Barack Obama lost to John McCain in Montana by a margin of 2.26%. McCain won the state with less than 50% of the vote. Montana is one of the those reliable blue states for the republicans. How did Obama do compared to other candidates in Montana+ This article explores the history of Montana presidential elections in relation to The Obama vote.

The people of Montana have voted in thirty presidential elections. In the first fifteen elections, the democrats won nine of those election. Over the last fifteen elections, the republicans have won thirteen times. Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and Bill Clinton in 1992 are the only democrats to carry Montana since 1948. The Clinton victory most likely was because of the votes taken away from George H. Bush by Ross Perot.

Barack Obama received 47.17% of the vote in Montana. That is the highest by a democrat since 1964. The margin of victory for McCain was 2.26%. That is the closest margin of victory in Montana state history. In comparison, George W. Bush carried Montana with 58.44% in 2000. His margin of victory was 25.07%

The 2008 election resulted in over 40000 more votes cast in Montana than in 2004. That was about the same increase as between the 2000 and 2004 election. Obama polled about 8.5% higher in 2008 than John Kerry did in 2004. John McCain had the lowest republican percentage since 1996. Almost 58,000 more people voted for Obama than voted for Kerry in 2004. Barack Obama had a significant impact on the Montana in 2008.