United States Presidential election7 Nov 2028in 728 days Senate D 97% House D 58% Calendar Track record Research
PollingForecast.com United States
Closest results
United States · Election results history · 2008 president · California
Election 2008 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.

2008 presidential election in California

Barack Obama (Democrat) beat John McCain (Republican) in California in 2008, 61.0% to 37.0%, a margin of 24.1 points and 3,262,692 votes.

California voted 16.8 points more Democratic than the country as a whole, where the margin was D+7.3.

The Democratic hold continued from 2004, when John Kerry won.

Democrats led in 34 of the 58 counties and Republicans in 24. The largest, Los Angeles, cast 3,318,248 votes and went to the Democrat by 40.4 points. The closest was Alpine, where 170 votes separated the two parties.

United States
Results
2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986 1985 1984 1983 1982 1981 1980 1979 1978 1977 1976 1975 1974 1973 1972 1971 1970 1969 1968 1967 1966 1965 1964 1963 1962 1961 1960 1959 1958 1957 1956 1955 1954 1953 1952 1951 1950 1949 1948 1947 1946 1945 1944 1943 1942 1941 1940 1939 1938 1937 1936 1935 1934 1933 1932 1931 1930 1929 1928 1927 1926 1925 1924 1923 1922 1921 1920 1919 1918 1917 1916 1915 1914 1913 1912 1911 1910 1909 1908 1907 1906 1905 1904 1903 1902 1901 1900 1899 1898 1897 1896 1895 1894 1893 1892 1891 1890 1889 1888 1887 1886 1885 1884 1883 1882 1881 1880 1879 1878 1877 1876 1875 1874 1873 1872 1871 1870 1869 1868 1867 1866 1865
If only voted How this works
If the polls miss like

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
Barack Obama won Democratic 8,274,473 61.0%
John McCain Republican 5,011,781 37.0%
All other candidates 275,646 2.0%
Total13,561,900

Every county

CountyDemocratRepublicanOthersTotalMargin
Los Angeles 2,295,853 69.2% 956,425 28.8% 65,970 3,318,248 D+40.4
San Diego 666,581 54.1% 541,032 43.9% 23,434 1,231,047 D+10.2
Orange 549,558 47.6% 579,064 50.2% 25,065 1,153,687 R+2.6
Santa Clara 462,241 69.4% 190,039 28.6% 13,309 665,589 D+40.9
Riverside 325,017 50.2% 310,041 47.9% 12,241 647,299 D+2.3
Alameda 489,106 78.8% 119,555 19.3% 12,368 621,029 D+59.5
San Bernardino 315,720 52.1% 277,408 45.8% 13,206 606,334 D+6.3
Sacramento 316,506 58.5% 213,583 39.5% 11,012 541,101 D+19.0
Contra Costa 306,983 68.0% 136,436 30.2% 8,231 451,650 D+37.8
San Francisco 322,220 84.2% 52,292 13.7% 8,353 382,865 D+70.5
Ventura 187,601 55.2% 145,853 42.9% 6,346 339,800 D+12.3
San Mateo 222,826 73.5% 75,057 24.7% 5,409 303,292 D+48.7
Fresno 136,706 50.2% 131,015 48.1% 4,568 272,289 D+2.1
Kern 93,457 40.1% 134,793 57.9% 4,600 232,850 R+17.8
Sonoma 168,888 73.6% 55,127 24.0% 5,336 229,351 D+49.6
San Joaquin 113,974 54.4% 91,607 43.8% 3,768 209,349 D+10.7
Santa Barbara 105,614 60.4% 65,585 37.5% 3,713 174,912 D+22.9
Placer 75,112 43.4% 94,647 54.7% 3,348 173,107 R+11.3
Stanislaus 80,279 49.9% 77,497 48.1% 3,239 161,015 D+1.7
Solano 102,095 63.4% 56,035 34.8% 2,843 160,973 D+28.6
Marin 109,320 78.0% 28,384 20.2% 2,493 140,197 D+57.7
San Luis Obispo 68,176 51.4% 61,055 46.0% 3,422 132,653 D+5.4
Monterey 88,453 68.2% 38,797 29.9% 2,533 129,783 D+38.3
Santa Cruz 98,745 77.5% 25,244 19.8% 3,494 127,483 D+57.7
Tulare 43,634 41.5% 59,765 56.8% 1,807 105,206 R+15.3
Butte 49,013 49.8% 46,706 47.5% 2,606 98,325 D+2.3
El Dorado 40,529 43.6% 50,314 54.1% 2,083 92,926 R+10.5
Shasta 28,867 35.9% 49,588 61.7% 1,935 80,390 R+25.8
Yolo 53,488 67.1% 24,592 30.8% 1,669 79,749 D+36.2
Merced 34,031 53.3% 28,704 45.0% 1,073 63,808 D+8.3
Humboldt 39,692 62.3% 21,713 34.1% 2,322 63,727 D+28.2
Napa 38,849 65.1% 19,484 32.7% 1,309 59,642 D+32.5
Nevada 28,617 51.4% 25,663 46.1% 1,367 55,647 D+5.3
Madera 17,952 42.4% 23,583 55.7% 820 42,355 R+13.3
Mendocino 27,843 69.6% 10,721 26.8% 1,452 40,016 D+42.8
Imperial 24,162 62.2% 14,008 36.1% 650 38,820 D+26.2
Kings 14,747 42.0% 19,710 56.1% 651 35,108 R+14.1
Sutter 13,412 40.7% 18,911 57.4% 618 32,941 R+16.7
Tuolumne 11,532 42.4% 14,988 55.1% 661 27,181 R+12.7
Lake 14,854 58.2% 9,935 38.9% 753 25,542 D+19.3
Tehama 8,945 36.6% 14,843 60.7% 648 24,436 R+24.1
Calaveras 9,813 42.1% 12,835 55.1% 658 23,306 R+13.0
Siskiyou 9,292 43.3% 11,520 53.7% 658 21,470 R+10.4
Yuba 8,866 41.4% 12,007 56.1% 528 21,401 R+14.7
San Benito 11,917 60.5% 7,425 37.7% 363 19,705 D+22.8
Amador 7,813 41.5% 10,561 56.1% 436 18,810 R+14.6
Lassen 3,586 31.5% 7,483 65.7% 318 11,387 R+34.2
Plumas 4,715 42.8% 6,035 54.7% 278 11,028 R+12.0
Glenn 3,734 37.8% 5,910 59.8% 235 9,879 R+22.0
Mariposa 4,100 42.5% 5,298 54.9% 253 9,651 R+12.4
Del Norte 4,323 45.4% 4,967 52.1% 241 9,531 R+6.8
Inyo 3,743 43.9% 4,523 53.0% 267 8,533 R+9.1
Colusa 2,569 40.0% 3,733 58.1% 127 6,429 R+18.1
Trinity 3,233 50.7% 2,940 46.1% 201 6,374 D+4.6
Mono 3,093 55.5% 2,354 42.3% 124 5,571 D+13.3
Modoc 1,313 29.7% 2,981 67.4% 126 4,420 R+37.7
Sierra 743 37.3% 1,158 58.2% 90 1,991 R+20.8
Alpine 422 61.0% 252 36.4% 18 692 D+24.6

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