2004 United States presidential election in Louisiana

The 2004 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 2, 2004, and was part of the 2004 United States presidential election. Voters chose nine representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

2004 United States presidential election in Louisiana

← 2000 November 2, 2004 2008 →
 
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 56.72% 42.22%

Parish Results

President before election

George W. Bush
Republican

Elected President

George W. Bush
Republican

Louisiana was won by incumbent President George W. Bush by a 14.5 percent margin. Prior to the election, all twelve news organizations considered this a state Bush would win, or otherwise a red state. Bush's performance constituted a much wider margin than that of his 2000 results, which were 6.8 percent smaller. 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.

In this election, Louisiana voted 12.05% to the right of the nation at-large.[1]

Primaries

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Campaign

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Predictions

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There were 12 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day.[2]

Source Ranking
D.C. Political Report Lean R
Cook Political Report Solid R
Research 2000 Solid R
Zogby International Likely R
Washington Post Likely R
Washington Dispatch Likely R
Washington Times Solid R
The New York Times Solid R
CNN Likely R
Newsweek Solid R
Associated Press Lean R
Rasmussen Reports Likely R

Polling

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

Fundraising

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Bush raised $1,933,549.[4] Kerry raised $1,303,859.[5]

Advertising and visits

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Neither campaign advertised or visited this state during the fall election.[6][7]

Analysis

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Bush performed better here than he did in 2000. He won four more parishes: Caddo, Bienville, Saint Landry, and West Baton Rouge, but he won each with very slim margins of victory of less than two percent, except for West Baton Rouge which he won with 54 percent of the vote, indicating that parish as trending Republican. In the northern portion of the state, Bush barely lost in Madison and Tensas. The only two parishes in which he got less than forty percent of the vote were East Carroll and Orleans. Bush also won six of seven congressional districts in the state, each with at least 58 percent of the vote. The Second District, which covers the parish and city of Orleans, was won by Kerry with seventy percent of the vote; in other words, no congressional district in the state was competitive. As of the 2024 presidential election, this is the last election in which East Baton Rouge Parish and Caddo Parish voted for a Republican presidential candidate.[8] Conversely, this is the last election in which Assumption Parish and Pointe Coupee Parish voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.[8]

Results

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2004 United States presidential election in Louisiana[9]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican George W. Bush (incumbent) 1,102,169 56.72% 9
Democratic John Kerry 820,299 42.22% 0
Independent Ralph Nader 7,032 0.36% 0
American Independent Michael Peroutka 5,203 0.27% 0
Libertarian Michael Badnarik 2,781 0.14% 0
Independent Walt Brown 1,795 0.09% 0
Independent Gene Amondson 1,566 0.08% 0
Green David Cobb 1,276 0.07% 0
Socialist Workers Roger Calero 985 0.05% 0
Invalid or blank votes 169,510 1.35%
Totals - 1,943,106 100.00% 9
Voter turnout (Voting age population) 58.5%

Results by parish

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Parish George W. Bush
Republican
John Kerry
Democratic
Various candidates
Other parties
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # %
Acadia 16,083 63.75% 8,937 35.42% 210 0.83% 7,146 28.33% 25,230
Allen 5,140 56.33% 3,791 41.55% 193 2.12% 1,349 14.78% 9,124
Ascension 24,661 63.07% 13,955 35.69% 484 1.24% 10,706 27.38% 39,100
Assumption 4,966 46.26% 5,585 52.03% 184 1.71% -619 -5.77% 10,735
Avoyelles 8,302 53.48% 6,976 44.93% 247 1.59% 1,326 8.55% 15,525
Beauregard 9,470 71.30% 3,666 27.60% 145 1.09% 5,804 43.70% 13,281
Bienville 3,612 50.47% 3,399 47.49% 146 2.04% 213 2.98% 7,157
Bossier 30,040 70.34% 12,317 28.84% 348 0.81% 17,723 41.50% 42,705
Caddo 54,292 50.93% 51,739 48.54% 564 0.53% 2,553 2.39% 106,595
Calcasieu 46,075 57.81% 32,864 41.24% 759 0.95% 13,211 16.57% 79,698
Caldwell 3,308 69.61% 1,384 29.12% 60 1.26% 1,924 40.49% 4,752
Cameron 3,190 68.75% 1,367 29.46% 83 1.79% 1,823 39.29% 4,640
Catahoula 3,219 64.98% 1,673 33.77% 62 1.25% 1,546 31.21% 4,954
Claiborne 3,704 55.87% 2,854 43.05% 72 1.09% 850 12.82% 6,630
Concordia 5,427 60.43% 3,446 38.37% 107 1.19% 1,981 22.06% 8,980
DeSoto 6,211 54.79% 5,026 44.34% 99 0.87% 1,185 10.45% 11,336
East Baton Rouge 99,943 54.42% 82,298 44.81% 1,401 0.76% 17,645 9.61% 183,642
East Carroll 1,357 39.97% 1,980 58.32% 58 1.71% -623 -18.35% 3,395
East Feliciana 5,021 54.57% 4,091 44.46% 89 0.97% 930 10.11% 9,201
Evangeline 7,949 56.86% 5,757 41.18% 273 1.95% 2,192 15.68% 13,979
Franklin 6,141 67.46% 2,828 31.07% 134 1.47% 3,313 36.39% 9,103
Grant 5,911 73.97% 1,977 24.74% 103 1.29% 3,934 49.23% 7,991
Iberia 19,420 60.17% 12,426 38.50% 427 1.32% 6,994 21.67% 32,273
Iberville 6,333 42.71% 8,259 55.70% 235 1.58% -1,926 -12.99% 14,827
Jackson 5,038 65.88% 2,525 33.02% 84 1.10% 2,513 32.86% 7,647
Jefferson 117,882 61.50% 72,136 37.64% 1,645 0.86% 45,746 23.86% 191,663
Jefferson Davis 8,055 61.93% 4,745 36.48% 207 1.59% 3,310 25.45% 13,007
Lafayette 57,732 64.20% 31,210 34.71% 981 1.09% 26,522 29.49% 89,923
Lafourche 22,734 60.04% 14,417 38.08% 713 1.88% 8,317 21.96% 37,864
LaSalle 5,015 80.39% 1,155 18.52% 68 1.09% 3,860 61.87% 6,238
Lincoln 10,791 59.23% 7,242 39.75% 185 1.02% 3,549 19.48% 18,218
Livingston 33,976 76.78% 9,895 22.36% 382 0.86% 24,081 54.42% 44,253
Madison 2,291 49.03% 2,334 49.95% 48 1.03% -43 -0.92% 4,673
Morehouse 7,471 57.60% 5,336 41.14% 164 1.26% 2,135 16.46% 12,971
Natchitoches 9,261 54.59% 7,398 43.60% 307 1.81% 1,863 10.99% 16,966
Orleans 42,847 21.74% 152,610 77.43% 1,646 0.84% -109,763 -55.69% 197,103
Ouachita 41,750 64.78% 22,016 34.16% 678 1.05% 19,734 30.62% 64,444
Plaquemines 7,866 64.72% 4,181 34.40% 106 0.87% 3,685 30.32% 12,153
Pointe Coupee 5,429 48.17% 5,712 50.68% 130 1.15% -283 -2.51% 11,271
Rapides 34,492 63.79% 18,904 34.96% 673 1.24% 15,588 28.83% 54,069
Red River 2,507 53.15% 2,140 45.37% 70 1.48% 367 7.78% 4,717
Richland 5,471 63.14% 3,082 35.57% 112 1.29% 2,389 27.57% 8,665
Sabine 6,711 70.08% 2,743 28.64% 122 1.27% 3,968 41.44% 9,576
St. Bernard 19,597 65.68% 9,956 33.37% 285 0.96% 9,641 32.31% 29,838
St. Charles 14,747 61.87% 8,856 37.15% 234 0.98% 5,891 24.72% 23,837
St. Helena 2,235 40.58% 3,173 57.61% 100 1.82% -938 -17.03% 5,508
St. James 4,545 40.92% 6,407 57.68% 156 1.40% -1,862 -16.76% 11,108
St. John the Baptist 9,039 46.08% 10,305 52.53% 273 1.39% -1,266 -6.45% 19,617
St. Landry 18,315 49.82% 18,166 49.42% 279 0.76% 149 0.40% 36,760
St. Martin 12,095 52.99% 10,321 45.22% 408 1.79% 1,774 7.77% 22,824
St. Mary 12,877 56.74% 9,547 42.07% 270 1.19% 3,330 14.67% 22,694
St. Tammany 75,139 74.70% 24,665 24.52% 788 0.78% 50,474 50.18% 100,592
Tangipahoa 26,181 62.14% 15,345 36.42% 609 1.45% 10,836 25.72% 42,135
Tensas 1,453 49.04% 1,469 49.58% 41 1.38% -16 -0.54% 2,963
Terrebonne 26,358 64.96% 13,684 33.73% 532 1.31% 12,674 31.23% 40,574
Union 7,457 69.57% 3,089 28.82% 172 1.60% 4,368 40.75% 10,718
Vermilion 15,069 61.38% 9,085 37.00% 398 1.62% 5,984 24.38% 24,552
Vernon 11,032 72.44% 4,035 26.50% 162 1.06% 6,997 45.94% 15,229
Washington 11,006 61.69% 6,554 36.74% 281 1.58% 4,452 24.95% 17,841
Webster 11,070 60.00% 6,833 37.04% 546 2.96% 4,237 22.96% 18,449
West Baton Rouge 5,822 53.73% 4,932 45.52% 81 0.75% 890 8.21% 10,835
West Carroll 3,740 74.31% 1,231 24.46% 62 1.23% 2,509 49.85% 5,033
West Feliciana 2,932 56.19% 2,214 42.43% 72 1.38% 718 13.76% 5,218
Winn 4,366 67.10% 2,056 31.60% 85 1.31% 2,310 35.50% 6,507
Totals 1,102,169 56.72% 820,299 42.22% 20,638 1.06% 281,870 14.50% 1,943,106
 
County Flips:

Parishes that flipped Democratic to Republican

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By congressional district

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Bush won six of seven congressional districts, including one held by a Democrat.

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

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Technically the voters of Louisiana cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Louisiana is allocated nine electors because it has seven congressional districts and two senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of nine 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 nine 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 nine 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

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  2. ^ [1] Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "Election 2004 Polls - Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Archived from the original on July 20, 2012. Retrieved January 26, 2022.
  4. ^ "George W Bush - $374,659,453 raised, '04 election cycle, Republican Party, President". Campaignmoney.com. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
  5. ^ "John F Kerry - $345,826,176 raised, '04 election cycle, Democratic Party, President". Campaignmoney.com. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
  6. ^ "Specials". Cnn.com. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
  7. ^ "Specials". Cnn.com. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
  8. ^ a b Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
  9. ^ "2004 Presidential General Election Results - Louisiana".