Iowa's electoral votes in U.S. presidential elections 1848-2020

Iowa has cast electoral votes in 44 U.S. presidential elections, voting for the overall winner in 32 of these elections, giving a success rate of 73 percent. Iowa's electors have always voted for either the Democratic or Republican nominee, siding with each party 13 and 31 times respectively. Iowa voted for the Republican candidate throughout most of its electoral history, including all elections but one from 1856 until 1928, however it has voted Democrat in six of the last nine elections. Despite this recent change, Republican nominee Donald Trump won the state decisively in the 2016 election, and even increased his share of the popular vote in the 2020 election. This recent shift in trends has been attributed to increased Republican support among white, working class and rural voters.

Native Iowans

Herbert Hoover is the only U.S. president to have been born in Iowa, and spent the first eleven years of his life in the Hawkeye State, before moving across the country. The only other Iowan to have had a notable performance in a presidential election was the Populist Party's James B. Weaver; Weaver carried five states and secured 22 electoral votes in the 1892 election, although he failed to win his home state of Iowa.

Iowa's significance

Iowa's allocated number of electoral votes has gradually decreased in the past century, falling from 13 votes in the 1920s to just six votes in the latest elections. Despite the relatively low number of electoral votes, Iowa continues to have a significant impact on presidential elections. This is because Iowa is the first major contest in the Democratic and Republican primary seasons, giving it a strong influence over the remainder of each race. In addition to this, Iowa's status as a swing state in recent decades has also led candidates to campaign more aggressively in Iowa than in most other states.