Donald Trump: | Kamala Harris: | Toss Up: |
The Electoral Map for 2024
After some incredible twists and turns, Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race.
For comparison, take a look at Trump’s performance in the 2020 election or the 2016 election.
It Takes 270 to Win
The winner of the presidential election must win the majority of the electoral votes — that is at least 270 out of the 538 available.
Because most states allocate their electoral votes on an “winner-take-all” basis — the exceptions being Maine and Nebraska, which split their electoral votes by congressional district — the candidate who wins enough states to reach 270 electoral votes becomes president.
Winning the national popular vote doesn’t matter, as we saw most recently in the 2000 and 2016 presidential elections where the winner of the popular vote actually lost the election.
That’s led to many efforts to reform the Electoral College over the years.
However, there is actually one way to win the presidency without getting 270 electoral votes. If the election results in a 269 to 269 electoral vote tie, then the House of Representatives convenes to choose the president with each state delegation getting one vote.
A Changing Electoral Map
In recent elections, there have been a dozen or more truly competitive battlegrounds which could result in many various paths to 270 electoral votes.
That’s changed in recent years as political polarization has increased, resulting in red and blue strongholds with bigger victory margins.
For instance, despite the narrow popular vote margin in 2016 — see the 2016 election map — more than two dozen states were decided by margins of 15 percentage points or more.
In 1988, when the popular vote margin was seven percentage points, there were just 17 states which were won by such big margins.
The map also changes every ten years based on the shifts in population between the states a required by the U.S. Constitution.
The map show above is based on the 2020 U.S. Census data.
Looking Ahead to 2028
To create your own electoral map for the 2028 presidential race, just click on the states in the map to toggle them between Democrat, Republican and Tossup and watch the electoral map tallies change.
One thing to keep in mind is that two states — Nebraska and Maine — split their electoral votes by congressional district.
After using the election map maker, you can even download your custom map or share it on social media.
If you prefer, you can start with a completely blank electoral map.
As the 2028 election gets closer, we’ll update the election map based on the latest polling and electoral forecasts.
Check back often or sign up for our email list.
Past Presidential Election Maps
If you want to review presidential election history, we have interactive electoral maps for 2024, 2020, 2016, 2012, 2008, 2004, 2000, 1996 and 1992.
And if you want to change history, just click on the states on each electoral college map to see what could have been.
Put the Electoral Vote Map on Your Site
Use the code below to put the electoral map on your site. When the consensus forecast changes, the map will automatically update on your site too!
2028 Presidential Election News
In addition to tracking changes to the election map, the best way to keep up with the 2024 presidential race is to read Political Wire.
Here are the latest headlines:
- Democrats Look to Revamp 2028 Calendar
- Democrats Already Jockeying for 2028
- How Democrats Can Retool Their Message
- The 2028 Shadow Primary Is Umderway
- Far-Right Trump Supporters Celebrate
- Vance Mostly Helped Himself Last Night
- DeSantis to Meet With Iowa Republicans
- Andy Beshear Quietly Eyes 2028
- Brian Kemp Plots His Next Steps
- Brian Kemp Builds Up Political Operation
- Jared Polis Won’t Rule Out 2028 Presidential Bid
- Trump Plans to Make Ron DeSantis a ‘Political Eunuch’
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