Presidential Primary Popular Votes
McCain, Clinton Had Sizable Leads Through Super Tuesday Balloting
Clinton and Obama together received 16.9 million votes in first 25 Democratic primaries. McCain, Romney and Huckabee received 10.6 million in first 24 GOP primaries.
While most attention was paid to the number of delegates and states won by the candidates, Arizona Senator John McCain and New York Senator Hillary Clinton ran up sizable leads in the actual number of votes cast in the early 2008 presidential primaries.
Although the lineups, conditions and issues will be very different, the totals might provide some insight into the popularity the candidates can expect in the November 2008 general election. The early popular vote totals might also impact each candidate’s fund raising for the remainder of the campaign and may have been a factor in former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney dropping out of the campaign February 7.
According to CNN state-by-state results, McCain received 4,548,218 votes in the first 24 Republican primaries. That gave him 812,397 votes more than Romney and 2,264,383 more than former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.
The Arizona senator had 43.2 percent of the total votes cast for the three of them, compared to Romney’s 35.5 percent and Huckabee’s 21.3 percent..
Clinton Topped Obama by 229,220 votes
Clinton won 8,558,402 votes in the first 25 Democratic primaries, 229,220 more than Illinois Senator Barack Obama. Of the total votes cast for the two Democratic leaders, Clinton had 50.7 percent and Obama 49.3 percent.
The totals include primaries conducted through Super Tuesday on February 5. There were no popular votes in states where the Republicans or Democrats conducted caucuses instead of primary elections.
Republicans conducted caucuses instead of primaries in Kansas, Maine, Montana, West Virginia and Wyoming. Democrats conducted a caucas instead of a primary in Iowa and Alaska.
Democrats Gave Clinton and Obama 16.9 Million Votes
Together Clinton and Obama garnered 16,887,584 votes in the 25 Democratic primaries. McCain, Romney and Huckabee received 10,620422 in the 24 Republican primaries.
The totals do not include votes received by former U.S. Senator John Edwards, former New York Mayor Rudy Guillani and other candidates who dropped out of the race prior to the Super Tuesday primaries.
California Provided Most Votes
Here’s where the candidates registered their biggest numbers:
- McCain: California 975,363; Florida 693,508; Illinois 423,114
- Romney: California 790,515; Florida 598,188; Georgia 289,737
- Huckabee: Georgia 326,069; California 268,622; Florida 259,735
- Clinton: California 2,107,758; New York 1,003,623; Florida 857,208
- Obama: California 1,717,681; Illinois 1,2281,902; Georgia 700,366
In most states, the CNN results represented 99 or 100 percent of the precincts.
As in the general elections, the Republican and Democratic nominees for president are not chosen by popular vote, but by the number of delegates they receive in each state.
The impact of the popular vote is also lessened by the manner in which states allocate their delegates. Some direct all their delegates to the candidate with the highest popular vote, meaning a candidate can lose the popular election by only a few votes but come away with no delegates at all from that state.
2008 Political Ad Spending
