Kentucky was won by Republican nominee John McCain by a 16.22% margin of victory with 57.40% of the vote. Prior to the election, all sixteen news organizations handicapping the election considered it a state McCain would win, or otherwise a red state. Hillary Clinton had led McCain in hypothetical polls of the state during the Democratic primaries, but once Barack Obama secured the Democratic nomination Kentucky was reclassified as safe for the GOP. Obama did, however, improve on John Kerry's performance by two points. This was the first time since 1960 that Kentucky did not vote for the winning candidate in a presidential election.
This was the first time ever that Floyd County or Knott County voted for the Republican candidate, and the first time since 1908 that Breathitt County voted for the Republican candidate. Obama became the first Democrat ever to win the presidency without carrying numerous historically Democratic counties in the state, primarily in the Eastern Coalfield, Bluegrass, and Jackson Purchase regions. As of 2020, this remains the last time that a Democratic presidential nominee has won over 40% of the vote in Kentucky, and the last election in which Rowan County, Hancock County, Menifee County, Wolfe County, or Henderson County voted for the Democratic candidate..