With certain demographics like young people, minorities and people with low income having low voter turnout historically, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released a report examining the States With the Best & Worst Representation on Election Day, to identify which states’ voting populations most closely resemble their actual electorates.
WalletHub compared the distribution of the 50 states’ voters to the distribution of their electorates by key demographic characteristics, including age, race and gender. We also analyzed how voters nationally reflect the U.S. electorate using those factors plus employment status, family income, educational attainment and marital status.
| Best Overall Representation | Worst Overall Representation | ||
| 1. New Jersey (96.64%) | 41. Arkansas (86.61%) | ||
| 2. New York (94.09%) | 42. South Carolina (86.53%) | ||
| 3. Maryland (93.78%) | 43. Mississippi (86.38%) | ||
| 4. Alabama (93.41%) | 44. Nevada (85.91%) | ||
| 5. California (93.41%) | 45. New Hampshire (85.17%) | ||
| 6. Rhode Island (93.31%) | 46. Vermont (84.93%) | ||
| 7. Pennsylvania (92.97%) | 47. West Virginia (84.29%) | ||
| 8. Minnesota (92.79%) | 48. North Dakota (83.72%) | ||
| 9. Florida (92.48%) | 49. Massachusetts (82.35%) | ||
| 10. North Carolina (92.47%) | 50. Oklahoma (80.61%) | ||
| Best Racial Representation | Worst Racial Representation | ||
| 1. New Jersey (94.75%) | 46. West Virginia (68.31%) | ||
| 2. Arizona (92.98%) | 47. Kentucky (67.97%) | ||
| 3. Rhode Island (91.88%) | 48. New Hampshire (67.74%) | ||
| 4. North Carolina (91.50%) | 49. North Dakota (62.88%) | ||
| 5. Alabama (91.44%) | 50. Massachusetts (57.87%) | ||
| Best Age Representation | Worst Age Representation | ||
| 1. Maryland (97.23%) | 46. Nevada (84.44%) | ||
| 2. New Jersey (95.29%) | 47. Wyoming (83.49%) | ||
| 3. Maine (95.15%) | 48. Alaska (83.02%) | ||
| 4. New York (94.52%) | 49. South Dakota (82.85%) | ||
| 5. Iowa (93.92%) | 50. Oklahoma (79.99%) | ||
| Best Gender Representation | Worst Gender Representation | ||
| 1. West Virginia (99.87%) | 46. Wyoming (95.34%) | ||
| 2. South Carolina (99.72%) | 47. Utah (95.29%) | ||
| 3. Louisiana (99.58%) | 48. Maryland (94.92%) | ||
| 4. New Jersey (99.51%) | 49. Arizona (93.45%) | ||
| 5. South Dakota (99.01%) | 50. Oklahoma (93.22%) | ||
