Electoral College Votes:

	2000	2004
Bush	271	286
Gore/Kerry	267	252

See 2004 results at CNN, Yahoo and Wikipedia.

Party Label (Candidate 2000/2004)	2000		2004
	Votes	%	Votes	%
Republican (George W. Bush)	50,456,002	47.87	61,121,520	50.9
Democrat (Gore/Kerry)	50,999,897	48.38	57,781,877	48.1
Green (Ralph Nader/Cobb)	2,882,955	†2.74	107,135	0.09
Reform/Independent (Hagelin/Ralph Nader)		.08	427,637	0.36
Patrick J. Buchanan (Reform/Independent)	448,895	.42
Libertarian (Harry Browne/Badnarik)	384,431	.36	392,861	0.33
Constitution (Howard Phillips/Peroutka)		.09	149,027	0.13
Write-In (Miscellaneous)		.02
James E. Harris, Jr. (Socialist Workers)		.01
Total	105,405,100		120,070,437
Turnout *	54%		60%

* Turnout - Percent of eligable voters. Recent record was 1960, when about two-thirds of eligible voters came out to back either Democrat John Kennedy or Republican Richard Nixon.

2004 Results

Exit Poll Results:

Group	% of voters	Bush	Kerry	Margin
Bush Supporters
Most Important Issue is Terrorism	19%	86%	14%	72%
Approve War in Iraq	51%	85%	14%	71%
Conservative	34%	84%	15%	69%
Most Important Issue is Moral Values	22%	80%	18%	62%
White Evangelical/Born Again	23%	78%	21%	57%
Abortion should be Always Illegal	16%	77%	22%	55%
Abortion should be Mostly Illegal	26%	73%	26%	47%
Same-sex couples should have No Legal Recognition	37%	70%	29%	41%
Government should not do more to solve problems	49%	70%	29%	41%
Attend church More Than Weekly	16%	64%	35%	29%
Gun owner in household	41%	63%	36%	27%
No one in household has lost a job	67%	61%	38%	23%
Residence - Rural	16%	59%	40%	19%
Religion - Protestant	54%	59%	40%	19%
Married with children	28%	59%	40%	19%
Race - White	77%	58%	41%	17%
Attend church Weekly	26%	58%	41%	17%
Served in Millitary	18%	57%	41%	16%
Most Important Issue is Taxes	5%	57%	43%	14%
Income $50,000 or More	55%	56%	43%	13%
Male	46%	55%	44%	11%
Education - Some College	32%	54%	46%	8%
Age 60 and Older	24%	54%	46%	8%
Age 30-44	29%	53%	46%	7%
Education - College Graduate	26%	52%	46%	6%
Residence - Suburbs	45%	52%	47%	5%
Same-sex couples should be able to have Civil Unions	35%	52%	47%	5%
Education - H.S. Graduate	22%	52%	47%	5%
Religion - Catholic	27%	52%	47%	5%
Age 45-59	30%	51%	48%	3%
Residence - Small Towns	8%	50%	48%	2%
Attend church Monthly	14%	50%	49%	1%
Residence - Smaller Cities	19%	49%	49%	0%
Kerry Supporters
Group	% of voters	Bush	Kerry	Margin
Race - African-American	11%	11%	88%	-77%
Disapprove of War in Iraq	45%	12%	87%	-75%
Liberal	21%	13%	85%	-72%
Most Important Issue is Economy/Jobs	20%	18%	80%	-62%
Same-sex couples should be able to Legally Marry	25%	22%	77%	-55%
Most Important Issue is Health Care	8%	23%	77%	-54%
Religion - Other	7%	23%	74%	-51%
Religion - Jewish	3%	25%	74%	-49%
Abortion should be Always Legal	21%	25%	73%	-48%
Most Important Issue is Iraq	15%	26%	73%	-47%
Most Important Issue is Education	4%	26%	73%	-47%
No Religion	10%	31%	67%	-36%
Government should do more to solve problems	46%	33%	66%	-33%
Someone in household has lost a job	33%	34%	64%	-30%
Never Attend church	15%	36%	62%	-26%
Abortion should be Mostly Legal	34%	38%	61%	-23%
Residence - Big Cities	13%	39%	60%	-21%
No Guns in household	59%	43%	57%	-14%
Race - Asian	2%	44%	56%	-12%
Education - Postgrad Study	16%	44%	55%	-11%
Income Less Than $50,000	45%	44%	55%	-11%
Moderate	45%	45%	54%	-9%
Race - Latino	8%	44%	53%	-9%
Attend church A Few Times a Year	28%	45%	54%	-9%
Age 18-29	17%	45%	54%	-9%
Female	54%	48%	51%	-3%
Education - No High School	4%	49%	50%	-1%

Source: CNN

The issues with the most impact (computed by the percent of voters in the category times their margin for either candidate) are:

                     Most Important Issue is Terrorism: 14% Bush
                  Most Important Issue is Moral Values: 14% Bush
                  Most Important Issue is Economy/Jobs: 12% Kerry
                          White Evangelical/Born Again: 13% Bush
                                                 White: 13% Bush
                             African-American & Latino:  9% Kerry
                               Conservative vs Liberal:  8% Bush
                                            Protestant:  7% Bush
            No one/someone in household has lost a job:  6% Bush
Government should not do/not do more to solve problems:  5% Bush
                   Most Important Issue is Health Care:  4% Kerry
                                              Abortion:  3% Bush
                                                   Age:  3% Bush
                                Gun owner in household:  3% Bush
                    Same-sex couples Legal Recognition:  1% Bush
                    
 Note: What these numbers mean: If everyone else split their vote evenly except
 for the 19% of the voters who thought Terrorism was most important, Bush would
 have won with a 14% majority.

 There is a lot of overlap between categories so you can't add them

 up to get Bush's 3% victory margin.
 
 The most divisive issues are:
                                             War in Iraq: 36% Bush - 34% Kerry
                                    Conservative/Liberal: 23% Bush - 15% Kerry
                                                Abortion: 21% Bush - 18% Kerry
Government should / should not do more to solve problems: 20% Bush - 15% Kerry 
            No one / Someone in household has lost a job: 15% Bush - 10% Kerry
                      Same-sex couples Legal Recognition: 15% Bush - 14% Kerry
                                                    Race: 13% Bush -  9% Kerry
                                      Christian vs other: 11% Bush -  9% Kerry
                      Church Attendance (regular or not):  9% Bush -  6% Kerry

The news media all reported the major swing issues were Cultural and Moral Values, and the increased turnout of Evangelical Christians had a major impact, however a Pew poll found that the Evangelicals effect was no different that it was in 2000. The Pew results state:

The post-election survey finds that, when moral values is pitted against issues like Iraq and terrorism, a plurality (27%) cites moral values as most important to their vote. But when a separate group of voters was asked to name Ð in their own words Ð the most important factor in their vote, significantly fewer (14%) mentioned moral values.

See Also:
PollingReport.com - Who's polls were best
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