Connecticut was won by Democratic nominee John Kerry by a margin of 10.4%. Prior to the election, all 12 news organizations considered this a state Kerry would win, or otherwise considered as a safe blue state. In presidential elections, Connecticut is usually expected to fall into the Democrats' electoral vote column, as no Republican has won the state since Bush's father George H. W. Bush in 1988. Although Connecticut was the birth state of George W. Bush, and the Bush family does have a house in the state, Connecticut was never considered competitive in 2004. This is the only election since 1968 in which the Republican nominee won the popular vote without carrying Connecticut, and the only election ever in which a Republican won two terms without ever carrying the state. As of 2020, this is the most recent election where Connecticut voted more Democratic than California and Hawaii.
As of 2020, this was the most recent presidential election in which the Republican nominee carried the towns of Bethel, Cheshire, and Madison. Bush became the first ever Republican to win without carrying the towns of Redding and Simsbury, the first to win without winning the town of Essex since that town was founded in 1852, the first to win without the town of Lyme since 1872, and the first to win without the town of Roxbury since 1904
