2004 United States presidential election

Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 2, 2004. Incumbent Republican president George W. Bush and his running mate, incumbent vice president Dick Cheney, were elected to a second term. They narrowly defeated the Democratic ticket of Massachusetts junior senator John Kerry and North Carolina senior senator John Edwards.

Bush and Cheney were re-nominated by their party with no difficulty. The Democrats had a competitive race, with Kerry winning after several primary victories. The September 11 attacks in 2001 affected Bush's foreign policy goals, and debates over the war on terror and the 2003 invasion of Iraq were important issues.

Bush won by a narrow margin of 35 electoral votes and took 50.7% of the popular vote. He won key states like Ohio, Iowa, and New Mexico, which helped him secure his reelection. This election was important because it was the only time a Republican won the popular vote in many years.

Background

George W. Bush became president in 2000 after a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. Shortly after he took office, terrorist attacks happened on September 11, 2001, which changed his role as president. In response, the United States led a group of countries to enter Afghanistan, where the person thought to be behind the attacks was hiding.

Later, the Bush administration focused on Iraq, believing that the leader there needed to be removed because of concerns about weapons that could cause great harm. However, when the United States and its allies invaded Iraq in 2003, they did not find these weapons. Despite this, Bush announced the end of major fighting in Iraq in May 2003.

Both Bush and his opponent in the 2004 election had graduated from the same university and were part of an exclusive group there. This was the only time two members of this group ran against each other for president.

Nominations

Main articles: George W. Bush 2004 presidential campaign, 2004 Republican Party presidential primaries, and 2004 Republican National Convention

Main articles: John Kerry 2004 presidential campaign, 2004 Democratic Party presidential primaries, and 2004 Democratic National Convention

George W. Bush faced no serious challenge for the Republican nomination. By March 10, 2004, he had enough supporters to win. He officially accepted the nomination in September and chose Dick Cheney as his running mate. Bush talked mostly about keeping America safe and helping people own more things, like homes and health insurance.

The Democratic Party held its contests from January to June 2004 to choose their nominee. John Kerry won early votes in Iowa and New Hampshire, which helped him become the candidate. By March, he had enough supporters to win. John Edwards became his running mate. At their meeting in July, Kerry and Edwards promised to make America stronger and more respected around the world. Barack Obama gave a famous speech at this meeting, which helped him become well-known.

Four other groups also had candidates on the ballot in some states. These included Michael Badnarik from the Libertarian Party, David Cobb from the Green Party, Ralph Nader as an independent, and Michael Peroutka from the Constitution Party.

George W. Bush	Dick Cheney
2004 Republican Party ticket
for President	for Vice President

43rd President of the United States (2001–2009)	46th Vice President of the United States (2001–2009)
Campaign

John Kerry	John Edwards
2004 Democratic Party ticket
for President	for Vice President

U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (1985–2013)	U.S. Senator from North Carolina (1999–2005)
Campaign

Issues unique to the election

Electronic voting machines

Before the 2004 election, some states started using electronic voting systems. Some people worried about the voting machines, especially those made by Diebold Election Systems, because experts found security problems. They also worried because these machines did not have a paper record to double-check the results. In California, officials decided not to use Diebold’s voting machines in 2004 because of these concerns.

Campaign law changes

The 2004 election was the first to follow new rules from the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. These rules limited how much money political parties and candidates could collect. To get around these limits, many independent groups called “527 groups” formed. These groups could collect and spend money on political activities as long as they did not work directly with any campaign. Some well-known groups included Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, MoveOn.org, the Media Fund, and America Coming Together. These groups spent a lot of money during the campaign.

The new law also required that political ads on TV clearly say who paid for them. This was meant to make sure people knew who was behind negative ads. Some campaign planners thought this rule would confuse voters and take up too much time.

General election campaign

Bush focused his campaign on national security, presenting himself as a strong leader and saying that Kerry would be uncertain in dangerous situations. Kerry’s campaign talked mostly about issues like jobs and health care, believing these were his strengths. Bush also worked to get more support from people who agreed with his views.

Bush talked about how his tax cuts helped the economy, while Kerry opposed those cuts and wanted to spend less money on things like business tax breaks. They also talked about the Iraq War, with Bush defending it and Kerry saying it was a mistake. Health care was another topic, with both men offering different plans to help people afford medical care.

There were debates between the candidates where they answered questions from people. The most watched debate had over 51 million viewers. Just before the election, a video from Osama bin Laden was shown, which helped Bush’s chances a little.

**Debates among candidates for the 2004 U.S. presidential election**
No.	Date	Host	City	Moderators	Participants	Viewship (Millions)
P1	Thursday, September 30, 2004	University of Miami	Coral Gables, Florida	Jim Lehrer	President George W. Bush Senator John Kerry	62.4
VP	Tuesday, October 5, 2004	Case Western Reserve University	Cleveland, Ohio	Gwen Ifill	Vice President Dick Cheney Senator John Edwards	43.5
P2	Friday, October 8, 2004	Washington University in St. Louis	St. Louis, Missouri	Charles Gibson	President George W. Bush Senator John Kerry	46.7
P3	Wednesday, October 13, 2004	Arizona State University	Tempe, Arizona	Bob Schieffer	President George W. Bush Senator John Kerry	51.1

State	EVs	New York Times November 2, 2004	538 November 2, 2004	CNN November 2, 2004
Arkansas	6	Likely R	Likely R	Lean R
Arizona	10	Likely R	Likely R	Lean R
Colorado	9	Likely R	Lean R	Lean R
Delaware	3	Likely D	Likely D	Lean D
Florida	27	Likely R	Tossup	Tossup
Iowa	7	Likely R (flip)	Tossup	Lean R (flip)
Maryland	10	Likely D	Likely D	Safe D
Maine	4	Likely D	Lean D	Lean D
Michigan	17	Likely D	Lean D	Lean D
Minnesota	10	Likely D	Tossup	Tossup
New Hampshire	4	Likely D (flip)	Tossup	Tossup
Missouri	11	Likely R	Lean R	Lean R
Nevada	5	Likely R	Tossup	Lean R
New Jersey	15	Likely D	Likely D	Lean D
New Mexico	5	Lean R (flip)	Tossup	Tossup
North Carolina	15	Likely R	Lean R	Safe R
Ohio	20	Lean D (flip)	Tossup	Tossup
Pennsylvania	21	Likely D	Tossup	Lean D
Oregon	7	Likely D	Lean D	Lean D
Tennessee	11	Likely R	Lean R	Safe R
Wisconsin	10	Likely R (flip)	Tossup	Tossup
West Virginia	5	Likely R	Lean R	Likely R
Virginia	13	Likely R	Lean R	Lean R

Timeline

Main article: Timeline of the 2004 United States presidential election

The 2004 United States presidential election took place on November 2, 2004. The race was between President George W. Bush, who was looking for a second term, and Senator John Kerry, who wanted to become president. Bush and his vice presidential partner, Dick Cheney, won the election by a very small margin against Kerry and his partner, John Edwards.

Results

The United States held a presidential election on November 2, 2004. The Republican candidate, George W. Bush, and his running mate, Dick Cheney, won a second term by defeating the Democratic candidates, John Kerry and John Edwards.

Bush won more votes in 2,568 counties across the country, while Kerry won in 586 counties. The election was very close in several states, with Bush narrowly winning key states like Ohio, which helped him secure the victory. This election had a turnout of about 56.7% of people eligible to vote.

Legend
States/districts won by Kerry/Edwards
States/districts won by Bush/Cheney
†	At-large results (for states that split electoral votes)

		George W. Bush Republican			John Kerry Democratic			Ralph Nader Independent / Reform			Michael Badnarik Libertarian			Michael Peroutka Constitution			David Cobb Green			Others			Margin		Margin Swing	State Total
State	EV	#	%	EV	#	%	EV	#	%	EV	#	%	EV	#	%	EV	#	%	EV	#	%	EV	#	%	%	#
Alabama	9	1,176,394	62.46%	9	693,933	36.84%	–	6,701	0.36%	–	3,529	0.19%	–	1,994	0.11%	–	0	0.00%	–	898	0.05%	–	482,461	25.62%	10.70%	1,883,449	AL
Alaska	3	190,889	61.07%	3	111,025	35.52%	–	5,069	1.62%	–	1,675	0.54%	–	2,092	0.67%	–	1,058	0.34%	–	790	0.25%	–	79,864	25.55%	−5.40%	312,598	AK
Arizona	10	1,104,294	54.87%	10	893,524	44.40%	–	2,773	0.14%	–	11,856	0.59%	–	0	0.00%	–	138	0.01%	–	0	0.00%	–	210,770	10.47%	4.18%	2,012,585	AZ
Arkansas	6	572,898	54.31%	6	469,953	44.55%	–	6,171	0.58%	–	2,352	0.22%	–	2,083	0.20%	–	1,488	0.14%	–	0	0.00%	–	102,945	9.76%	4.32%	1,054,945	AR
California	55	5,509,826	44.36%	–	6,745,485	54.30%	55	21,213	0.17%	–	50,165	0.40%	–	26,645	0.21%	–	40,771	0.33%	–	27,747	0.22%	–	−1,235,659	−9.94%	1.85%	12,421,852	CA
Colorado	9	1,101,255	51.69%	9	1,001,732	47.02%	–	12,718	0.60%	–	7,664	0.36%	–	2,562	0.12%	–	1,591	0.07%	–	2,808	0.13%	–	99,523	4.67%	−3.69%	2,130,330	CO
Connecticut	7	693,826	43.95%	–	857,488	54.31%	7	12,969	0.82%	–	3,367	0.21%	–	1,543	0.10%	–	9,564	0.61%	–	12	0.00%	–	−163,662	−10.36%	7.10%	1,578,769	CT
Delaware	3	171,660	45.75%	–	200,152	53.35%	3	2,153	0.57%	–	586	0.16%	–	289	0.08%	–	250	0.07%	–	100	0.03%	–	−28,492	−7.60%	5.47%	375,190	DE
District of Columbia	3	21,256	9.34%	–	202,970	89.18%	3	1,485	0.65%	–	502	0.22%	–	0	0.00%	–	737	0.32%	–	636	0.28%	–	−181,714	−79.84%	−3.64%	227,586	DC
Florida	27	3,964,522	52.10%	27	3,583,544	47.09%	–	32,971	0.43%	–	11,996	0.16%	–	6,626	0.09%	–	3,917	0.05%	–	6,234	0.08%	–	380,978	5.01%	5.00%	7,609,810	FL
Georgia	15	1,914,254	57.97%	15	1,366,149	41.37%	–	2,231	0.07%	–	18,387	0.56%	–	580	0.02%	–	228	0.01%	–	46	0.00%	–	548,105	16.60%	4.91%	3,301,875	GA
Hawaii	4	194,191	45.26%	–	231,708	54.01%	4	0	0.00%	–	1,377	0.32%	–	0	0.00%	–	1,737	0.40%	–	0	0.00%	–	−37,517	−8.75%	9.59%	429,013	HI
Idaho	4	409,235	68.38%	4	181,098	30.26%	–	1,115	0.19%	–	3,844	0.64%	–	3,084	0.52%	–	58	0.01%	–	13	0.00%	–	228,137	38.12%	−1.41%	598,447	ID
Illinois	21	2,345,946	44.48%	–	2,891,550	54.82%	21	3,571	0.07%	–	32,442	0.62%	–	440	0.01%	–	241	0.00%	–	132	0.00%	–	−545,604	−10.34%	1.67%	5,274,322	IL
Indiana	11	1,479,438	59.94%	11	969,011	39.26%	–	1,328	0.05%	–	18,058	0.73%	–	0	0.00%	–	102	0.00%	–	65	0.00%	–	510,427	20.68%	5.05%	2,468,002	IN
Iowa	7	751,957	49.90%	7	741,898	49.23%	–	5,973	0.40%	–	2,992	0.20%	–	1,304	0.09%	–	1,141	0.08%	–	1,643	0.11%	–	10,059	0.67%	0.98%	1,506,908	IA
Kansas	6	736,456	62.00%	6	434,993	36.62%	–	9,348	0.79%	–	4,013	0.34%	–	2,899	0.24%	–	33	0.00%	–	14	0.00%	–	301,463	25.38%	4.58%	1,187,756	KS
Kentucky	8	1,069,439	59.55%	8	712,733	39.69%	–	8,856	0.49%	–	2,619	0.15%	–	2,213	0.12%	–	0	0.00%	–	22	0.00%	–	356,706	19.86%	4.73%	1,795,882	KY
Louisiana	9	1,102,169	56.72%	9	820,299	42.22%	–	7,032	0.36%	–	2,781	0.14%	–	5,203	0.27%	–	1,276	0.07%	–	4,346	0.22%	–	281,870	14.50%	6.83%	1,943,106	LA
Maine^†	2	330,201	44.58%	–	396,842	53.57%	2	8,069	1.09%	–	1,965	0.27%	–	735	0.10%	–	2,936	0.40%	–	4	0.00%	–	−66,641	−8.99%	−3.89%	740,752	ME
Maine-1	1	165,824	43.14%	–	211,703	55.07%	1	4,004	1.04%	–	1,047	0.27%	–	346	0.09%	–	1,468	0.38%	–	–	–	–	−45,879	−11.93%	−4.01%	384,392	ME1
Maine-2	1	164,377	46.13%	–	185,139	51.95%	1	4,065	1.14%	–	918	0.26%	–	389	0.11%	–	1,468	0.41%	–	–	–	–	−20,762	−5.83%	−3.96%	356,356	ME2
Maryland	10	1,024,703	42.93%	–	1,334,493	55.91%	10	11,854	0.50%	–	6,094	0.26%	–	3,421	0.14%	–	3,632	0.15%	–	2,481	0.10%	–	−309,790	−12.98%	3.41%	2,386,678	MD
Massachusetts	12	1,071,109	36.78%	–	1,803,800	61.94%	12	4,806	0.17%	–	15,022	0.52%	–	0	0.00%	–	10,623	0.36%	–	7,028	0.24%	–	−732,691	−25.16%	2.14%	2,912,388	MA
Michigan	17	2,313,746	47.81%	–	2,479,183	51.23%	17	24,035	0.50%	–	10,552	0.22%	–	4,980	0.10%	–	5,325	0.11%	–	1,431	0.03%	–	−165,437	−3.42%	1.71%	4,839,252	MI
Minnesota	10	1,346,695	47.61%	–	1,445,014	51.09%	9	18,683	0.66%	–	4,639	0.16%	–	3,074	0.11%	–	4,408	0.16%	–	5,874	0.21%	–	−98,319	−3.48%	−1.08%	2,828,387	MN
Mississippi	6	684,981	59.45%	6	458,094	39.76%	–	3,177	0.28%	–	1,793	0.16%	–	1,759	0.15%	–	1,073	0.09%	–	1,268	0.11%	–	226,887	19.69%	2.77%	1,152,145	MS
Missouri	11	1,455,713	53.30%	11	1,259,171	46.10%	–	1,294	0.05%	–	9,831	0.36%	–	5,355	0.20%	–	0	0.00%	–	0	0.00%	–	196,542	7.20%	3.86%	2,731,364	MO
Montana	3	266,063	59.07%	3	173,710	38.56%	–	6,168	1.37%	–	1,733	0.38%	–	1,764	0.39%	–	996	0.22%	–	11	0.00%	–	92,353	20.51%	−4.57%	450,445	MT
Nebraska^†	2	512,814	65.90%	2	254,328	32.68%	–	5,698	0.73%	–	2,041	0.26%	–	1,314	0.17%	–	978	0.13%	–	1,013	0.13%	–	258,486	33.22%	4.23%	778,186	NE
Nebraska-1	1	169,888	62.97%	1	96,314	35.70%	–	2,025	0.75%	–	656	0.24%	–	405	0.15%	–	453	0.17%	–	30	0.01%	–	73,574	27.27%	4.29%	269,771	NE1
Nebraska-2	1	153,041	60.24%	1	97,858	38.52%	–	1,731	0.68%	–	813	0.32%	–	305	0.12%	–	261	0.10%	–	23	0.01%	–	55,183	21.72%	3.32%	254,032	NE2
Nebraska-3	1	189,885	74.92%	1	60,156	23.73%	–	1,942	0.77%	–	572	0.23%	–	604	0.24%	–	264	0.10%	–	29	0.01%	–	129,729	51.19%	4.77%	253,452	NE3
Nevada	5	418,690	50.47%	5	397,190	47.88%	–	4,838	0.58%	–	3,176	0.38%	–	1,152	0.14%	–	853	0.10%	–	3,688	0.44%	–	21,500	2.59%	−0.96%	829,587	NV
New Hampshire	4	331,237	48.87%	–	340,511	50.24%	4	4,479	0.66%	–	372	0.05%	–	161	0.02%	–	0	0.00%	–	978	0.14%	–	−9,274	−1.37%	−2.64%	677,738	NH
New Jersey	15	1,670,003	46.24%	–	1,911,430	52.92%	15	19,418	0.54%	–	4,514	0.12%	–	2,750	0.08%	–	1,807	0.05%	–	1,769	0.05%	–	−241,427	−6.68%	9.15%	3,611,691	NJ
New Mexico	5	376,930	49.84%	5	370,942	49.05%	–	4,053	0.54%	–	2,382	0.31%	–	771	0.10%	–	1,226	0.16%	–	0	0.00%	–	5,988	0.79%	0.85%	756,304	NM
New York	31	2,962,567	40.08%	–	4,314,280	58.37%	31	99,873	1.35%	–	11,607	0.16%	–	207	0.00%	–	87	0.00%	–	2,415	0.03%	–	−1,351,713	−18.29%	6.69%	7,391,036	NY
North Carolina	15	1,961,166	56.02%	15	1,525,849	43.58%	–	1,805	0.05%	–	11,731	0.34%	–	0	0.00%	–	108	0.00%	–	348	0.01%	–	435,317	12.44%	−0.40%	3,501,007	NC
North Dakota	3	196,651	62.86%	3	111,052	35.50%	–	3,756	1.20%	–	851	0.27%	–	514	0.16%	–	0	0.00%	–	9	0.00%	–	85,599	27.36%	−0.24%	312,833	ND
Ohio	20	2,859,768	50.81%	20	2,741,167	48.71%	–	0	0.00%	–	14,676	0.26%	–	11,939	0.21%	–	192	0.00%	–	166	0.00%	–	118,601	2.10%	−1.40%	5,627,908	OH
Oklahoma	7	959,792	65.57%	7	503,966	34.43%	–	0	0.00%	–	0	0.00%	–	0	0.00%	–	0	0.00%	–	0	0.00%	–	455,826	31.14%	9.26%	1,463,758	OK
Oregon	7	866,831	47.19%	–	943,163	51.35%	7	0	0.00%	–	7,260	0.40%	–	5,257	0.29%	–	5,315	0.29%	–	8,956	0.49%	–	−76,332	−4.16%	−3.72%	1,836,782	OR
Pennsylvania	21	2,793,847	48.42%	–	2,938,095	50.92%	21	2,656	0.05%	–	21,185	0.37%	–	6,318	0.11%	–	6,319	0.11%	–	1,170	0.02%	–	−144,248	−2.50%	1.67%	5,769,590	PA
Rhode Island	4	169,046	38.67%	–	259,765	59.42%	4	4,651	1.06%	–	907	0.21%	–	339	0.08%	–	1,333	0.30%	–	1,093	0.25%	–	−90,719	−20.75%	8.33%	437,134	RI
South Carolina	8	937,974	57.98%	8	661,699	40.90%	–	5,520	0.34%	–	3,608	0.22%	–	5,317	0.33%	–	1,488	0.09%	–	2,124	0.13%	–	276,275	17.08%	1.14%	1,617,730	SC
South Dakota	3	232,584	59.91%	3	149,244	38.44%	–	4,320	1.11%	–	964	0.25%	–	1,103	0.28%	–	0	0.00%	–	0	0.00%	–	83,340	21.47%	−1.26%	388,215	SD
Tennessee	11	1,384,375	56.80%	11	1,036,477	42.53%	–	8,992	0.37%	–	4,866	0.20%	–	2,570	0.11%	–	33	0.00%	–	6	0.00%	–	347,898	14.27%	10.41%	2,437,319	TN
Texas	34	4,526,917	61.09%	34	2,832,704	38.22%	–	9,159	0.12%	–	38,787	0.52%	–	1,636	0.02%	–	1,014	0.01%	–	548	0.01%	–	1,694,213	22.87%	1.54%	7,410,765	TX
Utah	5	663,742	71.54%	5	241,199	26.00%	–	11,305	1.22%	–	3,375	0.36%	–	6,841	0.74%	–	39	0.00%	–	1,343	0.14%	–	422,543	45.54%	5.05%	927,844	UT
Vermont	3	121,180	38.80%	–	184,067	58.94%	3	4,494	1.44%	–	1,102	0.35%	–	0	0.00%	–	0	0.00%	–	1,466	0.47%	–	−62,887	−20.14%	−10.20%	312,309	VT
Virginia	13	1,716,959	53.68%	13	1,454,742	45.48%	–	2,393	0.07%	–	11,032	0.34%	–	10,161	0.32%	–	104	0.00%	–	2,976	0.09%	–	262,217	8.20%	0.16%	3,198,367	VA
Washington	11	1,304,894	45.64%	–	1,510,201	52.82%	11	23,283	0.81%	–	11,955	0.42%	–	3,922	0.14%	–	2,974	0.10%	–	1,855	0.06%	–	−205,307	−7.18%	−1.60%	2,859,084	WA
West Virginia	5	423,778	56.06%	5	326,541	43.20%	–	4,063	0.54%	–	1,405	0.19%	–	82	0.01%	–	5	0.00%	–	13	0.00%	–	97,237	12.86%	6.54%	755,887	WV
Wisconsin	10	1,478,120	49.32%	–	1,489,504	49.70%	10	16,390	0.55%	–	6,464	0.22%	–	0	0.00%	–	2,661	0.09%	–	3,868	0.13%	–	−11,384	−0.38%	−0.16%	2,997,007	WI
Wyoming	3	167,629	68.86%	3	70,776	29.07%	–	2,741	1.13%	–	1,171	0.48%	–	631	0.26%	–	0	0.00%	–	480	0.20%	–	96,853	39.79%	−0.27%	243,428	WY
U.S Total	538	62,040,610	50.73%	286	59,028,444	48.27%	251	465,151	0.38%	–	397,265	0.32%	–	143,630	0.12%	–	119,859	0.10%	–	99,887	0.08%	–	3,012,166	2.46%	2.98%	122,290,630	US

Presidential ticket	Party	Ballot access
Bush / Cheney	Republican	50+DC
Kerry / Edwards	Democratic	50+DC
Badnarik / Campagna	Libertarian	48+DC
Peroutka / Baldwin	Constitution	36
Nader / Camejo	Independent, Reform	34+DC
Cobb / LaMarche	Green	27+DC

Voter demographics

In 2004, voters who had college degrees and those who did not were almost equally divided between the two main political groups.

Source: CNN exit poll (13,660 surveyed)

2004 presidential vote by demographic subgroup
Demographic subgroup	Kerry	Bush	Other	% of total vote
Total vote	48	51	1	100
Ideology
Liberals	86	13	1	21
Moderates	54	45	1	45
Conservatives	15	84	1	34
Party
Democrats	89	11	0	37
Republicans	6	93	1	37
Independents	49	48	3	26
Gender
Men	44	55	1	46
Women	51	48	1	54
Marital status
Married	42	57	1	63
Non-married	58	40	2	37
Race
White	41	58	1	77
Black	88	11	1	11
Asian	56	43	1	2
Other	56	40	4	2
Hispanic	54	44	2	8
Religion
Protestant	40	59	1	54
Catholic	47	52	1	27
Jewish	74	25	1	3
Muslim	93		>6	1
Other	74	23	3	7
None	67	31	2	10
Religious service attendance
More than weekly	35	64	1	16
Weekly	41	58	1	26
Monthly	49	50	1	14
A few times a year	54	45	1	28
Never	62	36	2	15
White evangelical or born-again Christian?
White evangelical or born-again Christian	21	78	1	23
Everyone else	56	43	1	77
Age
18–29 years old	54	45	1	17
30–44 years old	46	53	1	29
45–59 years old	48	51	1	30
60 and older	46	54	0	24
First time voter?
First time voter	53	46	1	11
Everyone else	48	51	1	89
Sexual orientation
Gay, lesbian, or bisexual	77	22	1	4
Heterosexual	46	53	1	96
Education
Not a high school graduate	50	49	1	4
High school graduate	47	52	1	22
Some college education	46	54	0	32
College graduate	46	52	2	26
Postgraduate education	55	44	1	16
Family income
Under $15,000	63	36	1	8
$15,000–30,000	57	42	1	15
$30,000–50,000	50	49	1	22
$50,000–75,000	43	56	1	23
$75,000–100,000	45	55	0	14
$100,000–150,000	42	57	1	11
$150,000–200,000	42	58	0	4
Over $200,000	35	63	2	3
Union households
Union	59	40	1	24
Non-union	44	55	1	76
Military service
Veterans	41	57	2	18
Non-veterans	50	49	1	82
Issue regarded as most important
Moral values	18	80	2	22
Economy	80	18	2	20
Terrorism	14	86	0	19
Iraq	73	26	1	15
Health care	77	23	0	8
Taxes	43	57	0	5
Education	73	26	1	4
Region
Northeast	56	43	1	22
Midwest	48	51	1	26
South	42	58	0	32
West	50	49	1	20
Community size
Urban	54	45	1	30
Suburban	47	52	1	46
Rural	42	57	1	25

Aftermath

Voting problems in Ohio

After the election, some people said there were problems with voting in Ohio. There were very long lines at voting places, and some machines gave extra votes by mistake. A professor thought these problems did not change who won the election.

Objections and conspiracy theories

Main article: 2004 United States election voting controversies

After the election, some people on the internet said false things about the voting. One person asked for a careful check of the votes in Ohio, but this did not change the result. Later, two officials were found to have made mistakes in how they checked the votes.

When the official count of votes happened, one person objected to the results from Ohio. This needed to be discussed by both parts of the government. Most people did not support the objection, and the result was not changed. One leader said the problems showed that the voting system needed to be fixed. Another leader said he was not sure the election in Ohio was fair because of problems with voting machines and other issues.