2004 United States presidential election in Utah


The 2004 United States presidential election in Utah took place on November 2, 2004. It was part of the 2004 United States presidential election. Voters chose five representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Utah was won by incumbent President George W. Bush by a 45.5% 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 is a strongly Republican state that in 2004 had a state legislature with a "super-majority" of Republicans in its make-up, both U.S. Senators being Republican as well as two of the three members of the U.S. House of Representatives. With 71.54 percent of the popular vote, Utah was Bush's strongest state in the 2004 election.

Primaries

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: Lean 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

The final three polls averaged Bush with 67 percent to Kerry with 25 percent.

Fundraising

Bush raised $561,645. Kerry raised $262,031.

Advertising and visits

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

Analysis

Republicans dominate Utah state politics because of the very high Mormon population that accounts for almost seventy percent of the residents throughout the state. Mormons have been known for having very conservative values. While every county voted for Bush, areas such as Park City, Moab, Carbon County, Salt Lake City and San Juan County did give a number of their votes to Kerry. However, other areas were uniformly Republican in voting. Utah County's Republican vote was by far the largest percentage of any county its size in America.

Results

Results by county

Results by congressional district

Bush won all three congressional districts.
DistrictBushKerryRepresentative
73%25%Rob Bishop
66%31%Jim Matheson
77%20%Chris Cannon

Electors

Technically the voters of Utah cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Utah is allocated five electors because it has three congressional districts and two senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of five electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins a plurality of votes in the state is awarded all five 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 5 were pledged to Bush/Cheney:
  1. Olene S. Walker
  2. Gayle McKeachnie
  3. Lewis K. Billings
  4. Joseph A. Cannon
  5. Scott F. Simpson