election t-shirts
On 4-11-2008, the presidential election polls of the USA were conducted. Republican John McCain from Arizona was defeated by Democrat Barack Obama of Illinois. This was the fifty-sixth presidential polls conducted every 4 years in the States to elect president & vice president. This was the first instance both the sitting president, and vice president did not take part in the elections since 1952, a period of fifty-six years.
This presidential election polls was very remarkable for several facts. It was the first time in the history of the USA that an African-American emerged the winner. This was the first time that a Roman Catholic was elected as the vice president. Also, there has never been an instance of two sitting senators running for president before. This election also saw the highest voter turnout in almost 40 years.
The main themes of the presidential campaign have been the unpopular Iraq war, the president George W Bush’s unpopularity and policies, and the yearning of the USA populace to effect a change. Towards the fag end of the campaigning, the economy and domestic policy secured the attention of the contenders in the presidential election polls. This was made all the more significant in the context of the economic crisis of 2008.
In accordance with the existing facts and figures, the expenditure incurred in conducting presidential election polls have escalated drastically. In the final analysis, the president-elect Barack Obama alone had spent about $ 513,557,218 with the average spent on per vote coming to $ 7.39. John McCain had expended approximately $ 346,666,422 at the rate of $ 5.78 per vote. According to Federal Election Commission, a grand total of $ 1,644,712,232 had been collected and $ 1,601,104,696 expended by a total of one hundred and forty-eight candidates of all parties for general and primary campaigns combined.
When these things are considered, there is no reason to undervalue the enormity and significance of the presidential election polls of 2008. Following a close contest, Barack Obama polled 69,456,897 popular votes whilst John McCain received 59,934,814 popular votes, 52.92% and 45.66% respectively. Obama received three hundred and sixty-five electoral votes whereas McCain got one hundred and seventy-three electoral votes. Finally, Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States of America at the state capital of Washington D.C. on 20th January, 2009.