California presidential election results 2008

Barack Obama carried California by 24.06 points (3,262,692 votes), winning 55 electoral votes.

Electoral votes: 55
Votes counted: 13,561,900
CA result: D+24.1
Compared with the nation: 16.9 pts more Democratic
Swing since 2004: 14.1 pts to D

Statewide result

Candidate	Party	Votes	Share	Electoral votes
Barack Obama	Democratic	8,274,473	61.00%	55
John McCain	Republican	5,011,781	37.00%	—
Total votes		13,561,900

Sources: 2008

County resultsMIT Election Lab

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MIT Election Data and Science Lab, County Presidential Election Returns 2000-2016 (compiled from official state election records)
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Each county coloured by its winner and shaded by margin. Tap one for its history.

County	Barack Obama	John McCain	Others	Total	Margin
Alameda	489,106	119,555	12,368	621,029	59.5
Alpine	422	252	18	692	24.6
Amador	7,813	10,561	436	18,810	14.6
Butte	49,013	46,706	2,606	98,325	2.3
Calaveras	9,813	12,835	658	23,306	13.0
Colusa	2,569	3,733	127	6,429	18.1
Contra Costa	306,983	136,436	8,231	451,650	37.8
Del Norte	4,323	4,967	241	9,531	6.8
El Dorado	40,529	50,314	2,083	92,926	10.5
Fresno	136,706	131,015	4,568	272,289	2.1
Glenn	3,734	5,910	235	9,879	22.0
Humboldt	39,692	21,713	2,322	63,727	28.2
Imperial	24,162	14,008	650	38,820	26.2
Inyo	3,743	4,523	267	8,533	9.1
Kern	93,457	134,793	4,600	232,850	17.8
Kings	14,747	19,710	651	35,108	14.1
Lake	14,854	9,935	753	25,542	19.3
Lassen	3,586	7,483	318	11,387	34.2
Los Angeles	2,295,853	956,425	65,970	3,318,248	40.4
Madera	17,952	23,583	820	42,355	13.3
Marin	109,320	28,384	2,493	140,197	57.7
Mariposa	4,100	5,298	253	9,651	12.4
Mendocino	27,843	10,721	1,452	40,016	42.8
Merced	34,031	28,704	1,073	63,808	8.3
Modoc	1,313	2,981	126	4,420	37.7
Mono	3,093	2,354	124	5,571	13.3
Monterey	88,453	38,797	2,533	129,783	38.3
Napa	38,849	19,484	1,309	59,642	32.5
Nevada	28,617	25,663	1,367	55,647	5.3
Orange	549,558	579,064	25,065	1,153,687	2.6
Placer	75,112	94,647	3,348	173,107	11.3
Plumas	4,715	6,035	278	11,028	12.0
Riverside	325,017	310,041	12,241	647,299	2.3
Sacramento	316,506	213,583	11,012	541,101	19.0
San Benito	11,917	7,425	363	19,705	22.8
San Bernardino	315,720	277,408	13,206	606,334	6.3
San Diego	666,581	541,032	23,434	1,231,047	10.2
San Francisco	322,220	52,292	8,353	382,865	70.5
San Joaquin	113,974	91,607	3,768	209,349	10.7
San Luis Obispo	68,176	61,055	3,422	132,653	5.4
San Mateo	222,826	75,057	5,409	303,292	48.7
Santa Barbara	105,614	65,585	3,713	174,912	22.9
Santa Clara	462,241	190,039	13,309	665,589	40.9
Santa Cruz	98,745	25,244	3,494	127,483	57.7
Shasta	28,867	49,588	1,935	80,390	25.8
Sierra	743	1,158	90	1,991	20.8
Siskiyou	9,292	11,520	658	21,470	10.4
Solano	102,095	56,035	2,843	160,973	28.6
Sonoma	168,888	55,127	5,336	229,351	49.6
Stanislaus	80,279	77,497	3,239	161,015	1.7
Sutter	13,412	18,911	618	32,941	16.7
Tehama	8,945	14,843	648	24,436	24.1
Trinity	3,233	2,940	201	6,374	4.6
Tulare	43,634	59,765	1,807	105,206	15.3
Tuolumne	11,532	14,988	661	27,181	12.7
Ventura	187,601	145,853	6,346	339,800	12.3
Yolo	53,488	24,592	1,669	79,749	36.2
Yuba	8,866	12,007	528	21,401	14.7

Candidate votes as printed in the document. “Total” is the document’s total where it prints one, otherwise the sum of the candidate columns. Margin is the leading ticket’s lead in points over the second.

Notes on how this document was read

Secondary source: MIT Election Data and Science Lab, County Presidential Election Returns 2000-2016 (compiled from official state election records).

Method: Machine-readable dataset; county sums checked against the state totals in The American Presidency Project summary (within 0.5% for both main tickets).

California in every election · 2008 primaries · All states in 2008 · Report an error

Questions and answers

Who won California in 2008?

Barack Obama won California by 24.06 percentage points (3,262,692 votes).

How many electoral votes did California have in 2008?

California cast 55 electoral votes in 2008.

How many people voted for president in California in 2008?

13,561,900 votes were counted for president.

How many counties did each candidate win in California in 2008?

Barack Obama 34, John McCain 24 (out of 58 counties with results).

How did California change from 2004 to 2008?

The margin moved 14.1 points toward the Democratic ticket, from Democratic by 9.9 points to Democratic by 24.1 points.

Official results As published by The American Presidency Project (UC Santa Barbara) and the state documents it links. How we use this data