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Denver County

Colorado·FIPS 08031·consolidated city county·740,613 residents (2025 estimate)

2024 result

D+56.1

363,076 ballots cast

What happened: the county's margin each cycle, against the national result.

D+75D+38EvenR+37R+752000200420082012201620202024D+31D+40.3D+52.4D+49.4D+54.8D+61.4D+56.2
This countyNational margin

Lean vs. nation

D+59.2

How this county sits relative to the country in 2024, with the national environment removed.

Trend since 2000

+26.4 pts

Net movement of that lean across 7 cycles — toward Democrats.

Elasticity

1.20

Moves roughly in step with the country.

Bellwether error

49.0

Average gap between this county's margin and the nation's.

6 consecutive cycles moving toward Democrats relative to the nation.

Votes by candidate

7 cycles

Certified vote counts for each party's nominee, the combined total for everyone else on the ballot, the number of ballots cast, and how many people lived here at the time.

2024

D+56.1margin
Kamala HarrisDem
278,634
76.7%
Donald TrumpRep
74,765
20.6%
All other candidates
9,677
2.7%

363,076 ballots cast · 49.0 per 100 residents (2024 population estimate)

Residents741,591+3.3% since 2020 (+23,911 people)

2020

D+61.4margin
Joe BidenDem
313,293
79.6%
Donald TrumpRep
71,618
18.2%
All other candidates
8,918
2.3%

393,829 ballots cast · 54.9 per 100 residents (2020 population estimate)

Residents717,680+3.1% since 2016 (+21,521 people)

Measured across a change of Census vintage. The two series share no common year, so how far apart they sit cannot be measured — this change carries an unknown amount of revision on top of four years of real change.

2016

D+54.8margin
Hillary ClintonDem
244,551
73.7%
Donald TrumpRep
62,690
18.9%
All other candidates
24,611
7.4%

331,852 ballots cast · 47.7 per 100 residents (2016 population estimate)

Residents696,159+9.6% since 2012 (+60,996 people)

2012

D+49.4margin
Barack ObamaDem
222,018
73.6%
Mitt RomneyRep
73,111
24.2%
All other candidates
6,565
2.2%

301,694 ballots cast · 47.5 per 100 residents (2012 population estimate)

Residents635,163+10.3% since 2008 (+59,442 people)

Measured across a change of Census vintage. Where the two vintages overlap, 96% of counties agree within 0.5%, so read this figure to about half a point and no finer.

2008

D+52.4margin
Barack ObamaDem
204,882
75.5%
John McCainRep
62,567
23.0%
All other candidates
4,084
1.5%

271,533 ballots cast · 47.2 per 100 residents (2008 population estimate)

Residents575,721+4.5% since 2004 (+24,965 people)

2004

D+40.3margin
John KerryDem
166,135
69.6%
George W. BushRep
69,903
29.3%
All other candidates
2,634
1.1%

238,672 ballots cast · 43.3 per 100 residents (2004 population estimate)

Residents550,756−0.9% since 2000 (4,895 people)

2000

D+31.0margin
Al GoreDem
122,693
61.9%
George W. BushRep
61,224
30.9%
All other candidates
14,430
7.3%

198,347 ballots cast · 35.7 per 100 residents (2000 population estimate)

Residents555,651

“All other candidates” is every remaining line on the presidential ballot combined — minor parties, independents and write-ins where the state reports them. Shares are of all ballots cast, so the three rows sum to 100%.

Ballots cast per 100 residents is not a turnout rate. It measures votes against every resident — children and non-citizens included — not against eligible or registered voters, which is what turnout means and which this site does not have a county-level figure for. It is shown only where an election year and a population estimate share the same year and describe the same territory; where the Census figure is stated on boundaries the vote was not cast on, the card says so and the ratio is withheld.

A change in residents is not a change in voters. The percentage beside each year is the change in resident population since the previous presidential election — everyone who lives here, including children and non-citizens. It is not turnout, not registration, and not the same quantity as the change in ballots cast. Population is measured on 1 July of the election year, four months before the vote, which is the closest an annual series gets to election day.

Population figures on this page come from 3 Census series: PEP intercensal county estimates, 2000–2010; PEP vintage 2019 county estimates, 2010–2019; PEP vintage 2025 county estimates, 2020–2025. The 2012 and 2020 figures are the first in a new series, so the change shown for those years is measured across a change of Census method as well as across four years. Each of those cards says so. Two figures drawn from different vintages are not two readings of one series.

Every cycle

YearMarginLeanSwingRel. swingVotes3rd party
2024D+56.1D+59.2-5.1+0.9363,0762.7%
2020D+61.4D+58.3+3.6+1.3393,8292.3%
2016D+54.8D+57.0+8.7+10.5331,8527.4%
2012D+49.4D+46.5-2.8+0.6301,6942.2%
2008D+52.4D+45.8+12.4+2.6271,5331.5%
2004D+40.3D+43.3+7.3+10.5238,6721.1%
2000D+31.0D+32.8198,3477.3%

Margin is over all votes cast. Lean is the two-party margin minus the nation's — the county's own position with the national environment removed. Relative swing is the change in that lean. “Votes” is the number of ballots cast in the presidential contest, not a share of eligible voters.

Counties on a similar trajectory

Sources

Presidential returns from the MIT Election Data and Science Lab (County Presidential Returns 2000–2024, CC0). Geography and FIPS codes from the US Census Bureau (public domain). Where a state reports both a total and per-mode vote counts, the reported total is used.

Resident population from the US Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program (Vintage 2025), measured as of July 1, 2025. Resident population — all residents, including children and non-citizens. Not an electorate, and not comparable to a vote total as a turnout rate. Conclusions drawn from it are ours, not the Bureau's.

Population at each election is measured on 1 July of the election year and comes from the US Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program (public domain). The 2000–2024 span is covered by several separately estimated vintages of that programme rather than by one continuous series — the ones used on this page are named under the cycle cards, and every change measured across a boundary between them is marked there. Notes about territory changing hands come from this site's own change ledger and are only as complete as it is.