2004 United States presidential election (Kerry)

The 2004 United States presidential election was the 55th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. The Democratic ticket, Massachusettes Senator, John Kerry and, North Carolina Senator, John Edwards narrowly defeated incumbent President, George W. Bush, and incumbent Vice President, Dick Cheney. It was the fifth of six American presidential elections in which the winning candidate lost the popular vote. The last time this happened was 2000 when, ironically, George W. Bush lost the popular vote to the Democratic nominee, Al Gore.

Bush and Cheney were renominated by their party with no difficulty. Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean emerged as the early front-runner in the 2004 Democratic Party presidential primaries, but Kerry won the first set of primaries in January and clinched his party's nomination in March after a series of primary victories. Kerry chose Edwards, who had himself sought the party's 2004 presidential nomination, to be his running mate.

Bush's popularity had soared early in his first term after the September 11 attacks in 2001, but it had declined significantly by 2004. Foreign policy was the dominant theme throughout the election campaign, particularly Bush's handling of the war on terror and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Bush presented himself as a decisive leader and attacked Kerry as a "flip-flopper", while Kerry criticized Bush's conduct of the Iraq War. Domestic issues were debated as well, including the economy and jobs, health care, abortion, same-sex marriage and embryonic stem cell research.

Kerry won in the electoral college by a narrow margin, only 9 votes over the needed 270. Kerry lost the popular vote, taking 48.6% to Bush's 49.8%. Kerry did well in the Northeast and the West Coast, with his closest wins being in the Industrial Midwest with Ohio, Wisconsin, and Iowa. Despite losing the popular vote in 2000, Bush won it by a margin of 1.2%.