RECENT POLLS
2008 Actual 11/4/2008	Selzer & Co. 11/1/2008	Research 2000 10/31/2008	SurveyUSA 10/30/2008	2004 Actual 11/2/2004

Iowa gained statehood in December 1846. It currently leans Democratic in presidential races; Barack Obama easily defeated John McCain by 54% to 44% in 2008. However, prior to 1988, the state mostly voted Republican, choosing a candidate from that party all but five times from the Civil War years through that year. After peaking at 13 from the 1880s through 1920s, Iowa gradually lost electoral clout as the state’s population growth slowed relative to the rest of the country. Today, the state has seven electoral votes and there is a chance that that number could drop to six in 2012, pending the outcome of the 2010 census. However, the closeness of the general election vote and the importance of its caucuses, which kick off the nominating process every election cycle, give the citizens of Iowa great influence on who ultimately gets elected president.

year facts