Since 1992, Palm Beach County has supported a Democrat for the presidency. Prior to 1992, the county had been carried by a Republican every four years since 1948. Palm Beach County was the center of a nationwide media storm in 2000 when it appeared to have impacted the presidential election that year between eventual winner George W. Bush and Al Gore. A major source of controversy was the butterfly ballot used in Palm Beach County, a confusing ballot design that may have caused many voters to mistakenly vote for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan instead of Al Gore. Buchanan had an unexpectedly strong showing in the county. In the end, Gore carried the county, but Bush captured the state of Florida by 537 votes after the recount was effectively halted by the Supreme Court of the United States in "Bush v. Gore".