The 2004 United States presidential election in Georgia took place on November 2, 2004. Voters chose 15 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Georgia was won by incumbent President George W. Bush by a 16.60% margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 12 news organizations considered this a state Bush would win, or otherwise a red state. Bush performed almost five points better than he did in 2000. He also won a wide majority of the counties and congressional districts. The results of the state were similar to other states in the South, such as Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Louisiana. Like those states, the exit polling showed racial polarization as Bush dominated among white voters, which made up almost 70% of the vote, and Kerry dominated among African American voters, which made up 30% of the state's population. Software engineer and talk show host Michael Badnarik (L-TX) would finish third in the popular vote in Georgia, getting 0.56% of the vote, one of his best statewide performances in the nation.

In this election, Georgia voted 14.14% to the right of the nation at-large. Bush remains the last Republican to win Metro Atlanta in a presidential election.

As of 2024, this remains the last time that Georgia has been decided by a double-digit margin in a presidential election. Georgia was one of 10 states that George W. Bush won twice which had only backed George H. W. Bush once. This was the first time that Georgia voted Republican three elections in a row.

Bush became the first of two Republican presidential candidates to win Georgia twice, followed by Donald Trump, and is the only one ever to do so in consecutive elections.

Primaries 2004 Georgia Democratic primary

Campaign Predictions

There were 12 news organizations that made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day.

+SourceRankingD.C. Political ReportAssociated PressCNNCook Political ReportNewsweekNew York TimesRasmussen ReportsResearch 2000Washington PostWashington TimesZogby InternationalWashington Dispatch

Polling

Bush won every single pre-election poll and won each by a double-digit margin of victory and with over 50% of the vote. The final 3 polls averaged Bush leading 56% to 41%.

Fundraising Bush raised $6,656,076. Kerry raised $2,282,977.

Advertising and visits Neither campaign advertised or visited this state during the fall election.

Analysis Like other Deep South states during the 2004 election, the political demographics of Georgia was based more around the racial majority in each county, with white Georgians voting more Republican and black Georgians voting more Democratic. Democratic dominance in the state occurred in mostly black-majority counties in the region as well the urban center of the city of Atlanta (located mostly in central Fulton County) along with its core suburban counties of Clayton and DeKalb. Athens-Clarke County, home of the University of Georgia, also supported Kerry's bid, largely as a consequence of being a college town with traditionally left-leaning political views. Since just about every other part of Georgia had a majority white population, Republican dominance occurred in just about every other part of the state including suburban Atlanta where a significant portion of the state's population resides. Suburban Atlanta also includes northern Fulton County (the former Milton County area) which despite being part of this heavily urban and majority-minority county, is predominantly-White, suburban, and perhaps the most affluent area in the state of Georgia. This area also voted heavily in favor of Republican presidential incumbent George W. Bush.

In other down ballot races, Republicans gained Georgia's Class III U.S. Senate seat which was then held by Zell Miller (D) with Johnny Isakson's (R) victory in the open seat race to succeed him and also gained control of the Georgia House of Representatives, and thus control of both houses of the Georgia General Assembly (having already gained control of the Georgia State Senate in 2002), for the first time since Reconstruction. However, despite these achievements, Democrats gained one of Georgia's U.S. House seats with John Barrow's (D) victory over incumbent Representative Max Burns (R).

As of the 2024 presidential election, this is the last election in which the Metro Atlanta counties of Douglas, Rockdale, and Newton—now Democratic strongholds—voted Republican. This is also the last time Sumter County, the home county of former Democratic president Jimmy Carter, voted Republican and the last in which Webster County voted Democratic, as well as the last election in which Georgia was decided by a double-digit margin. Baldwin and Washington counties would not vote Republican again until 2024.

Results United States presidential election in Georgia, 2004PartyCandidateRunning mateVotesPercentageElectoral votes Republican George W. Bush (incumbent) Dick Cheney (incumbent) 1,914,254 57.97% 15 Democratic John Kerry John Edwards 1,366,149 41.37% 0 Libertarian Michael Badnarik Richard Campagna 18,387 0.56% 0 Independent Ralph Nader (write-in) Peter Camejo 2,231 0.07% 0 Constitution Michael Peroutka (write-in) Chuck Baldwin 580 0.02% 0 Green David Cobb (write-in) Pat LaMarche 228 0.01% 0 Republican Tom Tancredo* (write-in) N/A 26 0.00% 0 Write-in John J. Kennedy N/A 8 0.00% 0 Write-in David C. Byrne N/A 7 0.00% 0 Write-in James Alexander-Pace N/A 5 0.00% 0 Totals 3,301,875 100.00% 15 Voter turnout (voting-age population) 51.7% (*Tancredo was not the Republican Party's nominee in 2004.)

By county