2008 United States presidential election in South Dakota

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The 2008 United States presidential election in South Dakota took place on November 4, 2008 as part of the nationwide election. Voters in South Dakota chose three electors for the Electoral College, who would vote for president and vice president.

Republican John McCain, with running mate Sarah Palin, won the state with 53.16% of the popular vote to Democrat Barack Obama’s 44.75%, a margin of about 8.4 percentage points. McCain carried most of rural western South Dakota, including Pennington County where Rapid City is located. Obama did better in eastern South Dakota and among Native American voters, carrying Minnehaha County (Sioux Falls) as well as Brown County (Aberdeen) and Brookings County (Brookings).

South Dakota is a small, sparsely populated state that tends to vote Republican. In 2008, all three of the state’s electoral votes went to McCain and Palin. The electors met on December 15, 2008, and all three from South Dakota were pledged to McCain and Palin.