Close Presidential Elections

How close was the last Presidential Election? What many people do not realize is that it was only the 13^th closest (12 prior elections were closer).

An interesting fact is that four elections were not decided by popular vote but (as by law) by the electoral college. All four were won by Republicans. About 38% of all registered voters are Democrats, 29% are Republicans and 33% are either “Other” or Independents.

The Electoral College gives an advantage to smaller states since the formula allows each three electoral votes regardless of population. The following chart:

				House	Electoral
	Rank	State	Population	Seats	Votes	Red	Blue
1	52	Wyoming	581,381	1	3	3
2	51	Vermont	647,064	1	3		3
3	50	District of Columbia	671,803	1*	3		3
4	49	Alaska	733,583	1	3	3
5	48	North Dakota	779,261	1	3	3
6	47	South Dakota	909,824	1	3	3
7	46	Delaware	1,018,396	1	3		3
8	45	Rhode Island	1,093,734	2	4		4
9	44	Montana	1,122,867	2	4	4
10	43	Maine	1,385,340	2	4	purple	purple
11	42	New Hampshire	1,395,231	2	4	purple	purple
12	41	Hawaii	1,440,196	2	4		4
13	40	West Virginia	1,775,156	2	4	4
14	39	Idaho	1,939,033	2	4	4
15	38	Nebraska	1,967,923	3	5	5
16	37	New Mexico	2,113,344	3	5		5
17	36	Kansas	2,937,150	4	6	6
18	35	Mississippi	2,940,057	4	6	6
19	34	Arkansas	3,045,637	4	6	6
20	33	Nevada	3,177,772	4	6		6
21	32	Iowa	3,200,517	4	6	6
22	30	Utah	3,380,800	4	6	6
			37,674,688		95	59	28
	Total US		331,449,281		538
		% of Total	11.4%		17.7%

11.4% of the population has 17.7% of the votes.

The electoral provides an advantage to Republicans. My question is how well represented are the 1/3 of the registered voters that are not either Democrat or Republican? I have often heard the quip “If you don’t vote for either of the major parties you are throwing your vote away”.