NEWSFLASH: Only Swing States Matter!
October 10th, 2008
While you pick your jaws up off the floor and attempt to recover from this shocking bit of news, take a look at some of the figures from FairVote’s 2008 Campaign Tracker:
Most visited states in 2008/% of visits
- Michigan/12.4%
- Ohio/10.3%
- Pennsylvania/9.3%
- Colorado/8.3%
- Virginia/8.3%
- Missouri/7.2%
- Florida/6.2%
- Wisconsin/6.2%
- New York/5.2%
- New Mexico/4.1%
Most visited states in 2004/% of visits
- Florida/21%
- Ohio/16%
- Iowa/13%
- Wisconsin/11%
- Pennsylvania/8%
- Michigan/7%
- Minnesota/5%
- Colorado/3%
- Nevada/2%
- New Mexico/2%
A press release from FairVote reveals that the top ten states receiving the most campaign attention are strikingly similar to the top ten states in 2004, while a total of 29 states have not received even a token visit by a candidate.
The vast majority of states are “safe” states. The battle for votes in these states never takes place, since candidates take their electoral votes for granted. As a result, these states receive no campaign attention and no visits from candidates. Voters in these states are effectively disenfranchised by their lack of power, and this inequality has serious consequences.
In 2004, eligible voters under 30 living in one of the 10 closest battleground states were more than a third more likely to participate than were voters in the rest of the nation. Swing states also benefit from the massive amounts of money they receive from campaigns. Since the beginning of last year, Barack Obama has spent over $24 million in Pennsylvania, over $14 million in Ohio, and over $16 million in Florida. Similarly, John McCain has spent over $28 million in those three states. The vast majority of states have received less than $1 million in campaign advertisements, with six states receiving nil from Obama and 16 states receiving nothing from McCain. John McCain has spent a measly $180 on campaign advertisements in his home state of Arizona!
FairVote has posted its full candidate tracker where visitors also can download a copy of Presidential Elections Inequality. For more on this issue, see FairVote’s recent press release.
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