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United States · Election results history · 2008 president · South Dakota
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 South Dakota

John McCain (Republican) beat Barack Obama (Democrat) in South Dakota in 2008, 53.2% to 44.7%, a margin of 8.4 points and 32,130 votes.

South Dakota voted 15.7 points more Republican than the country as a whole, where the margin was D+7.3.

The Republican hold continued from 2004, when George W. Bush won.

Republicans led in 50 of the 66 counties and Democrats in 16. The largest, Minnehaha, cast 79,798 votes and went to the Democrat by 0.7 points. The closest was Jerauld, where 4 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 McCain won Republican 203,054 53.2%
Barack Obama Democratic 170,924 44.7%
All other candidates 7,997 2.1%
Total381,975

Every county

CountyDemocratRepublicanOthersTotalMargin
Minnehaha 39,838 49.9% 39,251 49.2% 709 79,798 D+0.7
Pennington 17,802 38.9% 27,603 60.3% 382 45,787 R+21.4
Lincoln 8,642 41.9% 11,803 57.3% 156 20,601 R+15.3
Brown 9,041 52.4% 8,067 46.8% 145 17,253 D+5.6
Brookings 7,207 52.3% 6,431 46.6% 151 13,789 D+5.6
Codington 5,595 46.3% 6,374 52.8% 107 12,076 R+6.5
Lawrence 4,932 41.5% 6,787 57.1% 157 11,876 R+15.6
Meade 3,751 32.7% 7,515 65.5% 199 11,465 R+32.8
Yankton 4,838 48.5% 5,039 50.6% 90 9,967 R+2.0
Hughes 3,037 36.2% 5,298 63.2% 51 8,386 R+27.0
Davison 3,554 42.5% 4,731 56.6% 80 8,365 R+14.1
Beadle 3,493 45.8% 4,054 53.1% 83 7,630 R+7.4
Union 3,244 42.6% 4,310 56.6% 66 7,620 R+14.0
Clay 3,808 61.8% 2,296 37.3% 55 6,159 D+24.5
Lake 3,033 49.9% 2,993 49.3% 50 6,076 D+0.7
Roberts 2,672 59.6% 1,781 39.7% 31 4,484 D+19.9
Custer 1,475 33.1% 2,909 65.4% 66 4,450 R+32.2
Turner 1,681 39.4% 2,538 59.5% 47 4,266 R+20.1
Butte 1,306 31.1% 2,821 67.1% 78 4,205 R+36.0
Charles Mix 1,807 45.9% 2,109 53.6% 21 3,937 R+7.7
Grant 1,786 47.3% 1,951 51.7% 37 3,774 R+4.4
Fall River 1,338 35.6% 2,348 62.5% 69 3,755 R+26.9
Hutchinson 1,242 34.9% 2,285 64.2% 34 3,561 R+29.3
Oglala Lakota 2,971 89.6% 331 10.0% 12 3,314 D+79.7
Spink 1,550 47.9% 1,660 51.3% 29 3,239 R+3.4
Moody 1,663 51.9% 1,508 47.1% 32 3,203 D+4.8
Day 1,785 56.2% 1,372 43.2% 21 3,178 D+13.0
Bon Homme 1,367 43.9% 1,712 54.9% 37 3,116 R+11.1
McCook 1,219 42.0% 1,646 56.7% 40 2,905 R+14.7
Tripp 914 32.5% 1,859 66.2% 36 2,809 R+33.6
Todd 2,208 78.7% 571 20.3% 28 2,807 D+58.3
Kingsbury 1,277 46.6% 1,435 52.4% 27 2,739 R+5.8
Hamlin 1,043 38.1% 1,661 60.7% 33 2,737 R+22.6
Walworth 923 35.2% 1,668 63.7% 29 2,620 R+28.4
Hanson 961 39.8% 1,426 59.1% 27 2,414 R+19.3
Brule 965 40.1% 1,407 58.5% 34 2,406 R+18.4
Gregory 771 34.8% 1,423 64.2% 24 2,218 R+29.4
Deuel 1,054 48.4% 1,088 50.0% 36 2,178 R+1.6
Marshall 1,261 57.9% 900 41.3% 16 2,177 D+16.6
Edmunds 819 39.9% 1,213 59.1% 21 2,053 R+19.2
Dewey 1,328 66.2% 659 32.9% 18 2,005 D+33.4
Hand 718 36.2% 1,247 62.9% 16 1,981 R+26.7
Clark 830 43.2% 1,065 55.5% 25 1,920 R+12.2
Douglas 424 24.4% 1,293 74.5% 18 1,735 R+50.1
Perkins 499 30.1% 1,102 66.5% 55 1,656 R+36.4
Lyman 710 43.7% 894 55.1% 19 1,623 R+11.3
Stanley 510 33.1% 1,017 66.0% 13 1,540 R+32.9
Aurora 655 44.6% 794 54.1% 19 1,468 R+9.5
Potter 482 33.6% 937 65.3% 15 1,434 R+31.7
Corson 837 60.2% 535 38.5% 18 1,390 D+21.7
McPherson 441 32.3% 915 67.1% 8 1,364 R+34.8
Miner 605 50.5% 577 48.2% 16 1,198 D+2.3
Bennett 557 46.8% 614 51.6% 18 1,189 R+4.8
Sanborn 500 42.3% 669 56.6% 12 1,181 R+14.3
Faulk 426 36.3% 739 62.9% 9 1,174 R+26.7
Haakon 187 16.4% 939 82.3% 15 1,141 R+65.9
Jackson 435 38.9% 668 59.7% 15 1,118 R+20.8
Jerauld 542 49.6% 546 50.0% 4 1,092 R+0.4
Ziebach 554 62.8% 312 35.4% 16 882 D+27.4
Campbell 243 28.8% 591 70.0% 10 844 R+41.2
Mellette 373 45.0% 445 53.7% 11 829 R+8.7
Sully 233 28.3% 581 70.6% 9 823 R+42.3
Hyde 226 29.1% 547 70.5% 3 776 R+41.4
Harding 135 18.7% 575 79.6% 12 722 R+60.9
Jones 147 23.8% 463 74.9% 8 618 R+51.1
Buffalo 454 74.2% 156 25.5% 2 612 D+48.7

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

South Dakota in every presidential election we hold

YearWinnerMargin
2024 Donald Trump (R) R+29.2
2020 Donald Trump (R) R+26.2
2016 Donald Trump (R) R+29.8
2012 Mitt Romney (R) R+18.0
2008 John McCain (R) R+8.4
2004 George W. Bush (R) R+21.5
2000 George W. Bush (R) R+22.7
1996 Bob Dole (R) R+3.5
1992 George H. W. Bush (R) R+3.5
1988 George H. W. Bush (R) R+6.3
1984 Ronald Reagan (R) R+26.5
1980 Ronald Reagan (R) R+28.8
1976 Gerald Ford (R) R+1.5
1972 Richard Nixon (R) R+8.6
1968 Richard Nixon (R) R+11.3
1964 Lyndon B. Johnson (D) D+11.2
1960 Richard Nixon (R) R+16.4
1956 Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) R+16.8
1952 Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) R+38.5
1948 Thomas E. Dewey (R) R+4.8
1944 Thomas E. Dewey (R) R+16.7
1940 Wendell Willkie (R) R+14.8
1936 Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) D+11.5
1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) D+29.2
1928 Herbert Hoover (R) R+21.0
1924 Calvin Coolidge (R) R+36.3
1920 Warren G. Harding (R) R+41.0
1916 Charles Evans Hughes (R) R+3.9
1912 Theodore Roosevelt (other)
1908 William Howard Taft (R) R+23.8
1904 Theodore Roosevelt (R) R+49.4
1900 William McKinley (R) R+15.6
1896 William Jennings Bryan (D) D+0.2
1892 Benjamin Harrison (R) R+36.6