Hawaii was won by Democratic nominee John Kerry by an 8.7% margin.

Bush's strong performance in the state has been explained by the relatively high troop count (10,000) from Hawaii deployed to either Iraq, or Afghanistan.

The final RCP average gave Bush leading with a margin of 0.9%.

However, with polls showing the race tightening, Vice President Cheney appeared at a campaign rally for the Republican ticket in Honolulu on October 31, 2004.

More importantly, he had the strongest showing for a Republican presidential candidate in the state since Ronald Reagan in 1984, doing a little better than his father did in 1988.

[citation needed] This is the last time Hawaii was decided by a single digit margin.

Bush's strongest local performance was in Honolulu County (Oahu) where he trailed Kerry by slightly more than 2% of the vote.