Barack Obama carried Florida in 2008 with 50.91% of the vote. This article provides a brief overview of how Florida has voted in presidential elections since 1928. It will also evaluate how Obama did compared to other democratic candidates.

Picking a winner

 There have been 22 presidential elections since 1928. Florida has voted for the winning candidate in 20 of those elections. The two times they voted the other way were in 1960 and 1992.

The democrats

 The democrats have carried Florida in nine of the last twenty-two elections. Their best showing was in the period of 1932 to 1948. They carried the state in all five presidential elections during this time. In the four Roosevelt elections the democrats polled over 70% of the vote. Truman scored 48.82% and won in 1948. The democrats have not carried Florida in consecutive elections since 1948. Obama was the first democratic presidential candidate to poll over 50% in Florida since 1976. Jimmy Carter in 1976 and Lyndon Johnson in 1964 are the only other democrats to poll over 50% since 1948.

The republicans

 The republicans have carried Florida in thirteen of the last twenty-two presidential elections. They have carried Florida twelve of sixteen elections since 1948. The republicans had not lost Florida since 1996 before the 2008 elections. The republicans are the only party to poll over 55% in Florida since the last Roosevelt victory in 1944. They achieved this in 1956,1972,1980,1984 and 1988.

Third parties

 Third party candidates have played a major role in Florida presidential elections five times since 1928. In 1948, Harry Truman won Florida with just under 49% of the vote. Strom Thurmond"s third party pulled in over 15% and Henry Wallace pulled in 2%. Richard Nixon won Florida in 1968 with only 40.53% of the vote. George Wallace polled 28.53% that year and was close to finishing second in Florida. George Bush won Florida in 1992 with 40.89% of the vote. Ross Perot finished with 19.82% in his first third party run. In 1996, Bill Clinton won Florida with 48.02% as Perot's numbers dropped to 9.12%. In 2000, Ralph Nader only won 1.63% of the vote. That number was high enough that it probably changed the outcome of the election.

Yearly winners list

1928 Herbert Hoover(R)

1932 Franklin Roosevelt(D)

1936 Franklin Roosevelt(D)

1940 Franklin Roosevelt(D)

1944 Franklin Roosevelt(D)

1948 Harry Truman(D)

1952 Dwight Eisenhower(R)

1956 Dwight Eisenhower(R)

1960 Richard Nixon(R)

1964 Lyndon Johnson(D)

1968 Richard Nixon(R)

1972 Richard Nixon(R)

1976 Jimmy Carter(D)

1980 Ronald Reagan(R)

1984 Ronald Reagan(R)

1988 George Bush(R)

1992 George Bush(R)

1996 Bill Clinton(D)

2000 George Bush(R)

2004 George Bush(R)

2008 Barack Obama(D)

Summary

 Florida has a solid record of voting for the candidate that becomes president. The good news for the republicans is that the democrats have not won consecutive elections in Florida since the 1948 election. The republicans to lay claim to being the favored presidential party particularly since 1948. The democrats can point to the narrow margins that have made the state more unpredictable in the last five elections.