How Swing States Set Public Policy

Adam Eichen: “Presidential elections are currently decided by swing states, ones that are less racially diverse than the country as a whole and, in 2016, represented only 35 percent of eligible voters. Last presidential election, 95 percent of candidate appearances and 99 percent of campaign spending went to fourteen states. None of them are particularly rural nor, with the exception of New Hampshire, remotely small.”

“The swing states, due to their electoral significance, also have a stranglehold on national policies. The coal industry, for example, has outsized influence because of its prominence in Pennsylvania. So, too, does the ethanol industry because of Iowa. Moreover, US tariffs have disproportionately benefited industries located in swing states, and the battleground states have historically received more in federal grants than the rest of the country.”