The following is a presentation of the ever evolving 2016 presidential election map. In fact, there are three presidential election maps — toss-up states included, no toss-up states and the final 2012 presidential election map. It is important to keep in mind that it is still early in the cycle and some state polling is limited. Therefore, it should be expected that some of the colors on these maps change over the coming weeks. For clarity, dark red indicates that the state is strongly in favor of the Republican candidate (i.e. Donald Trump), light red indicates leaning Republican, gray equals toss-up (i.e. too close to call), light blue indicates leaning Democrat and dark blue is for strong Democrat (i.e. Hillary Clinton). This page is updated as soon as new state polls are published. So feel free to bookmark and share and witness this historic election as it unfolds.
2016 Presidential Election Map: With Toss-Ups
The map above illustrates which candidate each state is favoring based on the latest polls. In some cases there are few or no state polls and a decision had to be made as to how to label the state. Generally, polls for states that are strong Republican or strong Democrat are few and far between. In those cases, 2012 election results were used as a proxy. For example, if there were only a few if any recent state polls for Wyoming while it has historically been a very strong Republican state, then it would be reasonable to assume that Wyoming will go Republican. Feel free to mouse over any state to see how many electoral votes each is allotted as well as how the state voted in the past four elections.
2016 Presidential Election Map: Without Toss-Ups
This presidential election map does not allow for toss-ups. For example, if the latest Florida polls suggest that Hillary is leading Trump by only 2%, then Florida should be considered a toss-up. This is due to the fact that all polls have a margin error. However, the map above forces a decision and in this example the probability would favor that Florida would vote for Hillary. So what’s the conclusion? If the polls have accurately represented turnout (not an easy thing to do with a non-establishment candidate), Hillary Clinton would win with 308 electoral votes to Donald Trump’s 230.
2012 Presidential Election Map Results
For comparison purposes, the map above presents the 2012 election results. For the record, Barack Obama defeated Mitt Romney 347 to 191.
1980 Presidential Election Map: A Sea of Blue
Did you you know that having states colored blue for the Democrats and red for the Republicans wasn’t always the case? Back in 1980, David Brinkley famously commented that the electoral map looked like a “sea of blue” when describing Ronald Reagan’s landslide victory over Jimmy Carter. Unfortunately, we could’t find that clip but the clip above is from moments prior. Do you recognize the newscasters?