Where your vote for president matters the most
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Individual Nevadans will have more say over the election than voters anywhere else in the country.
Why it matters: Only seven swing states are in play. And even among those, there's a wide range in how much each ballot contributes to a single Electoral College vote.
By the numbers: Based on 2020 turnout, a vote in Nevada counts for 1/234,229th of an electoral vote. That's 24% more than a vote in Arizona and 37% more than one in Michigan.
- Voters in Nebraska's 2nd and Maine's 2nd congressional districts — the only states that aren't winner-take-all — contribute to a separate electoral vote. But those are more diluted than votes elsewhere in the state.
The big picture: Democrats have railed against the Electoral College, which has favored Republicans in recent cycles due to the disproportionate power of small states.
- Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes in 2016 — but lost by a combined 80,000 votes in three swing states that cemented Donald Trump's path to victory.
Zoom out: Beyond swing states, voters in low-population states have a much greater influence on a single electoral vote.
- At 92,000 votes per electoral vote, Wyomingites have the most electoral power, followed by residents of D.C. (115,000) and Alaska (120,000).
- Those Wyoming votes are 4x more potent than a vote in Michigan, the state with the most diluted vote in the country. Michigan is followed by Florida (369,000), Pennsylvania (365,000) and Ohio (348,000).
The bottom line: While every vote matters, in U.S. presidential elections, some votes matter a lot more than others.
