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CHAPTER 42 North America Political Geography II The Electoral College and Swing States Created by WI Noun In most elections , the winner is determined by the popular vote . The popular vote is the sum of all ballots cast by voters in an election . The word popular , in this sense , refers to population . The popular vote is the people vote . Senators , congressional representatives , governors , and nearly every other elected official in the United States is selected by popular vote . There is one major exception . Americans elect a president every four years , and it is possible for a candidate to win the popular vote , but lose the election . This has happened four times in American history , most recently in 2016 , when Hillary Clinton received nearly three million more votes than Donald Trump . Trump , however , won the election because he was victorious in the electoral college . For a terrific map of the election results , go to ?
The electoral college is a group of people chosen by voters to elect the president . Here how it works Each state is assigned a certain number of electoral votes . The distribution of electoral votes is determined by congressional representation , with each state receiving one electoral vote for every member who represents them in Congress . There are 100 members of the Senate , and 435 members of the House of Representatives , for a total of 535 . The District of Columbia has no representation in Congress , but is constitutionally allotted three electoral votes , bringing the total number of electors to 538 . Illinois , for example , has two senators and eighteen representatives , so it is 195
196 JOEL QUAM AND SCOTT CAMPBELL allotted twenty electoral votes . California has the most electoral votes , with five . Since each state has two senators and at least one representative , the minimum number of electoral votes a state is allotted is three . Alaska , Montana , Wyoming , North Dakota , South Dakota , and Vermont ( along with ) are each are allotted the minimum . The candidate who accumulates more than half of the electoral votes , at least 270 , wins the presidential election . The states electoral votes are , with few exceptions , If a presidential candidate wins Illinois by a million ballots , they receive all twenty of the state electoral votes . If a presidential candidate wins Illinois by one ballot , they still receive all twenty of the state electoral votes . The margin of victory does matter . Only two states Maine and Nebraska are not . In those states , the winner of the overall popular vote automatically receives two electoral votes . The remaining electoral votes are assigned based on which candidate wins in each congressional district . In 2016 , Hillary Clinton won in Maine , but lost one of its two congressional districts , so she received three of Maine electoral votes , while Donald Trump received one . The nature ofthe electoral college means that a handful of states , known as swing states , receive nearly all of the attention during presidential campaigns . A swing state is a state where presidential elections tend to be relatively close . Because of that , these states have a tendency to swing from one party to the next over the course of a few elections . Presidential candidates tend to pour most of their time and money into swing states , since they are key in determining the outcome of an election . To better understand swing states , we look briefly at the last four presidential elections . In 2004 , President George Bush , a Republican , was running for reelection against Kerry , a Democrat . Senator Kerry won several states that were rich in electoral votes , such as New York , Pennsylvania , Illinois , and California , but it was not enough to overcome President Bush , who won the electoral college 286 to 251 . The 2008 election pit two senators against one another Democrat Barack 2004 Presidential Election Swing States . Ob Cartography . an Republican John McCain . Senator McCain did not have to reinvent the wheel in this election . There was no need for him to pick up any states that Democrats had won in 2004 . He simply needed to recreate the electoral map that had elected George Bush . Likewise , Senator Obama did not need to completely rearrange the electoral map . He simply needed to swing enough states out of the Republican column and into the Democratic column . He did just that . Nine states that had voted for Bush in 2004 swung to the Democrats in 2008 Nevada , Colorado , New Mexico , Iowa , Indiana , Ohio , Virginia , North Carolina , and Florida giving Obama 365 electoral votes to McCain 173 . One of the peculiarities of the electoral college can be seen in the 2008 election . The two biggest prizes in the electoral college California , with electoral votes , and Texas , with electoral votes received 2008 Presidential Election Swing States . Cartography .
NORTH AMERICA POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY II 197 practically no attention from either candidate . This is because ofthe nature ofthe electoral college . McCain received 37 of the popular vote in California . If McCain had spent millions of dollars and done weeks of campaigning in California , and managed to raise his share of the popular vote up to 45 , how many more electoral votes would he have received ?
Zero . Likewise , if Obama had poured resources in Texas , and raised his popular vote share from 45 to 49 , he would have gained any additional electoral votes . If a candidate has little hope of winning a state , it makes little sense to campaign there . Time and money are better spent on states where victory is possible that is , in the swing states . In 2012 , the Republicans nominated former Massachusetts governor Mitt to take on President Obama . Obama was looking to recreate his 2008 victory map , while attempted to nudge some of 2008 swing states back into the Republican column . was able to swing two of them North Carolina and Indiana but that was not enough to get the Republicans back to 270 , and Obama won reelection with a margin in the electoral college . In 2016 , Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton was looking to maintain the Obama victory map , while Republican nominee Donald Trump sought to flip some of the Obama swing states . Trump managed to swing three ofthem Iowa , Ohio , and Florida and won upset victories in Wisconsin , Michigan , and Pennsylvania , none of which had voted for a Republican presidential candidate since the 19805 . Although he lost the popular vote , Trump won the electoral college . As this chapter is being written , the 2020 presidential election is still several months off . President Trump is looking to recreate his 2016 victory map . The Democratic nominee , former Vice President Joseph , is hoping to recreate the Obama victory map . Several states are in play , but all eyes will almost certainly be on the six swing states that voted for both Obama in 2012 and Trump in 2016 Iowa , Ohio , Florida , Wisconsin , Michigan , and Pennsylvania . 2072 Presidential Election Swing States . Cartography . 2076 Presidential Election Swing States . Cartography Did You Know ?
When you vote for a presidential candidate , you actually voting for a slate of electors . Each party selects these electors long before the election . After the election , the electors from the winning candidate party travel to their state capital and cast their ballots for president . In most states , the electors are required to vote for the candidate who won their state popular vote . In some states , that is not a requirement , and occasionally electors have gone rogue . They are known as electors , and there were seven of them in 2016 . Five electors abandoned Hillary Clinton , and two abandoned Donald Trump . As a result , Colin Powell , John , Ron Paul , Bernie Sanders , and Faith Spotted Eagle each received electoral votes . It did not affect the outcome ofthe election . On July , 2020 , the US Supreme Court unanimously ruled that state laws allowing faithless electors are constitutional .
198 JOEL QUAM AND SCOTT CAMPBELL Hot Off the Press Visual Capitalist In this animated feature from November , 2020 , the Visual Capitalist displays the trends of statewide voting in presidential elections from 1976 to 2016 . CITED AND ADDITIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY , Jeff . 2016 Presidential Election Swing States . College of , 12 2020 . College of GIS Class . 2004 Presidential Election Swing States . College of , 12 2020 . College of GIS Class . 2008 Presidential Election Swing States . College of , 12 2020 . College of GIS Class . 2012 Presidential Election Swing States . College of , 12 2020 . College of GIS Class . Wi , Electoral College by Wi from the Noun Project , Accessed 12 2020 .