Presidential Tracker

May 24, 2012

Where is the President travelling today?
California & Iowa


Since 2009, FairVote has been tracking the movements of the President using data from the Washington Post's ‘POTUS Tracker' in order to examine the effect of battleground status on presidential attention. Fairvote's analysis of Presidential visits and events shows a significant emphasis on the declared 'battleground states' for the 2012 election and, for now, a heightened attention to states that traditionally have high donation rates.

Below, you can find blogs about the President's recent travels, as well as relevant news articles.  Check out the map at the bottom of the page for the most up to date information. It contains information on the number and type of events held in each state. If you are interested in examining the compiled data in spreadsheet form, which is uploaded periodically each month. The latest downloadable version is from December 13, 2011.

President Obama's Ten Most Visited States:

Ranking State

Number of

Total Events

Margin

of Victory (%)

% of National

Donations in 2008
1 New York 59 25.5% 10.52%
2 California 45 23.6 17.8
3 Florida 38 2.5 4.91
4 Virginia 37 6.3 5.27
5 Ohio 31 24.9 5.98
6 Illinois 30 4.0 1.88
7 Maryland 29 25.2 3.37
8 Pennsylvania
 25 10.4 2.81
9 Texas 17 11.7 5.44
10 Hawaii 15 45.2 0.59


 

Latest Blog Posts on Presidential Travels

  • Presidential Tracker: The Orphaned States of America

    May 16, 2012

    Two weeks ago, voters in South Carolina looked on as President Obama passed them by once again. Since coming into office in 2008, the president has held 18 events in North Carolina, yet has not once held any sort of event in South Carolina. Geographically, religiously, and historically, the Carolinas are quite similar. The big difference: In 2008, President Obama won North Carolina with 49.9%, but lost South Carolina with 44.9%.That modest difference means everything given the way states currently cast their electoral votes.

  • Presidential Tracker: New Evidence of our Shrinking Battleground

    January 30, 2012

    President Obama's travel patterns over the past  months have been leaning toward battleground and fundraising states. How does the whole of 2011 shape up? We summarize the past year and look at what is to come as the 2012 presidential election year comes into full swing. 

Read More

Latest Entries on the National Popular Vote

  • Winner-Take-All. We Can Do Better.

    April 13, 2012

    Winner-take-all elections box voters into simplistic red and blue divisions that poorly reflect our diversity of views. They turn most state legislative and congressional elections into "no-choice" contests. Only a handful of swing states will get attention from presidential candidate.

    To take on winner-take-all, FairVote backs forms of proportional representation for electing legislatures and a national popular vote for president instead of state-based winner-take-all rules.

    * Most robust democracies use proportional representation, NOT winner-take-all. See more here.

    * Fair voting plan series: Latest blog and report from Missouri

    * FairVote Chair Emeritus John Anderson's new op-ed in Chicago Tribune on cumulative voting

    * FairVote's resources on a national popular vote for president

  • FairVote analysis in national news

    February 13, 2012

    On February 12th, FairVote executive director Rob Richie was a guest on CSPAN television's Washington Journal, aired live around the nation. That day he also had the first and final letters in the New York Times' "Invitation to Dialogue" series on voting reform. FairVote staff and interns have been publishing many articles in 2012.

    Rob Richie on CSPAN

    New York Times "Invitation to Dialogue"

    Fair voting op-eds in St. Louis Post-Dispatch & Austin American-Statesman

    FairVote blogs on Huffington Post & Oped News

Read More