It turns out that Florida is very near the top of the 50 states in terms of its electorate being representative of the rest of the country.
Florida, in fact, ranked number two overall in its resemblance to the U.S. population, according to a recent national survey, with the state getting an overall electorate representation index of 94.32 percent.
Only Illinois ranked higher at number one overall with an electorate representation index of 94.35 percent. Coming in last, with an overall rank of 50 and an electorate representation index of 77.94 percent was Vermont.
Interestingly, Iowa and New Hampshire, two states whose early primaries determine to a large extent which presidential candidates remain in the race, ranked 17 and 44 overall in the survey respectively, with corresponding electorate representation indexes of 89.39 and 82.11 percents.
Which raises the question, posed by WalletHub Communications Manager Diana Popa, whether states such as Florida — whose Presidential preference primary election isn’t until March 15 — shouldn’t play a bigger role determining the early viability of presidential candidates.
To answer that question, the personal website WalletHub conducted a comparison of all 50 states in terms of their resemblance to the overall U.S. population. The analysis, according to Popa, rated each state on five key categories: socio-demographics, economy, education, religion and public opinion.
Here’s how Florida rated on each of the categories compared to the U.S, per the WalletHub survey:
Socio-demographics: 91.48 percent
Economy: 93.65 percent
Education: 96.07 percent
Religion: 94.93 percent
Public opinion: 95.45 percent
Every presidential political season, notes WalletHub personal finance writer Richie Bernardo, “the apparent ‘whiteness’ of Iowa and New Hampshire” becomes an issue.
“The matter usually is boiled down to a single question: how could two mostly rural states with majority-white populations fairly represent the national electorate?” Bernardo writes.
“Under that logic, handing the earliest positions in the presidential primaries to the hawkeye and granite states would understandably seem undeserved and bring into question whether candidates are dropping out of the race simply because of a flawed system,” Bernardo writes in the introduction to the survey’s findings. “But as it turns out, the issue is a bit more complicated. Many experts have argued that entitlement to the earliest position in the primaries should be based on multiple factors, not solely on a state’s racial composition.”
Hence, the survey’s attempt “to identify which of the 50 states truly represent the U.S. population and thus are truly worthy of the top primary-election spot.”
For more detailed information on the report’s findings and methodology, as well as a discussion by experts on such questions as whether states that mirror the national electorate should hold earlier primaries and whether the primary system should be changed to a single national primary day, visit https://wallethub.com/edu/electorate-representation-index/181-90/.