presidentialelectionpolls
On 4-11-2008, the presidential election polls of the USA were conducted. Democrat Barack Obama from Illinois emerged victorious over Republican John McCain from Arizona in a closely contested election. This was the 56th quadrennial presidential election in the USA for president and vice president. This was the first instance both the sitting president, and vice president did not take part in the elections since 1952, a period of fifty-six years.
This presidential election polls is unique for some reasons. This was the first time that an African American was elected. A Roman Catholic was never elected to the vice presidency before this election. In addition, no incumbent two senators were in the fray before. After a period of 40 years, the highest voter turnout has been recorded this time.
Throughout the polls campaign, the issues concerning the Iraq war, the economy, unpopularity and the policies of the incumbent Republican president George W Bush, and American peoples desire for a change figured prominently. In the last few months of the campaigning in the presidential election polls, the focus shifted mainly to the economy and domestic policy. The economic crisis of 2008 increased the importance of all this.
The costs of holding presidential election polls have been rising steadily in the past several years according to the statistics available. The final count showed that president-elect Barack Obama had expended approximately $ 513,557,218 at the rate of $ 7.39 per vote. John McCain had expended approximately $ 346,666,422 at the rate of $ 5.78 per vote. As per Federal Election Commission figures, a collective total of $ 1,644,712,232 had been raised and out of that $ 1,601,104,696 had been spent by a total of 148 candidates for all parties in respect of the combined general and primary campaigns.
In the light of the above, it is not difficult to imagine the magnitude and importance of the presidential election polls of 2008. After a very tough contest, Senator Barack Obama received 69,456,897 (52.92%) popular votes whilst Senator John McCain polled 59,934,814 (45.66%) votes. The electoral votes were 365 for Obama and 173 for McCain. Finally, Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States of America at the state capital of Washington D.C. on 20th January, 2009.