Polarization Key Facts
Key Facts
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Near-perfect partisan polarization in Georgia: The state legislature had 236 seats up for election in 2014. All but two seats were won by candidates of the same party whose presidential nominee carried the district in 2012.
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Winner-take-all domination in Arizona: Arizona has public financing and independent redistricting; however, all but three of its 90 state legislators elected in 2014 are of the same party as the presidential nominee who carried the district in 2012. Only two districts were won by a presidential candidate by less than 8%.
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Uncontested elections: More than one in three state legislative elections were won by a candidate who did not face a single opponent. In November 2014, more than two years before the November 2016 congressional elections, FairVote made its final projections for U.S. House winners in six out of every seven districts.
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Vanishing moderates and “crossover” Members of Congress: In 1992, 116 House Members represented districts carried by the other major party’s nominee. That declined to 26 after 2012. It is no accident the number of House Members classified as having moderate voting behaviors declined from 129 in 1992 to only 12 in 2012.
