United States presidential election in Louisiana, 2004

United States presidential election in Louisiana, 2004
Louisiana
November 2, 2004

 
Nominee George W. Bush John Kerry
Party Republican Democratic
Home state Texas Massachusetts
Running mate Dick Cheney John Edwards
Electoral vote 9 0
Popular vote 1,102,169 820,299
Percentage 56.7% 42.2%

County Results
  Kerry—70-80%
  Kerry—50-60%
  Kerry—<50%
  Bush—<50%
  Bush—50-60%
  Bush—60-70%
  Bush—70-80%
  Bush—80-90%

President before election

George W. Bush
Republican

Elected President

George W. Bush
Republican

The 2004 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 2, 2004 throughout all 50 states and D.C., which was part of the 2004 United States presidential election. Voters chose 9 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.

Louisiana was won by incumbent President George W. Bush by a 14.5% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 12 news organizations considered this a state Bush would win, or otherwise considered as a safe red state. Bush's performance was much wider margin than that of his 2000 results which was 6.8% less. The state, like other states in the Deep South, is racially polarized when it comes to presidential elections, as a wide majority of the white population votes Republican, and a wide majority of the black population votes Democratic.

Primaries

Campaign

Predictions

There were 12 news organizations who made state by state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day.[1]

  1. D.C. Political Report: Leans Republican
  2. Associated Press: Leans Bush
  3. CNN: Bush
  4. Cook Political Report: Lean Republican
  5. Newsweek: Solid Bush
  6. New York Times: Solid Bush
  7. Rasmussen Reports: Bush
  8. Research 2000: Solid Bush
  9. Washington Post: Bush
  10. Washington Times: Solid Bush
  11. Zogby International: Bush
  12. Washington Dispatch: Bush

Polling

Bush won every single pre-election poll, and won each by at least 48% of the vote. The final 3 polls averaged Bush leading 51% to 39%.[2]

Fundraising

Bush raised $1,933,549.[3] Kerry raised $1,303,859.[4]

Advertising and visits

Neither campaign advertised or visited this state during the fall election.[5][6]

Analysis

Bush performed here better than he did in 2000. He won four more parishes: Caddio, Bienville, St. Landry, and West Baton Rague (WBR), but he won each with very slim margins of victory of less than two percent, except for WBR which he won with 54% of the vote indicating that the parish is trending Republican. In the northern portion of the state, he barely lost in Madison and Tensas. The only two parishes in which he got less than 40% of the vote in were East Carroll and Orleans. Bush also won six of seven congressional districts in the state, each with at least 58% of the vote. The Louisiana's 2nd congressional district, which covers the parish and city of Orleans, was won by Kerry with 70% of the vote. In other words, no CD in the state was competitive.

Results

United States presidential election in Louisiana, 2004
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican Party George W. Bush 1,102,169 56.7% 9
Democratic John Kerry 820,299 42.2% 0
Independent Ralph Nader 7,032 0.4% 0
American Independent Michael Peroutka 5,203 0.3% 0
Libertarian Michael Badnarik 2,781 0.1% 0
Independent Walt Brown 1,795 0.1% 0
Independent Gene Amondson 1,566 0.1% 0
Green David Cobb 1,276 0.1% 0
Socialist Workers Roger Calero 985 0.1% 0
Invalid or blank votes 169,510 1.35%
Totals - 100.00% 9
Voter turnout (Voting age population) 58.5%

Results breakdown

By parish

Parish Bush# Bush% Kerry# Kerry% Others# Others% Total#
Arcadia 16,083 63.75% 8,937 35.42% 210 0.83% 25,230
Allen 5,140 56.33% 3,791 41.55% 193 2.12% 9,124
Ascension 24,652 63.07% 13,952 35.69% 484 1.24% 39,088
Assumption 4,966 46.26% 5,585 52.03% 184 1.71% 10,735
Avoyelles 8,302 53.48% 6,976 44.93% 247 1.59% 15,525
Beauregard 9,468 71.30% 3,666 27.61% 145 1.09% 13,279
Bienville 3,529 51.33% 3,221 46.85% 125 1.82% 6,875
Bossier 29,921 70.59% 12,116 28.59% 348 0.82% 42,385
Caddo 54,162 50.99% 51,502 48.48% 563 0.53% 106,227
Calcasieu 46,058 57.82% 32,844 41.23% 759 0.95% 79,661
Caldwell 3,308 69.61% 1,384 29.12% 60 1.26% 4,752
Cameron 3,190 68.75% 1,367 29.46% 83 1.79% 4,640
Catahoula 3,215 64.95% 1,673 33.80% 62 1.25% 4,950
Claiborne 3,704 55.87% 2,854 43.05% 72 1.09% 6,630
Concordia 5,426 60.43% 3,446 38.38% 107 1.19% 8,979
De Soto 6,211 54.79% 5,026 44.34% 99 0.87% 11,336
EBR 99,890 54.45% 82,171 44.79% 1,406 0.77% 183,467
East Carroll 1,357 39.97% 1,980 58.32% 58 1.71% 3,395
East Feliciana 5,020 54.57% 4,091 44.47% 89 0.97% 9,200
Evangeline 8,361 58.02% 5,756 39.94% 294 2.04% 14,411
Franklin 6,140 67.49% 2,828 31.08% 130 1.43% 9,098
Grant 5,908 73.97% 1,976 24.74% 103 1.29% 7,987
Iberia 19,416 60.17% 12,423 38.50% 427 1.32% 32,266
Iberville 6,560 44.19% 8,063 54.31% 223 1.50% 14,846
Jackson 5,037 65.89% 2,523 33.01% 84 1.10% 7,644
Jefferson 117,692 61.53% 71,936 37.61% 1,641 0.86% 191,269
Jefferson Davis 8,064 61.49% 4,845 36.94% 206 1.57% 13,115
LaSalle 5,012 80.40% 1,154 18.51% 68 1.09% 6,234
Lafayette 57,730 64.20% 31,205 34.70% 981 1.09% 89,916
Lafourche 22,734 60.04% 14,417 38.08% 712 1.88% 37,863
Lincoln 10,791 59.23% 7,242 39.75% 185 1.02% 18,218
Livingston 33,948 76.77% 9,888 22.36% 382 0.86% 44,218
Madison 2,291 49.03% 2,334 49.95% 48 1.03% 4,673
Morehouse 7,470 57.63% 5,331 41.13% 161 1.24% 12,962
Natchitoches 9,260 54.59% 7,396 43.60% 307 1.81% 16,963
Orleanes 42,760 21.81% 151,686 77.36% 1,640 0.84% 196,086
Ouachita 41,747 64.79% 22,011 34.16% 678 1.05% 64,436
Plaquemines 7,865 64.72% 4,181 34.41% 106 0.87% 12,152
Pointe Coupee 5,429 48.17% 5,712 50.68% 130 1.15% 11,271
Rapides 34,432 63.63% 18,904 34.93% 776 1.43% 54,112
Red River 2,507 52.95% 2,140 45.20% 88 1.86% 4,735
Richland 5,471 63.14% 3,082 35.57% 112 1.29% 8,665
Sabine 6,704 70.07% 2,741 28.65% 122 1.28% 9,567
St. Bernard 19,596 65.68% 9,956 33.37% 285 0.96% 29,837
St. Charles 14,747 61.80% 8,895 37.27% 222 0.93% 23,864
St. Helena 2,235 40.58% 3,173 57.62% 99 1.80% 5,507
St. James 4,545 40.80% 6,406 57.50% 190 1.71% 11,141
St. Jon 8,937 45.83% 10,293 52.78% 270 1.38% 19,500
St. Landry 18,314 49.83% 18,162 49.41% 279 0.76% 36,755
St. Martin 12,091 52.99% 10,319 45.22% 408 1.79% 22,818
St. Mary 12,876 56.75% 9,544 42.07% 267 1.18% 22,687
St. Tammany 75,081 74.70% 24,643 24.52% 787 0.78% 100,511
Tangipahoa 26,170 62.14% 15,335 36.41% 608 1.44% 42,113
Tensas 1,453 49.05% 1,468 49.56% 41 1.38% 2,962
Terrebonne 26,357 64.97% 13,678 33.72% 531 1.31% 40,566
Union 7,457 69.78% 3,058 28.61% 172 1.61% 10,687
Verm 15,069 61.38% 9,083 37.00% 398 1.62% 24,550
Vernon 11,030 72.06% 4,035 26.36% 242 1.58% 15,307
Washington 11,006 61.69% 6,554 36.74% 281 1.58% 17,841
Webster 11,066 60.03% 6,821 37.00% 546 2.96% 18,433
WBR 5,820 53.73% 4,931 45.52% 81 0.75% 10,832
West Carroll 3,730 74.27% 1,231 24.51% 61 1.21% 5,022
West Feliciana 2,832 55.34% 2,214 43.27% 71 1.39% 5,117
Winn 4,367 67.12% 2,056 31.60% 83 1.28% 6,506

By congressional district

Bush won 6 of 7 congressional districts.

District Bush Kerry Representative
1st 71% 28% David Vitter
Bobby Jindal
2nd 24% 75% William J. Jefferson
3rd 58% 41% Billy Tauzin
Charlie Melancon
4th 59% 40% Jim McCrery
5th 62% 37% Rodney Alexander
6th 59% 40% Richard H. Baker
7th 70% 30% Chris John
Charles Boustany

Electors

Technically the voters of Louisiana cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Louisiana is allocated 9 electors because it has 7 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 9 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 9 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for President and Vice President. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them. An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector.

The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 13, 2004 to cast their votes for President and Vice President. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 9 were pledged to Bush/Cheney:

  1. Tom Angers
  2. Michael Bayham
  3. David R. Carroll
  4. Archie Corder
  5. Floyd Gonzalez
  6. Gerald Hebert
  7. John H. Musser
  8. Sal Palmisano
  9. Ruth L. Ulrich

References

See also