Salem County generally and historically leaned towards the Republican Party, but not as much so as the Northwest or Shore regions of the state. In the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama carried the county by a 4% margin over Republican John McCain, with Obama receiving 57.27% statewide. Obama received 16,044 votes here (50.4%), ahead of McCain with 14,816 votes (46.6%) and other candidates with 503 votes (1.6%), among the 31,812 ballots cast by the county's 44,324 registered voters, for a turnout of 71.8%. In the 2004 presidential election,