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Tennessee · 2008 presidential election

Tennessee presidential election results 2008

John McCain carried Tennessee by 15.07 points (391,741 votes), winning 11 electoral votes.

Electoral votes
11
Votes counted
2,599,749
TN result
R+15.1
Compared with the nation
22.3 pts more Republican
Swing since 2004
0.8 pts to R

Statewide result

CandidatePartyVotesShareBarElectoral votes
John McCainRepublican1,479,17856.90%11
Barack ObamaDemocratic1,087,43741.80%—
Total votes2,599,749

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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Benton County: John McCain +16.2Bledsoe County: John McCain +34.5Campbell County: John McCain +37.0Clay County: John McCain +14.3Coffee County: John McCain +29.4Dyer County: John McCain +37.7Grainger County: John McCain +43.1Hardeman County: Barack Obama +6.2Hickman County: John McCain +14.4Knox County: John McCain +23.0Loudon County: John McCain +44.0Marshall County: John McCain +21.6Morgan County: John McCain +40.3Polk County: John McCain +33.0Scott County: John McCain +47.3Union County: John McCain +41.2Washington County: John McCain +33.5White County: John McCain +28.3Wilson County: John McCain +36.6Bradley County: John McCain +49.7Carroll County: John McCain +29.8Cheatham County: John McCain +31.7Claiborne County: John McCain +39.3Crockett County: John McCain +33.6Cumberland County: John McCain +37.1DeKalb County: John McCain +17.7Fayette County: John McCain +27.4Fentress County: John McCain +43.9Greene County: John McCain +40.7Grundy County: John McCain +12.8Hamilton County: John McCain +11.8Hancock County: John McCain +43.9Hardin County: John McCain +42.7Henderson County: John McCain +42.9Houston County: Barack Obama +2.1Jackson County: Barack Obama +0.9Lake County: John McCain +6.7Lewis County: John McCain +23.7McMinn County: John McCain +39.6McNairy County: John McCain +38.4Macon County: John McCain +41.9Maury County: John McCain +21.4Montgomery County: John McCain +7.9Perry County: John McCain +8.9Pickett County: John McCain +34.9Putnam County: John McCain +27.0Anderson County: John McCain +26.2Bedford County: John McCain +33.5Rhea County: John McCain +46.2Robertson County: John McCain +31.1Rutherford County: John McCain +19.1Sevier County: John McCain +48.1Stewart County: John McCain +8.8Tipton County: John McCain +36.5Van Buren County: John McCain +20.2Warren County: John McCain +21.2Blount County: John McCain +39.3Carter County: John McCain +47.2Davidson County: Barack Obama +21.0Franklin County: John McCain +22.5Hamblen County: John McCain +38.4Haywood County: Barack Obama +21.3Humphreys County: John McCain +2.9Lawrence County: John McCain +33.7Madison County: John McCain +7.0Moore County: John McCain +38.2Overton County: John McCain +13.3Roane County: John McCain +36.2Smith County: John McCain +20.3Sumner County: John McCain +34.9Weakley County: John McCain +31.1Williamson County: John McCain +39.5Chester County: John McCain +43.2Decatur County: John McCain +32.2Dickson County: John McCain +21.4Gibson County: John McCain +28.7Giles County: John McCain +19.6Cocke County: John McCain +44.9Hawkins County: John McCain +41.9Henry County: John McCain +22.4Jefferson County: John McCain +42.7Johnson County: John McCain +42.2Lauderdale County: John McCain +6.5Lincoln County: John McCain +42.2Marion County: John McCain +19.6Meigs County: John McCain +33.6Monroe County: John McCain +38.3Obion County: John McCain +34.1Sequatchie County: John McCain +34.8Shelby County: Barack Obama +27.4Sullivan County: John McCain +41.3Unicoi County: John McCain +40.2Wayne County: John McCain +49.2Trousdale County: John McCain +6.6Cannon County: John McCain +24.0
Each county coloured by its winner and shaded by margin. Tap one for its history.
County Barack ObamaJohn McCainOthers TotalMargin
Anderson 11,39619,675499 31,570 26.2
Bedford 5,02710,217263 15,507 33.5
Benton 2,6453,696138 6,479 16.2
Bledsoe 1,5173,166101 4,784 34.5
Blount 15,25335,571821 51,645 39.3
Bradley 9,35728,333501 38,191 49.7
Campbell 3,8678,535226 12,628 37.0
Cannon 2,0113,322124 5,457 24.0
Carroll 3,9807,455211 11,646 29.8
Carter 5,58715,852330 21,769 47.2
Cheatham 5,49810,702228 16,428 31.7
Chester 1,7974,58775 6,459 43.2
Claiborne 3,0787,175167 10,420 39.3
Clay 1,2481,67670 2,994 14.3
Cocke 3,3408,945196 12,481 44.9
Coffee 7,13213,250408 20,790 29.4
Crockett 1,9673,99476 6,037 33.6
Cumberland 7,88917,436387 25,712 37.1
Davidson 158,423102,9153,148 264,486 21.0
DeKalb 2,8324,085148 7,065 17.7
Decatur 1,5663,10196 4,763 32.2
Dickson 7,50611,677336 19,519 21.4
Dyer 4,4119,859180 14,450 37.7
Fayette 6,89212,173189 19,254 27.4
Fentress 1,8314,789119 6,739 43.9
Franklin 6,61310,539280 17,432 22.5
Gibson 7,40613,516331 21,253 28.7
Giles 4,6146,902173 11,689 19.6
Grainger 2,0665,297140 7,503 43.1
Greene 7,11017,151409 24,670 40.7
Grundy 1,9712,56398 4,632 12.8
Hamblen 6,80715,508354 22,669 38.4
Hamilton 64,24681,7021,572 147,520 11.8
Hancock 6041,58849 2,241 43.9
Hardeman 5,9195,22593 11,237 6.2
Hardin 2,7947,077164 10,035 42.7
Hawkins 5,93014,756354 21,040 41.9
Haywood 4,8933,16563 8,121 21.3
Henderson 3,0217,669144 10,834 42.9
Henry 5,1538,182210 13,545 22.4
Hickman 3,5634,784151 8,498 14.4
Houston 1,6781,60868 3,354 2.1
Humphreys 3,6003,818162 7,580 2.9
Jackson 2,2242,18592 4,501 0.9
Jefferson 5,17813,092262 18,532 42.7
Johnson 1,8374,621133 6,591 42.2
Knox 70,215113,0152,856 186,086 23.0
Lake 1,0241,17539 2,238 6.7
Lauderdale 4,3224,93383 9,338 6.5
Lawrence 5,16110,566293 16,020 33.7
Lewis 1,8042,95179 4,834 23.7
Lincoln 3,6959,231204 13,130 42.2
Loudon 6,05815,815311 22,184 44.0
Macon 2,0605,145155 7,360 41.9
Madison 20,20923,290347 43,846 7.0
Marion 4,5066,746185 11,437 19.6
Marshall 4,3206,755214 11,289 21.6
Maury 13,05820,288421 33,767 21.4
McMinn 5,54112,989259 18,789 39.6
McNairy 3,1317,135156 10,422 38.4
Meigs 1,3722,79768 4,237 33.6
Monroe 5,05311,484240 16,777 38.3
Montgomery 25,71630,175627 56,518 7.9
Moore 8812,01061 2,952 38.2
Morgan 1,9694,717136 6,822 40.3
Obion 4,3088,873211 13,392 34.1
Overton 3,4194,497176 8,092 13.3
Perry 1,3291,59675 3,000 8.9
Pickett 8541,78631 2,671 34.9
Polk 2,1244,267110 6,501 33.0
Putnam 9,73917,101476 27,316 27.0
Rhea 2,9078,042157 11,106 46.2
Roane 7,22415,658394 23,276 36.2
Robertson 9,31817,903393 27,614 31.1
Rutherford 40,46059,8921,385 101,737 19.1
Scott 1,7204,931132 6,783 47.3
Sequatchie 1,7173,610110 5,437 34.8
Sevier 8,60424,922415 33,941 48.1
Shelby 256,297145,4582,800 404,555 27.4
Smith 2,9924,563186 7,741 20.3
Stewart 2,4702,95681 5,507 8.8
Sullivan 18,35444,808835 63,997 41.3
Sumner 21,48744,949792 67,228 34.9
Tipton 7,93117,165220 25,316 36.5
Trousdale 1,4751,68876 3,239 6.6
Unicoi 2,1075,011105 7,223 40.2
Union 1,8294,467103 6,399 41.2
Van Buren 8491,29463 2,206 20.2
Warren 5,5158,562323 14,400 21.2
Washington 15,94132,341700 48,982 33.5
Wayne 1,3554,07696 5,527 49.2
Weakley 4,5968,855239 13,690 31.1
White 3,3726,103172 9,647 28.3
Williamson 27,88664,858902 93,646 39.5
Wilson 15,88634,595678 51,159 36.6

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).

Questions and answers

Who won Tennessee in 2008?

John McCain won Tennessee by 15.07 percentage points (391,741 votes).

How many electoral votes did Tennessee have in 2008?

Tennessee cast 11 electoral votes in 2008.

How many people voted for president in Tennessee in 2008?

2,599,749 votes were counted for president.

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

John McCain 89, Barack Obama 6 (out of 95 counties with results).

How did Tennessee change from 2004 to 2008?

The margin moved 0.8 points toward the Republican ticket, from Republican by 14.3 points to Republican by 15.1 points.

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