Nebraska presidential election results 2008

John McCain carried Nebraska by 14.93 points (119,660 votes), winning 5 electoral votes.

Electoral votes: 5
Votes counted: 801,281
NE result: R+14.9
Compared with the nation: 22.1 pts more Republican
Swing since 2004: 18.3 pts to D

Statewide result

Candidate	Party	Votes	Share	Electoral votes
John McCain	Republican	452,979	56.50%	4
Barack Obama	Democratic	333,319	41.60%	1
Total votes		801,281

Nebraska gives two electoral votes to the statewide winner and one to the winner of each congressional district.

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
Adams	4,685	8,252	273	13,210	27.0
Antelope	757	2,383	45	3,185	51.1
Arthur	39	217	7	263	67.7
Banner	62	348	6	416	68.8
Blaine	43	266	7	316	70.6
Boone	742	2,042	52	2,836	45.8
Box Butte	1,886	2,932	161	4,979	21.0
Boyd	250	839	21	1,110	53.1
Brown	311	1,208	48	1,567	57.2
Buffalo	5,867	13,097	329	19,293	37.5
Burt	1,413	1,907	67	3,387	14.6
Butler	1,190	2,557	92	3,839	35.6
Cass	4,753	7,120	249	12,122	19.5
Cedar	1,190	2,912	72	4,174	41.3
Chase	341	1,477	26	1,844	61.6
Cherry	599	2,360	100	3,059	57.6
Cheyenne	1,173	3,572	94	4,839	49.6
Clay	780	2,177	76	3,033	46.1
Colfax	1,125	2,018	60	3,203	27.9
Cuming	1,274	2,732	81	4,087	35.7
Custer	1,192	4,301	85	5,578	55.7
Dakota	2,994	3,292	110	6,396	4.7
Dawes	1,285	2,376	114	3,775	28.9
Dawson	2,399	5,460	127	7,986	38.3
Deuel	243	732	18	993	49.2
Dixon	946	1,785	63	2,794	30.0
Dodge	6,689	8,557	304	15,550	12.0
Douglas	116,810	106,291	3,600	226,701	4.6
Dundy	218	783	18	1,019	55.4
Fillmore	962	1,913	72	2,947	32.3
Franklin	442	1,079	31	1,552	41.0
Frontier	349	1,034	21	1,404	48.8
Furnas	556	1,725	47	2,328	50.2
Gage	4,473	5,435	252	10,160	9.5
Garden	283	844	11	1,138	49.3
Garfield	212	800	18	1,030	57.1
Gosper	260	776	12	1,048	49.2
Grant	41	318	8	367	75.5
Greeley	458	715	26	1,199	21.4
Hall	7,855	12,977	439	21,271	24.1
Hamilton	1,332	3,389	78	4,799	42.9
Harlan	402	1,329	35	1,766	52.5
Hayes	85	461	7	553	68.0
Hitchcock	346	1,001	32	1,379	47.5
Holt	1,089	3,746	139	4,974	53.4
Hooker	75	355	8	438	63.9
Howard	1,083	1,847	66	2,996	25.5
Jefferson	1,520	2,103	74	3,697	15.8
Johnson	914	1,142	54	2,110	10.8
Kearney	876	2,224	50	3,150	42.8
Keith	974	2,942	52	3,968	49.6
Keya Paha	115	409	9	533	55.2
Kimball	439	1,346	26	1,811	50.1
Knox	1,255	2,728	101	4,084	36.1
Lancaster	65,734	59,398	2,358	127,490	5.0
Lincoln	5,046	10,817	414	16,277	35.5
Logan	81	327	8	416	59.1
Loup	86	302	5	393	55.0
Madison	4,142	9,655	248	14,045	39.3
McPherson	45	240	8	293	66.6
Merrick	986	2,375	70	3,431	40.5
Morrill	557	1,725	69	2,351	49.7
Nance	549	1,116	42	1,707	33.2
Nemaha	1,240	2,134	100	3,474	25.7
Nuckolls	657	1,498	66	2,221	37.9
Otoe	2,915	4,033	144	7,092	15.8
Pawnee	483	859	42	1,384	27.2
Perkins	310	1,092	18	1,420	55.1
Phelps	1,050	3,360	63	4,473	51.6
Pierce	783	2,385	58	3,226	49.7
Platte	3,796	9,373	251	13,420	41.6
Polk	668	1,822	53	2,543	45.4
Red Willow	1,216	3,735	93	5,044	49.9
Richardson	1,513	2,342	113	3,968	20.9
Rock	139	640	22	801	62.5
Saline	2,674	2,434	143	5,251	4.6
Sarpy	28,010	38,816	1,196	68,022	15.9
Saunders	3,767	6,188	257	10,212	23.7
Scotts Bluff	4,745	9,708	277	14,730	33.7
Seward	2,703	4,647	179	7,529	25.8
Sheridan	454	1,941	67	2,462	60.4
Sherman	585	950	37	1,572	23.2
Sioux	117	603	12	732	66.4
Stanton	664	1,781	50	2,495	44.8
Thayer	860	1,749	50	2,659	33.4
Thomas	51	331	8	390	71.8
Thurston	1,120	972	34	2,126	7.0
Valley	706	1,657	60	2,423	39.2
Washington	3,711	6,425	184	10,320	26.3
Wayne	1,249	2,503	56	3,808	32.9
Webster	552	1,233	32	1,817	37.5
Wheeler	96	334	10	440	54.1
York	1,607	4,848	113	6,568	49.3

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).

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

Questions and answers

Who won Nebraska in 2008?

John McCain won Nebraska by 14.93 percentage points (119,660 votes).

How many electoral votes did Nebraska have in 2008?

Nebraska cast 5 electoral votes in 2008, split between candidates by congressional district.

How many people voted for president in Nebraska in 2008?

801,281 votes were counted for president.

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

John McCain 89, Barack Obama 4 (out of 93 counties with results).

How did Nebraska change from 2004 to 2008?

The margin moved 18.3 points toward the Democratic ticket, from Republican by 33.2 points to Republican by 14.9 points.

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