Iowa presidential election results 2008

Barack Obama carried Iowa by 9.49 points (146,561 votes), winning 7 electoral votes.

Electoral votes: 7
Votes counted: 1,543,662
IA result: D+9.5
Compared with the nation: 2.3 pts more Democratic
Swing since 2004: 10.2 pts to D

Statewide result

Candidate	Party	Votes	Share	Electoral votes
Barack Obama	Democratic	828,940	53.70%	7
John McCain	Republican	682,379	44.20%	—
Total votes		1,543,662

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
Adair	1,924	2,060	69	4,053	3.4
Adams	1,118	1,046	42	2,206	3.3
Allamakee	3,971	2,965	123	7,059	14.3
Appanoose	2,970	3,086	120	6,176	1.9
Audubon	1,739	1,634	62	3,435	3.1
Benton	7,058	6,447	207	13,712	4.5
Black Hawk	39,184	24,662	929	64,775	22.4
Boone	7,356	6,293	280	13,929	7.6
Bremer	6,940	5,741	190	12,871	9.3
Buchanan	6,050	4,139	149	10,338	18.5
Buena Vista	4,075	4,223	120	8,418	1.8
Butler	3,364	3,700	102	7,166	4.7
Calhoun	2,341	2,741	113	5,195	7.7
Carroll	5,302	4,922	163	10,387	3.7
Cass	3,211	4,006	133	7,350	10.8
Cedar	5,221	4,289	155	9,665	9.6
Cerro Gordo	14,405	9,375	360	24,140	20.8
Cherokee	2,890	3,372	103	6,365	7.6
Chickasaw	3,923	2,557	103	6,583	20.8
Clarke	2,218	2,118	107	4,443	2.3
Clay	3,925	4,355	118	8,398	5.1
Clayton	5,195	3,651	143	8,989	17.2
Clinton	15,018	9,324	377	24,719	23.0
Crawford	3,715	3,345	131	7,191	5.1
Dallas	15,149	16,954	537	32,640	5.5
Davis	1,680	2,029	106	3,815	9.1
Decatur	1,986	2,020	96	4,102	0.8
Delaware	4,649	4,113	139	8,901	6.0
Des Moines	12,462	7,721	387	20,570	23.0
Dickinson	4,625	5,162	119	9,906	5.4
Dubuque	28,611	18,651	691	47,953	20.8
Emmet	2,570	2,373	72	5,015	3.9
Fayette	5,908	4,205	146	10,259	16.6
Floyd	4,822	3,051	218	8,091	21.9
Franklin	2,575	2,501	72	5,148	1.4
Fremont	1,848	1,989	57	3,894	3.6
Greene	2,371	2,349	84	4,804	0.5
Grundy	2,790	3,945	93	6,828	16.9
Guthrie	2,625	3,074	148	5,847	7.7
Hamilton	4,018	3,913	147	8,078	1.3
Hancock	2,805	3,016	109	5,930	3.6
Hardin	4,393	4,315	151	8,859	0.9
Harrison	3,555	3,909	114	7,578	4.7
Henry	4,349	4,822	206	9,377	5.0
Howard	2,941	1,722	65	4,728	25.8
Humboldt	2,160	2,895	67	5,122	14.3
Ida	1,454	2,036	57	3,547	16.4
Iowa	4,202	4,188	156	8,546	0.2
Jackson	6,102	3,673	180	9,955	24.4
Jasper	10,250	8,794	377	19,421	7.5
Jefferson	5,070	3,324	237	8,631	20.2
Johnson	51,027	20,732	1,216	72,975	41.5
Jones	5,446	4,405	153	10,004	10.4
Keokuk	2,518	2,712	131	5,361	3.6
Kossuth	4,625	4,329	143	9,097	3.3
Lee	9,821	7,062	341	17,224	16.0
Linn	68,037	43,626	1,692	113,355	21.5
Louisa	2,523	2,314	83	4,920	4.2
Lucas	2,029	2,330	112	4,471	6.7
Lyon	1,675	4,471	71	6,217	45.0
Madison	3,733	4,579	168	8,480	10.0
Mahaska	4,464	6,271	197	10,932	16.5
Marion	7,421	9,256	353	17,030	10.8
Marshall	10,023	8,278	356	18,657	9.4
Mills	2,976	4,183	123	7,282	16.6
Mitchell	3,179	2,469	118	5,766	12.3
Monona	2,295	2,411	90	4,796	2.4
Monroe	1,798	2,000	75	3,873	5.2
Montgomery	2,326	2,887	74	5,287	10.6
Muscatine	10,920	7,929	270	19,119	15.6
O'Brien	2,338	4,894	101	7,333	34.9
Osceola	1,037	2,027	63	3,127	31.7
Page	2,900	4,351	105	7,356	19.7
Palo Alto	2,428	2,294	84	4,806	2.8
Plymouth	4,629	7,765	118	12,512	25.1
Pocahontas	1,800	2,138	73	4,011	8.4
Polk	120,984	89,668	3,734	214,386	14.6
Pottawattamie	20,436	21,237	647	42,320	1.9
Poweshiek	5,519	4,340	172	10,031	11.8
Ringgold	1,236	1,401	52	2,689	6.1
Sac	2,256	2,705	92	5,053	8.9
Scott	48,927	36,365	1,079	86,371	14.5
Shelby	2,863	3,488	102	6,453	9.7
Sioux	3,030	13,490	144	16,664	62.8
Story	26,548	18,995	1,032	46,575	16.2
Tama	4,899	3,820	131	8,850	12.2
Taylor	1,347	1,607	72	3,026	8.6
Union	3,000	2,781	128	5,909	3.7
Van Buren	1,546	1,986	76	3,608	12.2
Wapello	8,820	6,663	448	15,931	13.5
Warren	12,299	12,144	437	24,880	0.6
Washington	5,170	5,247	209	10,626	0.7
Wayne	1,357	1,565	58	2,980	7.0
Webster	9,917	8,337	300	18,554	8.5
Winnebago	3,254	2,730	98	6,082	8.6
Winneshiek	6,829	4,273	178	11,280	22.7
Woodbury	21,983	22,219	599	44,801	0.5
Worth	2,567	1,612	78	4,257	22.4
Wright	3,102	3,198	95	6,395	1.5

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).

Iowa in every election · 2008 primaries · 2008 Senate race · All states in 2008 · Report an error

Questions and answers

Who won Iowa in 2008?

Barack Obama won Iowa by 9.49 percentage points (146,561 votes).

How many electoral votes did Iowa have in 2008?

Iowa cast 7 electoral votes in 2008.

How many people voted for president in Iowa in 2008?

1,543,662 votes were counted for president.

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

Barack Obama 53, John McCain 46 (out of 99 counties with results).

How did Iowa change from 2004 to 2008?

The margin moved 10.2 points toward the Democratic ticket, from Republican by 0.7 points to Democratic by 9.5 points.

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