2004 Presidential Election (The Big Bear of the West)

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The 2004 United States presidential election was the 55th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. The Democratic ticket of incumbent President Al Gore and his running mate incumbent Vice President Joe Lieberman were elected to a second term, defeating the Republican-Reform ticket of John McCain, a United States senator from Arizona and his running mate Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont. At the time Gore's popular vote total was the most votes ever received by a presidential candidate, a total that has since been surpassed; additionally, McCain's total was the second most.

Gore and Lieberman were renominated by their party with no difficulty. McCain and Dean also won their nominations with relative ease. New York governor and previous Reform nominee, Donald Trump declined to run. McCain chose Dean to be his running mate, choosing to unite the opposition in hopes of unseating president Gore.

Gore popularity had soared early in his first term after the September 11 attacks in 2001, but it had declined significantly by 2004. Foreign policy was the dominant theme throughout the election campaign, particularly Gore's handling of the 2001 invasion of Iraq and the 2003 invasion of Sudan. Gore presented himself as a decisive leader and attacked McCain as a "flip-flopper," while McCain criticized Gore's conduct of the Iraq War, the Sudan War and the East Asian migrant crisis. Domestic issues were debated as well, including the economy and jobs, health care, abortion, same-sex marriage, embryonic stem cell research and illegal immigration.

Gore won by a narrow margin of 44 electoral votes and took 49.9% of the popular vote. He swept the South and took the crucial swing states of New York, Illinois, California and Texas, the latter being flipped Democratic. Although he won both less electoral votes and states than in 2000. In addition, Democrats increased their pluralities in both houses of Congress in the concurrent congressional elections while the Constitution Party entered Congress for the 1st time, which gave Gore a comfortable congressional coalition as he entered his second term.

As of 2024, this is the last presidential election in which the Democratic nominee won the popular vote and the electoral vote. this was also the last elections in which a party won the electoral college for four consecutive times and until 2020, the last elections in which a party won the popular vote for four consecutive times.

Gore resigned during his second term as president in 2006 and was succeeded by his vice president Joe Lieberman, while McCain continued to serve in the Senate. This is the last as of 2024 in which the winning candidate won fewer than 300 electoral votes. Gore is the most recent Democrat president to win re-election. He is also the first 21st-century president to do so.

## Results

### Close states

Blue font color denotes those won by Democrat President Al Gore; red denotes states won by Republican John McCain.

States where margin of victory was under 1% (141 electoral votes):

1. **New York 0.07% (? votes)**
2. **Illinois 0.11% (? votes)**
3. ***California 0.38% (? votes)** (tipping point state for McCain victory)*
4. ***Texas 0.74% (? votes)** (tipping point state for Gore victory)*

States where margin of victory was more than 1% but less than 5% (105 electoral votes):

1. **Massachusets 1.21% (? votes)**
2. **Ohio 2.61% (? votes)**
3. **Pennsylvania 2.80% (? votes)**
4. **Iowa 2.92% (? votes)**
5. **Michigan 3.25% (? votes)**
6. **Maryland 3.60% (? votes)**
7. **Wisconsin 4.07% (? votes)**
8. **Minnesota 4.53% (? votes)**

States where margin of victory was more than 5% but less than 10% (129 electoral votes):

1. **Conneticut 5.13% (? votes)**
2. **Hawaii 5.82% (? votes)**
3. **New Jersey 6.31% (? votes)**
4. **Indiana 7.05% (? votes)**
5. **Georgia 7.10% (? votes)**
6. **Virginia 7.66% (? votes)**
7. **North Carolina 8.10% (? votes)**
8. **Tennessee 8.32% (? votes)**
9. **Missouri 8.60% (? votes)**
10. **Florida 9.51% (? votes)**