United States Presidential Election of 2004

Bush re-elected 286 to 251, the first popular-vote majority re-election since 1988.

Overview

Wartime incumbency after 9/11 and Iraq dominated as Bush defeated John Kerry, a Vietnam veteran wounded over his war record by Swift Boat ads, 286 to 251 with 50.7 percent, becoming the first president to win a majority of the popular vote since 1988's father. Ohio decided the college on a 118,000-vote margin. Turnout exceeded 60 percent, the highest since 1968, and the result ratified the national security realignment of 2002 into a second term.