# Swing Vote (2008 film)
**Swing Vote** is a 2008 American political comedy-drama directed by Joshua Michael Stern, in which a presidential election comes down to the single vote of Bud Johnson ([Kevin Costner](https://www.edgepedia.org/kevin-costner)), an apathetic, beer-drinking father in small-town [New Mexico](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-mexico).[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/64773-SWING-VOTE) • [2](https://d23.com/a-to-z/swing-vote-film/) It was produced by Jim Wilson and Costner for Touchstone Pictures and released by [Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/walt-disney-studios-motion-pictures) on August 1, 2008.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/64773-SWING-VOTE) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/swing_vote)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | August 1, 2008, wide; Los Angeles and New York openings the same day[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/64773-SWING-VOTE) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/swing_vote) |
| Director and writers | Joshua Michael Stern; screenplay by Stern and Jason Richman[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/64773-SWING-VOTE) |
| Running time and rating | 120 minutes, rated PG-13 for language[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/64773-SWING-VOTE) |
| Lead cast | Kevin Costner (Bud Johnson), Madeline Carroll (Molly), Kelsey Grammer (President Andrew Boone), Dennis Hopper (Donald Greenleaf)[2](https://d23.com/a-to-z/swing-vote-film/) |
| Setting | Texico, New Mexico; filmed in Albuquerque, Belen, and Santa Fe[2](https://d23.com/a-to-z/swing-vote-film/) |
| Box office | $16.3 million gross in the United States[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/swing_vote) |
| Critical scores | 38% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (149 reviews); Metascore 47 on Metacritic[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/swing_vote) • [4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/swing-vote/critic-reviews/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Bud Johnson is a good-natured but aimless egg-factory worker in the small town of Texico, New Mexico, raising his twelve-year-old daughter Molly ([Madeline Carroll](https://www.edgepedia.org/madeline-carroll)), who effectively takes care of them both.[2](https://d23.com/a-to-z/swing-vote-film/) • [5](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/swing-vote-2008) Molly has registered her father to vote as an independent, telling him that "the two-party system neglects the working poor."[6](https://reviews.filmintuition.com/2008/08/swing-vote-2008.html?m=0) On Election Day, Bud arrives too drunk to vote, and Molly tries to cast his ballot for him, only to be foiled by an unplugged voting machine.[7](https://www.avclub.com/swing-vote-1798204643)
Through a wildly implausible series of events, the presidential election between the Republican incumbent, President Andrew Boone ([Kelsey Grammer](https://www.edgepedia.org/kelsey-grammer)), and the Democratic challenger, Donald Greenleaf ([Dennis Hopper](https://www.edgepedia.org/dennis-hopper)), ends in a dead heat, and Bud's uncounted vote becomes the decider.[7](https://www.avclub.com/swing-vote-1798204643) • [5](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/swing-vote-2008) He is given ten days to recast his faulty ballot, and both campaigns descend on the town to court him.[8](https://georgiabulletin.org/news/2008/08/timely-swing-vote-addresses-personal-responsibility/) Each candidate, misreading what Bud believes, reverses long-held positions to align with him; the Republican turns environmentalist and the Democrat shifts on abortion, while their campaign managers, Martin Fox ([Stanley Tucci](https://www.edgepedia.org/stanley-tucci)) for Boone and Art Crumb (Nathan Lane) for Greenleaf, push for any advantage.[9](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/swing-vote-plays-on-party-stereotypes/) A local reporter, Kate Madison (Paula Patton), breaks the story that the deciding vote belongs to Bud, and the media circus follows.[10](https://theind.com/articles/2669/)
The film builds to a crucial speech before Bud casts his deciding vote.[5](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/swing-vote-2008)
## Production
The project began on a much smaller scale than the film that reached theaters. According to one contemporary account, it was written and envisioned as a little independent film with an $8 million budget before Disney came in with $45 million and the prospect of signing Kevin Costner.[11](https://mouseplanet.com/swing-vote/2189/) Costner also served as a producer alongside Jim Wilson, and the film was shot in [CinemaScope](https://www.edgepedia.org/cinemascope) on location in Albuquerque, Belen, and [Santa Fe, New Mexico](https://www.edgepedia.org/santa-fe-new-mexico).[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/64773-SWING-VOTE) • [2](https://d23.com/a-to-z/swing-vote-film/) The Guardian reported that Costner put up much of the money himself so the film could be released in time to influence the 2008 presidential election.[12](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/sep/28/drama3)
The release timing was deliberate. Promoters used taglines such as "One Vote Changes Everything" aimed at the election-year zeitgeist, though commentators noted the real 2008 campaign might temper the film's appeal.[9](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/swing-vote-plays-on-party-stereotypes/)
## Reception
**Critical response was mixed.** On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 38% Tomatometer from 149 reviews, with a critics' consensus crediting Costner with his most charismatic performance in years while finding that the film fails to balance political satire and heartfelt drama; the audience Popcornmeter stood at 42%.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/swing_vote) Metacritic recorded a Metascore of 47, with 10 of 30 critic reviews positive, 15 mixed, and 5 negative.[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/swing-vote/critic-reviews/)
Reviewers repeatedly reached for [Frank Capra](https://www.edgepedia.org/frank-capra) as a reference point. Roger Ebert, rating the film three and a half stars, called it "a genial comedy, but it has significant undertones," comparing it to *Mr. Smith Goes to Washington* in its story of a little guy up against the establishment, and praised Costner's convincing everyman turn and Madeline Carroll as "splendid" in a role that at times becomes the lead.[5](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/swing-vote-2008) James Berardinelli wrote that the film "marries mild satire with Capra-esque melodrama in a formula that works surprisingly well," while the Christian Science Monitor's Peter Rainer saw it as a moldering Capra script dusted off minus the populist pizzazz.[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/swing-vote/critic-reviews/) • [13](https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Movies/2008/0802/p25s04-almo.html) [The A.V. Club](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-a-v-club)'s Nathan Rabin was harsher, calling it "third-rate Capracorn, leaden and lumpy where it should be swift and pointed."[7](https://www.avclub.com/swing-vote-1798204643)
Several critics singled out the same strengths and weaknesses. Costner's performance and Carroll's were widely praised; the Atlanta-based Independent critic found Carroll's Molly "the sweet heart" of the film but judged the surrounding film a mess that never escapes its opening notion of fraud.[10](https://theind.com/articles/2669/) The Independent's Anthony Quinn concluded that a good comedy about the selling of an election existed in the premise, "but this ain't it."[14](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/swing-vote-12a-942604.html) Ebert noted the film's deliberate bipartisanship: it takes no sides, shows both candidates willing to say whatever voters want to hear, and portrays campaign-trail reporters as jackals, with Kate Madison's sacrifice of a career-making scoop as the detail he found hardest to believe.[5](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/swing-vote-2008)
**Box office returns were modest.** The film grossed $16.3 million in the United States against a production budget that had grown to a reported $45 million, and a Boxoffice Pro retrospective places it among election-themed films that have rarely made much money in recent years.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/swing_vote) • [11](https://mouseplanet.com/swing-vote/2189/) • [15](https://www.boxofficepro.com/election-themed-films-perform-box-office-viewers-cast-votes/)
## Themes and later standing
The film's stated message is that every vote matters, dramatized through an absurd premise in which one uninformed man's ballot decides the presidency.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/swing_vote) Reviewers read it two ways. Some took the civics lesson at face value: the Georgia Bulletin described the film as making stinging points about media invasiveness and political pandering while keeping the father-daughter relationship at its core.[8](https://georgiabulletin.org/news/2008/08/timely-swing-vote-addresses-personal-responsibility/) Others argued the outlandish premise undercuts the lesson; an essay at the Competitive Enterprise Institute contended that the story instead reinforces the view of voting as irrational, since under normal circumstances no single voter decides an election.[16](https://cei.org/blog/the-near-impossibility-of-swing-voting-movie-spoiler-alert/) The British Film Institute later grouped it with election comedies that serve as "simplistic star vehicles," alongside *Head of State* (2003) and *[The Campaign](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-campaign-film)* (2012).[17](https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/10-great-american-election-films)
The film's New Mexico setting also dated quickly. The plot was meant to evoke the razor-thin 2000 Florida margin, and New Mexico was considered a swing state early in 2008 after voting Republican in 2004 and Democratic in 2000; the state then voted Democratic by double-digit margins in both 2008 and 2012 and came to be considered reliably blue.[15](https://www.boxofficepro.com/election-themed-films-perform-box-office-viewers-cast-votes/)
## References
1. [Swing Vote (2008), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/64773-SWING-VOTE)
2. [Swing Vote (film), D23](https://d23.com/a-to-z/swing-vote-film/)
3. [Swing Vote, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/swing_vote)
4. [Swing Vote Critic Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/swing-vote/critic-reviews/)
5. [One man, one vote, review by Roger Ebert, July 30, 2008](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/swing-vote-2008)
6. [Swing Vote (2008), Film Intuition Review Database](https://reviews.filmintuition.com/2008/08/swing-vote-2008.html?m=0)
7. [Swing Vote, by Nathan Rabin, The A.V. Club, July 31, 2008](https://www.avclub.com/swing-vote-1798204643)
8. [Timely 'Swing Vote' Addresses Personal Responsibility, Georgia Bulletin, August 2008](https://georgiabulletin.org/news/2008/08/timely-swing-vote-addresses-personal-responsibility/)
9. ['Swing Vote' Plays On Party Stereotypes, CBS News / The Politico, June 9, 2008](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/swing-vote-plays-on-party-stereotypes/)
10. [Mock the Vote, The Independent, August 6, 2008](https://theind.com/articles/2669/)
11. [Swing Vote, by Alex Stroup, MousePlanet, August 1, 2008](https://mouseplanet.com/swing-vote/2189/)
12. [Swing Vote, The Guardian, September 27, 2008](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/sep/28/drama3)
13. [Review: 'Swing Vote', by Peter Rainer, The Christian Science Monitor, August 2, 2008](https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Movies/2008/0802/p25s04-almo.html)
14. [Swing Vote (12A), review by Anthony Quinn, The Independent, September 25, 2008](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/swing-vote-12a-942604.html)
15. [How do Election-Themed Films Perform at the Box Office?, Boxoffice Pro](https://www.boxofficepro.com/election-themed-films-perform-box-office-viewers-cast-votes/)
16. [The Near-Impossibility of Swing Voting, Competitive Enterprise Institute](https://cei.org/blog/the-near-impossibility-of-swing-voting-movie-spoiler-alert/)
17. [10 great American election films, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/10-great-american-election-films)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 2007 to 2008 › Released in 2008*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license