With the 2020 election a little over a week away and voters’ influence varying from state to state, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2020’s States with the Most & Least Powerful Voters.
In a presidential election, voter power varies widely by state. While all votes are theoretically counted equally — one person, one vote — the choices of swing-state citizens are more influential. It’s safe to assume that Alabama will vote Republican and California will vote Democratic in the upcoming election. In contrast, the electoral results of swing states such as Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and North Carolina are up in the air, giving their voters much more impact over the general election.
The site compared the relative clout of 2020 voters in swinging the presidency. In order to make the comparison, they calculated a ‘Voter Power Score’ (“win probabilities” calculated by fivethirtyeight.com, multiplied by the number of electors in each state, divided by the state’s population aged 18 and older).
Presidential Election – States with the Most & Least Powerful Voters (No. 1 = Most Powerful)
| Rank | State | Vote Power |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alaska | 239.22 |
| 2 | Iowa | 207.13 |
| 3 | Ohio | 193.54 |
| 4 | Georgia | 193.24 |
| 5 | Arizona | 124.84 |
| 6 | North Carolina | 117.16 |
| 7 | Texas | 109.08 |
| 8 | Florida | 97.53 |
| 9 | New Hampshire | 94.23 |
| 10 | Montana | 78.36 |
| 11 | Maine | 72.87 |
| 12 | Nevada | 65.29 |
| 13 | Mississippi | 63.22 |
| 14 | Wisconsin | 52.64 |
| 15 | South Carolina | 49.05 |
| 16 | Pennsylvania | 47.20 |
| 17 | Kansas | 43.38 |
| 18 | Missouri | 37.78 |
| 19 | South Dakota | 35.85 |
| 20 | Michigan | 32.64 |
| 21 | Minnesota | 32.28 |
| 22 | Louisiana | 26.94 |
| 23 | Indiana | 25.56 |
| 24 | Utah | 21.09 |
| 25 | Tennessee | 16.55 |
| 26 | Colorado | 15.99 |
| 27 | Arkansas | 15.53 |
| 28 | Oregon | 12.52 |
| 29 | New Mexico | 12.32 |
| 30 | North Dakota | 10.25 |
| 31 | Alabama | 9.43 |
| 32 | West Virginia | 6.98 |
| 33 | Nebraska | 6.85 |
| 34 | Wyoming | 6.75 |
| 35 | Vermont | 5.88 |
| 36 | District of Columbia | 5.19 |
| 37 | Rhode Island | 4.67 |
| 38 | Kentucky | 4.62 |
| 39 | New Jersey | 4.03 |
| 40 | Delaware | 3.90 |
| 41 | Hawaii | 3.59 |
| 42 | Idaho | 2.99 |
| 43 | Connecticut | 2.47 |
| 44 | Oklahoma | 2.33 |
| 45 | Maryland | 2.12 |
| 46 | Illinois | 2.03 |
| 47 | Washington | 2.02 |
| 48 | Massachusetts | 1.99 |
| 49 | Virginia | 1.95 |
| 50 | New York | 1.88 |
| 51 | California | 1.80 |
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