Election 2016: The States That Have Changed Political Parties the Most

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Category: Beltway Insider
Published on Thursday, 10 September 2015 09:31
Written by Alex Greer

As the 2016 presidential election ramps up, candidates are paying extra attention to the all-important swing states. These states, like Ohio, Florida and Colorado, tend to be the most narrowly divided and can tip the scale of an election.

 

Unsurprisingly, these swing states receive a disproportionate amount of political spending during campaign season.

With that in mind, InsideGov looked back at the states that have historically changed political parties the most. Using presidential election data from 1932 (FDR’s first election) to 2012, InsideGov tracked each state’s voting behavior.

The visualization below shows how each state has voted over time (press play to begin):

Louisiana takes the top spot as the state with the most political flip-flops, having changed parties 11 times since the 1932 election. The next state should come as no surprise: Ohio. Currently one of the most important swing states, Ohio has switched parties 10 times. In the 2012 election, Ohio received the third highest amount of political ad spending in the country.

On the other end of spectrum is Alaska, which has been the most politically consistent state, changing parties only two times. This is partially due to Alaska’s relatively short period as a state.

Behind Alaska are 10 other states that have only switched political parties three times since 1932: Ariz., Idaho, Kan., Maine, Neb., N.D., Okla., S.D., Utah and Vt. Interestingly, most of these states, with the exception of Vermont and Maine, have been consistently Republican over the last three to four decades.

#50. Alaska

Number of Party Switches: 2

#49. Arizona

Number of Party Switches: 3

#48. Idaho

Number of Party Switches: 3

#47. Kansas

Number of Party Switches: 3

#46. Maine

Number of Party Switches: 3

#45. Nebraska

Number of Party Switches: 3

#44. North Dakota

Number of Party Switches: 3

#43. Oklahoma

Number of Party Switches: 3

#42. South Dakota

Number of Party Switches: 3

#41. Utah

Number of Party Switches: 3

#40. Vermont

Number of Party Switches: 3

#39. California

Number of Party Switches: 4

#38. Hawaii

Number of Party Switches: 4

#37. Illinois

Number of Party Switches: 4

#36. Massachusetts

Number of Party Switches: 4

#35. Minnesota

Number of Party Switches: 4

#34. New Jersey

Number of Party Switches: 4

#33. Oregon

Number of Party Switches: 4

#32. Virginia

Number of Party Switches: 4

#31. Washington

Number of Party Switches: 4

#30. Connecticut

Number of Party Switches: 5

#29. Indiana

Number of Party Switches: 5

#28. Maryland

Number of Party Switches: 5

#27. Montana

Number of Party Switches: 5

#26. North Carolina

Number of Party Switches: 5

#25. South Carolina

Number of Party Switches: 5

#24. Texas

Number of Party Switches: 5

#23. Wyoming

Number of Party Switches: 5

#22. Arkansas

Number of Party Switches: 6

#21. Michigan

Number of Party Switches: 6

#20. Nevada

Number of Party Switches: 6

#19. New Mexico

Number of Party Switches: 6

#18. New York

Number of Party Switches: 6

#17. Rhode Island

Number of Party Switches: 6

#16. Delaware

Number of Party Switches: 7

#15. Georgia

Number of Party Switches: 7

#14. Kentucky

Number of Party Switches: 7

#13. Missouri

Number of Party Switches: 7

#12. New Hampshire

Number of Party Switches: 7

#11. Pennsylvania

Number of Party Switches: 7

#10. Tennessee

Number of Party Switches: 7

#9. West Virginia

Number of Party Switches: 7

#8. Alabama

Number of Party Switches: 8

#7. Colorado

Number of Party Switches: 8

#6. Florida

Number of Party Switches: 8

#5. Iowa

Number of Party Switches: 8

#4. Mississippi

Number of Party Switches: 8

#3. Wisconsin

Number of Party Switches: 8

#2. Ohio

Number of Party Switches: 10

#1. Louisiana

Number of Party Switches: 11

Research U.S. Presidents on InsideGov

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