ELECTORAL VOTES 6

2012 ELECTION Swing State New! 2012 Iowa Polls >>

ABOUT
IOWA

2010 Census Reapportionment: Iowa will lose one electoral vote, giving it 6 for the 2012, 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. This is the first change for Iowa since the 1990 Census.



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. 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 outsized influence on who ultimately gets elected president.