Kentucky presidential election results 2008

John McCain carried Kentucky by 16.23 points (296,477 votes), winning 8 electoral votes.

Electoral votes: 8
Votes counted: 1,826,508
KY result: R+16.2
Compared with the nation: 23.4 pts more Republican
Swing since 2004: 3.6 pts to D

Statewide result

Candidate	Party	Votes	Share	Electoral votes
John McCain	Republican	1,048,462	57.40%	8
Barack Obama	Democratic	751,985	41.20%	—
Total votes		1,826,508

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	1,668	5,512	118	7,298	52.7
Allen	2,024	5,258	108	7,390	43.8
Anderson	3,462	6,885	205	10,552	32.4
Ballard	1,427	2,537	96	4,060	27.3
Barren	5,434	11,133	240	16,807	33.9
Bath	2,210	2,234	99	4,543	0.5
Bell	2,782	6,681	135	9,598	40.6
Boone	16,292	33,812	670	50,774	34.5
Bourbon	3,385	4,820	125	8,330	17.2
Boyd	8,886	11,430	354	20,670	12.3
Boyle	4,769	7,701	165	12,635	23.2
Bracken	1,241	2,066	92	3,399	24.3
Breathitt	2,205	2,671	154	5,030	9.3
Breckinridge	3,110	5,281	131	8,522	25.5
Bullitt	10,177	20,102	447	30,726	32.3
Butler	1,555	3,696	56	5,307	40.3
Caldwell	2,212	3,866	121	6,199	26.7
Calloway	6,165	8,991	248	15,404	18.3
Campbell	15,622	24,046	629	40,297	20.9
Carlisle	879	1,699	39	2,617	31.3
Carroll	1,716	2,032	87	3,835	8.2
Carter	4,316	5,252	245	9,813	9.5
Casey	1,219	4,679	59	5,957	58.1
Christian	8,880	13,699	199	22,778	21.2
Clark	5,749	9,664	215	15,628	25.1
Clay	1,552	5,710	102	7,364	56.5
Clinton	761	3,366	45	4,172	62.4
Crittenden	1,254	2,604	72	3,930	34.4
Cumberland	697	2,056	44	2,797	48.6
Daviess	19,282	23,692	648	43,622	10.1
Edmonson	1,652	3,562	56	5,270	36.2
Elliott	1,535	902	78	2,515	25.2
Estill	1,555	3,685	74	5,314	40.1
Fayette	66,042	59,884	1,713	127,639	4.8
Fleming	2,279	3,432	121	5,832	19.8
Floyd	7,530	7,741	388	15,659	1.3
Franklin	11,767	11,911	401	24,079	0.6
Fulton	1,238	1,530	57	2,825	10.3
Gallatin	1,278	1,840	75	3,193	17.6
Garrard	2,012	5,118	80	7,210	43.1
Grant	3,112	5,510	132	8,754	27.4
Graves	5,843	10,056	256	16,155	26.1
Grayson	3,154	6,605	144	9,903	34.8
Green	1,204	3,785	90	5,079	50.8
Greenup	6,621	8,849	328	15,798	14.1
Hancock	2,135	1,928	81	4,144	5.0
Hardin	15,650	23,896	444	39,990	20.6
Harlan	2,586	7,165	163	9,914	46.2
Harrison	2,916	4,520	154	7,590	21.1
Hart	2,290	4,397	131	6,818	30.9
Henderson	10,049	9,523	289	19,861	2.6
Henry	2,725	4,081	113	6,919	19.6
Hickman	812	1,406	32	2,250	26.4
Hopkins	7,104	11,916	328	19,348	24.9
Jackson	743	4,407	74	5,224	70.1
Jefferson	196,435	153,957	3,500	353,892	12.0
Jessamine	6,236	13,711	267	20,214	37.0
Johnson	2,407	5,948	162	8,517	41.6
Kenton	26,480	40,714	1,019	68,213	20.9
Knott	2,612	3,070	138	5,820	7.9
Knox	3,074	8,150	165	11,389	44.6
Larue	1,913	4,153	112	6,178	36.3
Laurel	4,618	17,660	222	22,500	58.0
Lawrence	2,036	3,503	110	5,649	26.0
Lee	752	1,978	43	2,773	44.2
Leslie	766	3,574	57	4,397	63.9
Letcher	2,623	5,367	245	8,235	33.3
Lewis	1,510	3,213	68	4,791	35.5
Lincoln	2,752	6,273	126	9,151	38.5
Livingston	1,622	2,890	81	4,593	27.6
Logan	3,811	6,925	154	10,890	28.6
Lyon	1,577	2,220	58	3,855	16.7
Madison	12,392	19,694	451	32,537	22.4
Magoffin	2,105	2,434	112	4,651	7.1
Marion	3,596	3,842	177	7,615	3.2
Marshall	5,683	9,512	292	15,487	24.7
Martin	808	2,824	60	3,692	54.6
Mason	2,891	4,102	128	7,121	17.0
McCracken	11,285	19,043	426	30,754	25.2
McCreary	1,258	4,078	71	5,407	52.2
McLean	1,963	2,386	73	4,422	9.6
Meade	4,343	6,691	172	11,206	21.0
Menifee	1,276	1,155	58	2,489	4.9
Mercer	3,159	6,781	120	10,060	36.0
Metcalfe	1,350	2,734	115	4,199	33.0
Monroe	1,067	3,537	61	4,665	52.9
Montgomery	4,234	5,947	150	10,331	16.6
Morgan	1,879	2,396	104	4,379	11.8
Muhlenberg	6,221	6,447	221	12,889	1.8
Nelson	7,654	10,139	353	18,146	13.7
Nicholas	1,272	1,634	64	2,970	12.2
Ohio	4,059	5,687	192	9,938	16.4
Oldham	10,000	18,997	319	29,316	30.7
Owen	1,694	2,969	88	4,751	26.8
Owsley	381	1,279	26	1,686	53.3
Pendleton	2,027	3,676	99	5,802	28.4
Perry	3,444	6,762	169	10,375	32.0
Pike	9,525	12,655	463	22,643	13.8
Powell	2,065	2,837	70	4,972	15.5
Pulaski	5,590	19,862	314	25,766	55.4
Robertson	451	533	31	1,015	8.1
Rockcastle	1,410	4,757	107	6,274	53.3
Rowan	4,074	3,907	173	8,154	2.0
Russell	1,569	5,779	127	7,475	56.3
Scott	7,712	11,782	236	19,730	20.6
Shelby	6,871	11,451	218	18,540	24.7
Simpson	2,775	4,437	97	7,309	22.7
Spencer	2,519	5,378	152	8,049	35.5
Taylor	3,165	7,568	127	10,860	40.5
Todd	1,543	3,336	62	4,941	36.3
Trigg	2,246	4,189	92	6,527	29.8
Trimble	1,484	2,239	89	3,812	19.8
Union	2,804	3,120	110	6,034	5.2
Warren	17,669	25,993	483	44,145	18.9
Washington	1,890	3,305	80	5,275	26.8
Wayne	2,201	4,868	127	7,196	37.1
Webster	2,390	3,037	113	5,540	11.7
Whitley	3,484	10,015	205	13,704	47.7
Wolfe	1,493	1,408	67	2,968	2.9
Woodford	5,027	7,130	140	12,297	17.1

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).

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

Questions and answers

Who won Kentucky in 2008?

John McCain won Kentucky by 16.23 percentage points (296,477 votes).

How many electoral votes did Kentucky have in 2008?

Kentucky cast 8 electoral votes in 2008.

How many people voted for president in Kentucky in 2008?

1,826,508 votes were counted for president.

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

John McCain 112, Barack Obama 8 (out of 120 counties with results).

How did Kentucky change from 2004 to 2008?

The margin moved 3.6 points toward the Democratic ticket, from Republican by 19.9 points to Republican by 16.2 points.

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