5. Oklahoma
> 2008 voter turnout: 55.8%
> Winning candidate: McCain
> Voting-eligible population: 2,619,121 (23rd lowest)
> 2012 electoral votes: 7
> Median income: $42,072 (8th lowest)
> Pct. with HS diploma or higher: 86.6% (32nd highest)
Oklahoma is a very red state — McCain won the state with nearly 66% of the votes in 2008, the most lopsided victory for him in all 22 states voting Republican. Former President Bush won by about the same margin in 2004 and took 60% of the vote in 2000. This trend goes way back. The last time the state voted for a Democratic candidate was in 1964, when Lyndon Johnson was elected to office. Oklahoma was in the bottom 10 states for the percentage of residents with a bachelor’s degree or higher, at 23.3%, and for median household income, at $42,072.
4. Texas
> 2008 voter turnout: 54.1%
> Winning candidate: McCain
> Voting-eligible population: 14,929,810 (2nd highest)
> 2012 electoral votes: 38
> Median income: $48,615 (24th highest)
> Pct. with HS diploma or higher: 81.0% (2nd lowest)
Of the nation’s 10 most populous states, Texas alone is in the bottom 10 states for voter turnout. While still far from stellar, turnout improved in 2008 compared to the two times that former Texas Governor George W. Bush was on the ballot — turnout was 53.7% and 49.2% in 2004 and 2000, respectively. Texas is also a traditionally Republican state as no Democratic presidential candidate has won a plurality since Jimmy Carter in 1976. The percentage of people age 25 or older with at least a high school diploma was 81%, the second lowest in the country.
Also Read: The 10 States with the Strongest Housing Markets
3. Arkansas
> 2008 voter turnout: 52.5%
> Winning candidate: McCain
> Voting-eligible population: 2,071,563 (19th lowest)
> 2012 electoral votes: 6
> Median income: $38,307 (3rd lowest)
> Pct. with HS diploma or higher: 83.5% (tied for 7th lowest)
While President Bill Clinton won his home state both times he ran, Arkansas voters have veered toward Republican candidates in the past three presidential elections, increasing their margin of victory in each contest. Arkansas has one of the poorest records of educational attainment in the United States. Only 19.8% of the population age 25 or older had a bachelor’s degree, the second-lowest percentage in the country. Meanwhile, 83.5% of Arkansans at least age 25 had a high-school diploma or higher, the seventh-lowest percentage in the country.
2. West Virginia
> 2008 voter turnout: 49.9%
> Winning candidate: McCain
> Voting-eligible population: 1,430,439 (15th lowest)
> 2012 electoral votes: 5
> Median income: $38,218 (2nd lowest)
> Pct. with HS diploma or higher: 83.5% (tied for 7th lowest)
West Virginia is just one of two states in the U.S. where less than half the voter-eligible population turned out to vote. While turnout across the U.S. was stronger in 2008 compared to the 2004 election (61.6% to 60.1%, respectively), turnout in West Virginia was much stronger in 2004, when 54.1% turned out to vote. Only 17.8% of the adult population has a college education, which is the lowest rate in the country. The state’s median household income of $38,218 was the second lowest in the country, while the percentage of households below the poverty line, at 18.1%, was the eighth highest in the United States.
1. Hawaii
> 2008 voter turnout: 48.8%
> Winning candidate: Obama
> Voting-eligible population: 930,067 (9th lowest)
> 2012 electoral votes: 4
> Median income: $63,030 (5th highest)
> Pct. with HS diploma or higher: 90.1% (tied for 13th lowest)
Ironically, the state with the lowest turnout was the home state of President Obama. Hawaii had the worst voter turnout in the country in the past three presidential elections. The Aloha State is the only one on this list of worst voter turnout to consistently vote Democrat — it has voted Democrat in every election but two since becoming a state in 1959. The home-state candidate won 72% of the vote in 2008, the most lopsided victory in the presidential race. Hawaii was also the only state among this group to have a median income in the top 10 in the country and a poverty rate in the bottom 10.
-Samuel Weigley, Lisa Uible, Michael B. Sauter
Also Read: America’s Most (and Least) Livable States
