Massive Turnout Puts Bush Over the Top

   The unofficial complete returns from the November 2, 2004 presidential election are in.  Over 119,000,000 voters cast ballots for president, a 13% increase from 2000.

   George Bush received 60,645,844 to John Kerry's 57,313,461 a margin of 3,332,383.  Ralph Nader got 408,065; David Cobb, the official Green Party candidate received 113,288; Libertarian Badnarik got 391,408; Constitution Party candidate Peroutka got 135,681; the Socialist Worker Party Candidates Calero and Harris got 3,994 and 6,984 respectively; Parker got 1,577; Brown got 10,285; Van Auken got 2,227; Amondson got 363; Andress got 763; Dodge, the perennial Prohibition candidate got 173; and the California Peace and Freedom Party's candidate got 25,101.

   All together, 119,059,214 votes were cast for president; an increase of 13,700,808 (13%) over the 105,358,406 record number cast four years ago.  To put these numbers in perspective, 13.7 million votes, the increase in turnout, was more than the total number of votes cast in any presidential election until 1896, when William McKinley defeated William Jennings Bryan.  Even the 1904 election, a century ago, when Theordore Roosevelt beat Alton Parker (there's a candidate who is easy to forget) the total number of votes cast barely exceeded 13.5 million.

    Or, to put it another way, both Bush and Kerry each received more votes than the total number of votes cast in every presidential election until Eisenhower's landslide in 1952 when 61.5 million votes were cast.  Bush's 60.6 million and Kerry's 57.3 million were each significantly higher than the 48.7 million total votes cast in the 1948 election.

    What this means, in fact, is that lowering the voting age, the voting rights act of 1965, the emancipation of women and the longevity explosion has meant a broadening of the electoral franchise.  Nevertheless, the results of the election show a deeply divided nation.  One white, male, old, religious, xenophobic, rural and suburban; the other polyglot, urban, sceptical, and internationalist.  Without minimizing Kerry's obvious inadequacies; the 2004 election was still a vote in favor of war, deficits, job loses and to validate the Supreme Court's intervention in the 2000 election process which awarded the White House to the candidate who lost the popular vote.

    The Institute of Election Analysis predicted in the wake of the 2000 election that the nation would face recession, if not war and depression.  Bush's narrow 2004 victory makes him the weakest two term president in American history and the 32nd out of 42.  The prediction for the future is more of the same.

2004 President
State Bush Kerry Nader Cobb Badnarik Peroutka Calero Harris Parker Brown Van Auken Amondson Andress Dodge Peltier
Maine 330,416 395,462 7,997 2,942 1,961 1,292 0 0 0 0 0
NH 330,848 340,019 4,447 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Vermont 120,710 183,621 4,426 0 1,219 0 268 0 255 0 0
Mass. 1,067,163 1,793,916 0 11,283 15,723 0 0 0 0 0 0
RI 161,654 247,407 3,990 1,094 864 306 0 0 245 0 0
Conn. 686,923 847,666 12,708 9,449 3,252 1,505 0 0 0 0 0
New York 2,798,415 3,998,982 102,277 0 12,306 0 2,714 0 0 0 0
New Jersey 1,594,204 1,812,956 18,730 1,725 4,333 2,914 505 0 0 667 979
Penn. 2,756,904 2,885,773 0 6,236 20,833 6,466 0 0 0 0 0
Delaware 171,531 199,887 2,151 250 585 292 0 0 0 100 0
Maryland 951,892 1,223,813 10,772 3,290 5,630 3,162 0 0 0 0 0
D.C. 19,007 183,876 1,318 645 442 0 0 112 0 0 0
Virginia 1,667,198 1,400,254 0 0 11,805 8,740 0 0 0 0 0
W. V. 417,516 322,276 3,951 0 1,351 0 0 0 0 0 0
NC 1,911,574 1,484,471 0 0 12,379 0 0 0 0 0 0
SC 924,170 650,350 5,431 1,401 3,643 5,295 0 0 0 2,109 0
Georgia 1,890,166 1,345,366 0 0 18,166 0 0 0 0 0 0
Florida 3,955,656 3,574,509 32,890 3,907 11,979 6,609 0 2,732 0 3,501 0
Alabama 1,176,221 693,288 6,712 0 3,573 1,998 0 0 0 0 0
Miss. 671,084 445,608 3,064 1,037 1,705 1,592 0 1,214 0 0 0
Tenn. 1,381,937 1,033,176 8,832 0 4,823 2,523 0 0 0 0 0
Kentucky 1,068,741 712,431 8,853 0 2,630 2,212 0 0 0 0 0
Ohio 2,796,147 2,659,664 0 0 14,331 11,614 0 0 0 0 0
Indiana 1,477,807 967,346 0 0 18,677 0 0 0 0 0 0
Michigan 2,310,803 2,475,046 24,009 5,324 10,570 4,969 0 0 0 1,449 0
Illinois 2,336,253 2,866,307 0 0 32,208 0 0 0 0 0 0
Wisconsin 1,477,122 1,488,935 16,324 2,674 6,546 0 0 414 0 465
Minnesota 1,345,175 1,443,619 18,542 4,810 4,600 3,120 427 0 0 0 537
Iowa 746,600 733,102 5,842 1,123 2,909 1,335 0 370 0 0 159
Missouri 1,452,715 1,253,879 0 0 9,792 5,344 0 0 0 0 0
Arkansas 566,678 464,157 6,031 1,486 2,330 2,106 0 0 0 0 0
Louisiana 1,101,871 819,150 7,026 1,276 2,780 5,203 0 985 0 1,793 0
Texas 4,518,491 2,825,723 0 0 38,683 0 0 0 0 0 0
Oklahoma 959,655 504,077 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kansas 717,507 420,846 9,046 0 3,875 2,805 0 0 0 0 0
Nebraska 508,794 251,626 5,587 913 2,008 1,290 80 0 0 0 0
SD 232,545 149,225 4,317 0 964 1,106 0 0 0 0 0
ND 195,998 110,662 3,741 0 852 515 0 0 0 0 0
Montana 265,473 173,363 6,143 999 1,726 1,762 0 0 0 0 0
Idaho 408,254 180,920 0 0 3,836 3,075 0 0 0 0 0
Wyoming 167,129 70,620 2,734 0 1,193 633 0 0 0 0 0
Colorado 1,068,233 960,666 12,179 1,520 7,397 2,483 0 235 0 201 321 363 763 173
Utah 612,623 227,286 10,840 0 3,204 6,524 0 375 0 0 0
Nevada 414,939 393,372 4,785 837 3,149 1,138 0 0 0 0 0
Arizona 908,211 735,327 0 0 9,892 0 0 0 0 0 0
NM 376,940 370,893 4,062 1,251 2,383 819 0 0 0 0 0
Alaska 188,943 109,765 5,025 1,041 1,756 2,074 0 0 0 0 0
Hawaii 194,109 231,318 0 1,730 1,374 0 0 0 0 0 0
California 5,114,795 6,250,561 0 37,119 46,392 23,993 0 0 0 0 0 25101
Oregon 823,210 890,698 0 4,952 6,824 4,945 0 0 0 0 0
Washington 1,304,894 1,510,201 23,283 2,974 11,955 3,922 0 547 1,077 0 231
Total 60,645,844 57,313,461 408,065 113,288 391,408 135,681 3,994 6,984 1,577 10,285 2,227 363 763 173 25,101 119,059,214

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Contact: Joshua Leinsdorf