George W. Bush won the popular vote with 50.7% (62,028,285 votes), ahead of John Kerry with 48.3% (59,028,079 votes). Presidents are chosen by the Electoral College, so the popular vote winner is not always the winner of the election.
The margin between the first two candidates was 2.5 percentage points (3,000,206 votes). The party margin (Republican share minus Democratic share) was a Republican lead of 2.5 points.
Compared with the previous comparable race in the same area, the party margin moved 3.0 points toward Republicans. The winning party changed.
122,349,450 votes were counted in this race, for 21 candidates or options.
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