 33,666 59.6% 22,059 39.1% 740 56,465 D+20.6
Nevada 24,220 45.1% 28,790 53.6% 729 53,739 R+8.5
Madera 13,481 34.8% 24,871 64.1% 428 38,780 R+29.4
Mendocino 24,385 63.9% 12,955 33.9% 839 38,179 D+29.9
Kings 10,833 33.8% 21,003 65.4% 257 32,093 R+31.7
Sutter 9,602 31.9% 20,254 67.2% 289 30,145 R+35.3
Tuolumne 10,104 38.6% 15,745 60.1% 339 26,188 R+21.5
Imperial 13,955 53.9% 11,628 44.9% 319 25,902 D+9.0
Tehama 7,504 32.1% 15,572 66.5% 329 23,405 R+34.5
Calaveras 8,286 37.1% 13,601 61.0% 419 22,306 R+23.8
Siskiyou 7,880 37.8% 12,673 60.7% 310 20,863 R+23.0
San Benito 9,851 52.6% 8,698 46.5% 176 18,725 D+6.2
Lake 9,679 53.3% 8,185 45.1% 302 18,166 D+8.2
Yuba 5,687 31.6% 12,076 67.0% 257 18,020 R+35.5
Amador 6,211 36.8% 10,479 62.1% 189 16,879 R+25.3
Lassen 3,158 27.6% 8,126 71.1% 153 11,437 R+43.4
Plumas 4,129 36.9% 6,905 61.8% 144 11,178 R+24.8
Glenn 2,995 31.7% 6,308 66.9% 132 9,435 R+35.1
Del Norte 3,892 41.3% 5,356 56.9% 173 9,421 R+15.5
Mariposa 3,251 37.6% 5,215 60.4% 172 8,638 R+22.7
Inyo 3,021 39.1% 4,559 59.1% 138 7,718 R+19.9
Trinity 2,782 42.9% 3,560 54.9% 137 6,479 R+12.0
Colusa 1,947 31.6% 4,142 67.2% 77 6,166 R+35.6
Mono 2,628 49.3% 2,621 49.2% 81 5,330 D+0.1
Modoc 1,149 25.8% 3,235 72.6% 72 4,456 R+46.8
Sierra 646 33.2% 1,249 64.2% 50 1,945 R+31.0
Alpine 373 53.4% 311 44.5% 15 699 D+8.9

Margin: the Democrat's share of all votes minus the Republican's. Sources and how the results were checked.

California in every presidential election we hold

YearWinnerMargin
2024 Kamala Harris (D) D+20.1
2020 Joe Biden (D) D+29.2
2016 Hillary Clinton (D) D+30.1
2012 Barack Obama (D) D+23.1
2008 Barack Obama (D) D+24.1
2004 John Kerry (D) D+9.9
2000 Al Gore (D) D+11.8
1996 Bill Clinton (D) D+12.9
1992 Bill Clinton (D) D+13.4
1988 George H. W. Bush (R) R+3.6
1984 Ronald Reagan (R) R+16.2
1980 Ronald Reagan (R) R+16.8
1976 Gerald Ford (R) R+1.8
1972 Richard Nixon (R) R+13.5
1968 Richard Nixon (R) R+3.1
1964 Lyndon B. Johnson (D) D+18.3
1960 Richard Nixon (R) R+0.5
1956 Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) R+11.1
1952 Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) R+14.6
1948 Harry S. Truman (D) D+0.4
1944 Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) D+13.5
1940 Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) D+16.1
1936 Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) D+35.3
1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) D+21.0
1928 Herbert Hoover (R) R+30.5
1924 Calvin Coolidge (R) R+49.0
1920 Warren G. Harding (R) R+41.9
1916 Woodrow Wilson (D) D+0.4
1912 Theodore Roosevelt (other)
1908 William Howard Taft (R) R+22.5
1904 Theodore Roosevelt (R) R+34.9
1900 William McKinley (R) R+13.2
1896 William McKinley (R) R+0.6
1892 Grover Cleveland (D) D+0.1
1888 Benjamin Harrison (R) R+2.8
1884 James G. Blaine (R) R+6.6
1880 Winfield Scott Hancock (D) D+0.1
1876 Rutherford B. Hayes (R) R+1.8
1872 Ulysses S. Grant (R) R+13.3
1868 Ulysses S. Grant (R) R+0.5