2008 Primary Popular Votes
Pennsylvania Victory Gives Clinton Slight Lead in Total Votes
Apr 23, 2008
Note: See latest results in Clinton Leads in Primary Votes
U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton regained her lead in presidential primary popular votes with her victory in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary April 22.
CNN's state-by-state count gives Clinton 15,209,894 votes and Obama 15,177,727 votes in all primaries conducted through April 22. The counts do not include caucus votes since some of the caucuses are not open to all voters and the number of eligible voters varies with each state
U.S. Senator John McCain received 8,278,599 votes in the Republican primaries conducted through April 22. He wrapped up the GOP nomination in March. His total surpassed all other Republican candidates by wide margins.
Like the popular vote in the November 4 presidential election, the total votes in the primaries do not affect the delegate counts at the conventions, but they can provide the candidates with momentum in future primaries, with assistance in fund raising and possible help in winning over superdelegates.
Here’s where the candidates registered their biggest numbers:
- McCain: California 1,093,560; Texas 709,477; Florida 693,508; Ohio 636,256; Pennsylvania 586,904.
- Obama: California 1,890,026; Texas 1,358,785; Illinois 1,301,954; Pennsylvania 1,045,148; Ohio 979,025;
- Clinton: California 2,306,361; Texas 1,459,814; Pennsylvania 1,260,060; Ohio 1,207,806; New York 1,003,623;
Obama's Biggest Win Was In Illinois; Clinton's in California
Clinton scored her biggest victory in California, beating Obama by 416,335 votes.
Obama's most decisive victory was in his adopted state of Illinois, beating Clinton by 639,109. She is a native of Illinois, but has since moved to Arkansas and later to New York.
As in the general elections, the Republican and Democratic nominees for president are not chosen by popular vote, but by the number of delegates who vote for them at the party conventions in August and September.
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, regardless of the margin. That means a candidate can lose the popular election by only a few votes and come away from that state with no delegates at all. Other states distribute the delegates in proportion to the popular vote.
Seven Democratic and Eight Republican Primaries scheduled in May and June
May and June primaries leading up to the national conventions:
- May 6—Indiana and North Carolina primaries
- May 13—Nebraska Republican primary and West Virginia Democratic primary
- May 20—Kentucky and Oregon primaries
- May 27—Idaho Republican primary
- June 3—South Dakota primaries, Montana Democratic primary, New Mexico Republican primary
Source: CNN website
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