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South Carolina · 2008 presidential election

South Carolina presidential election results 2008

John McCain carried South Carolina by 8.98 points (172,447 votes), winning 8 electoral votes.

Electoral votes
8
Votes counted
1,920,969
SC result
R+9.0
Compared with the nation
16.2 pts more Republican
Swing since 2004
8.1 pts to D

Statewide result

CandidatePartyVotesShareBarElectoral votes
John McCainRepublican1,034,89653.90%8
Barack ObamaDemocratic862,44944.90%—
Total votes1,920,969

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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Allendale County: Barack Obama +51.7Bamberg County: Barack Obama +31.1Clarendon County: Barack Obama +12.3Fairfield County: Barack Obama +31.7Hampton County: Barack Obama +25.4Jasper County: Barack Obama +22.9Orangeburg County: Barack Obama +38.1Saluda County: John McCain +21.7Darlington County: John McCain +0.1Dorchester County: John McCain +15.5Edgefield County: John McCain +10.9Kershaw County: John McCain +18.7Lee County: Barack Obama +31.5McCormick County: Barack Obama +6.1Newberry County: John McCain +17.6Oconee County: John McCain +37.5Richland County: Barack Obama +28.9Spartanburg County: John McCain +21.6Sumter County: Barack Obama +15.4Williamsburg County: Barack Obama +38.2Abbeville County: John McCain +15.2Aiken County: John McCain +24.0Anderson County: John McCain +33.3Calhoun County: Barack Obama +3.6Chester County: Barack Obama +8.3Chesterfield County: John McCain +3.0Cherokee County: John McCain +29.3Dillon County: Barack Obama +11.4Greenville County: John McCain +23.9Greenwood County: John McCain +15.7Horry County: John McCain +24.6Laurens County: John McCain +18.1Marlboro County: Barack Obama +25.7Union County: John McCain +11.2Colleton County: Barack Obama +0.5Florence County: John McCain +3.2Georgetown County: John McCain +5.3Barnwell County: Barack Obama +1.7Beaufort County: John McCain +10.8Charleston County: Barack Obama +8.3Lancaster County: John McCain +14.9York County: John McCain +17.7Lexington County: John McCain +38.0Marion County: Barack Obama +27.6Pickens County: John McCain +46.2Berkeley County: John McCain +13.0
Each county coloured by its winner and shaded by margin. Tap one for its history.
County Barack ObamaJohn McCainOthers TotalMargin
Abbeville 4,5936,264144 11,001 15.2
Aiken 26,10142,849820 69,770 24.0
Allendale 3,02994748 4,024 51.7
Anderson 24,13248,690965 73,787 33.3
Bamberg 4,4262,30979 6,814 31.1
Barnwell 4,9314,76998 9,798 1.7
Beaufort 30,39637,821653 68,870 10.8
Berkeley 27,75536,205821 64,781 13.0
Calhoun 3,9703,69573 7,738 3.6
Charleston 82,69869,8221,914 154,434 8.3
Cherokee 7,21513,305246 20,766 29.3
Chester 7,4786,318185 13,981 8.3
Chesterfield 7,8428,325192 16,359 3.0
Clarendon 8,6736,758121 15,552 12.3
Colleton 8,6168,525180 17,321 0.5
Darlington 14,50514,544285 29,334 0.1
Dillon 7,4085,874135 13,417 11.4
Dorchester 21,80629,929670 52,405 15.5
Edgefield 5,0756,334111 11,520 10.9
Fairfield 7,5913,912116 11,619 31.7
Florence 28,01229,861500 58,373 3.2
Georgetown 14,19915,790301 30,290 5.3
Greenville 70,886116,3633,408 190,657 23.9
Greenwood 12,34816,995324 29,667 15.7
Hampton 5,8163,43995 9,350 25.4
Horry 38,87964,6091,310 104,798 24.6
Jasper 5,3893,365100 8,854 22.9
Kershaw 11,22616,466293 27,985 18.7
Lancaster 12,13916,441341 28,921 14.9
Laurens 10,57815,334370 26,282 18.1
Lee 5,9603,074119 9,153 31.5
Lexington 33,30374,9601,249 109,512 38.0
Marion 9,6085,416150 15,174 27.6
Marlboro 6,7943,99686 10,876 25.7
McCormick 2,7552,43740 5,232 6.1
Newberry 6,7089,616200 16,524 17.6
Oconee 9,48121,164487 31,132 37.5
Orangeburg 27,26312,115376 39,754 38.1
Pickens 11,69132,552885 45,128 46.2
Richland 105,65657,9411,440 165,037 28.9
Saluda 3,3235,19189 8,603 21.7
Spartanburg 41,63265,0421,654 108,328 21.6
Sumter 25,43118,581346 44,358 15.4
Union 5,9357,449167 13,551 11.2
Williamsburg 11,2795,004160 16,443 38.2
York 37,91854,5001,278 93,696 17.7

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).

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

Questions and answers

Who won South Carolina in 2008?

John McCain won South Carolina by 8.98 percentage points (172,447 votes).

How many electoral votes did South Carolina have in 2008?

South Carolina cast 8 electoral votes in 2008.

How many people voted for president in South Carolina in 2008?

1,920,969 votes were counted for president.

How many counties did each candidate win in South Carolina in 2008?

John McCain 26, Barack Obama 20 (out of 46 counties with results).

How did South Carolina change from 2004 to 2008?

The margin moved 8.1 points toward the Democratic ticket, from Republican by 17.1 points to Republican by 9.0 points.

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