Candidate

Barack Obama

Democratic

Elections

Won

Electoral votes, all elections

697

Years

2008–2012

Record

Barack Obama: result of each presidential election
Year	Electoral votes	Popular vote	Result
2008	365 of 538	69,498,459 52.9%	Won
2012	332 of 538	65,913,530 51.1%	Won

Popular vote is the sum of the sourced state counts, shown only where every state that held a popular vote has one; sums from county returns (1868–1972) can run a few tenths of a point below national totals published elsewhere.

Electoral votesNational Archives, Electoral College results: 2008, 2012 (public domain, read 2026-10-03). How these figures were compiled

SourcesMIT Election Data and Science Lab, U.S. President 1976–2024 (CC0 1.0, retrieved 2026-10-03); Federal Election Commission, Federal Elections 2012: presidential results (Public domain (work of the U.S. government, 17 U.S.C. § 105), retrieved 2026-10-03). How these figures were compiled

Election by election

2008Democratic · Won

States carried · 29 of 51

Closest states won

North Carolinaby 14,177 · 0.3 pts
Indianaby 28,391 · 1.0 pts
Floridaby 236,450 · 2.8 pts

Closest states lost

MissouriMcCain by 3,903 · 0.1 pts
MontanaMcCain by 11,096 · 2.3 pts
GeorgiaMcCain by 204,636 · 5.2 pts

Margins computed for 51 of 51 states: those with a sourced popular vote that names Obama.

SourceMIT Election Data and Science Lab, U.S. President 1976–2024 (CC0 1.0, retrieved 2026-10-03). How these figures were compiled

From the National Archives

Nebraska distributes its electoral votes proportionally, with two at-large electors representing the statewide winning presidential and vice presidential candidates and one elector each representing the winners from its three Congressional districts. For the first time since adopting this system, Nebraska's five electoral votes were split between the two major party tickets.

National Archives, Electoral College results for 2008, archives.gov, read October 3, 2026. Quoted as published.