Indiana was won by Democratic nominee Barack Obama by 28,391 votes, a 1.03% margin of victory.

Prior to the election, major news organizations considered the state as leaning toward Republican nominee John McCain or as a toss-up.

On May 6, 2008, Indiana held its presidential primaries: There were 16 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election.

The final 3 poll average gave McCain the lead 49% to 46%, with undecided voters deciding the election.

George W. Bush easily captured Indiana's 11 electoral votes in 2004, defeating Democrat John Kerry by more than 20%.

[19] However, the race for the state was too close to call at 6pm, sending an early signal of potential upset to voters throughout the rest of the country.

Indiana still had not been decided when most media outlets declared Obama president-elect at 11 p.m. Eastern time.

Obama won the contest with a mixture of excellent ground game and internet-powered outreach to potential voters.

After 2008, Indiana quickly returned to being a solidly red state, voting Republican by double-digit margins in every presidential election since.

This set it apart from Virginia and North Carolina, the other two states that Obama was the first Democrat to win in several decades.

Obama carried the state largely by trouncing McCain in Marion County, home to increasingly Democratic Indianapolis, by over 106,000 votes.

Obama also won in Vigo County, home to Terre Haute and a noted bellwether; it had voted for the winner of every presidential election all but twice since 1892 (the streak ended in 2020).

Nevertheless, Obama became the first Democrat since Martin Van Buren in 1836 to win the White House without carrying Scott County in Southern Indiana.

Although Barack Obama narrowly won the state and its 11 electoral votes, John McCain carried 6 out of 9 congressional districts in Indiana, including two held by Democrats.