The 2008 Florida Republican presidential primary was held on January 29, 2008, with 57 delegates at stake on a winner-take-all basis. The Republican National Committee removed half of Florida's delegates because the state committee moved its Republican primary before February 5.
Arizona Senator and eventual nominee John McCain won the primary with 36% of the vote. As a presidential candidate, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani concentrated heavily on the Florida primary. After coming in third place behind McCain and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Giuliani dropped out of the race the following day. McCain's win helped him cement his status as the Republican primary frontrunner.
Campaign
Rudy Giuliani campaigned quite heavily in Florida, which he expected to use as his "launch pad" for a "strong showing" on Super Tuesday. He campaigned almost entirely in Florida, and largely ignored South Carolina and other states voting before February 5.
Giuliani had been campaigning with virtually no opposition; however, following the South Carolina Republican primary, 2008, several candidates flew down to Florida to begin campaigning up to January 29 when the primary occurred.
Polls taken before the primary showed that John McCain was the slight front runner over Mitt Romney. McCain received pivotal endorsements from Florida Governor Charlie Crist and Florida Senator Mel Martínez days before the primary.
Pre-primary polls
As of January 29, RealClearPolitics reported that the average support from polls taken in the days immediately prior to primary day placed McCain slightly in the lead with 30.7%, followed by Romney with 30.1%, Giuliani with 14.7%, Huckabee with 12.9%, and Paul with 3.6%. Former Senator Fred Thompson and Representative Duncan Hunter, though already out of the race, still remained on the ballot in the Florida primary.
Results
On January 29, 2008, McCain prevailed in Florida's Republican presidential primary. McCain's victory in the state was credited to his victories in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, which Giuliani had been expected to perform well in.
* Candidate dropped out of the race prior to primary.