The American electorate is more polarized by party than at any time in a century, at least by one metric. For the first time since the 17th Amendment went into force in 1914, allowing the direct election of U.S. senators, no state split its vote between Senate and presidential candidate, Harry Enten notes at FiveThirtyEight. Every state that voted for Trump and had a Senate race also sent the GOP candidate to Washington, and every state with a Senate race that picked Clinton also chose the Democrat.
"Most voters have sorted themselves into two camps: liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans," Enten said. "This trend is apparent up and down the ballot to a degree that we've never seen before." The first time U.S. senators and presidents were first elected together was 1916, and in 26 presidential cycles, there has always been ticket-splitting he notes, with one near-miss in 1920: "In that election, the only state that didn't vote for the same party in the presidential and Senate race was Kentucky. It chose Republican Richard Ernst for Senate by less than 1 percentage point and Democrat James Cox for president, also by less than 1 point." You can read more, including which senators outperformed Clinton and Trump, at FiveThirtyEight.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
The Japanese rice crisisUnder The Radar Japan's staple food is in short supply and everything from bad harvests to rising tourist numbers is being blamed
-
Today's political cartoons - April 13, 2025Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - waiting it out, hiring freeze, and more
-
5 cracking cartoons about broken nest eggsCartoons Artists take on plummeting value, sound advice, and more
-
White House pushes for oversight of Columbia UniversitySpeed Read The Trump administration is considering placing the school under a consent decree
-
Supreme Court backs wrongly deported migrantSpeed Read The Trump administration must 'facilitate' the return of wrongfully deported migrant Kilmar Ábrego García from El Salvador, Supreme Court says
-
Two judges bar war-powers deportationsSpeed Read The Trump administration was blocked from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport more alleged Venezuelan gang members
-
Trump pauses some tariffs but ramps up China taxSpeed Read The president suspended most 'reciprocal' tariffs for 90 days and raised his tariffs for China to 125%
-
Ukraine nabs first Chinese troops in Russia warSpeed Read Ukraine claims to have f two Chinese men fighting for Russia
-
IRS chief resigning after ICE deal on taxpayer dataSpeed Read Several IRS officials are stepping down after the tax agency is forced to share protected taxpayer records to further Trump's deportation drive
-
Musk and Navarro feud as Trump's trade war escalatesSpeed Read The spat between DOGE chief Elon Musk and Trump's top trade adviser Peter Navarro suggests divisions within the president's MAGA coalition
-
Trump, China up trade war risks with tariff threatsSpeed Read China said it would 'fight to the end' after President Donald Trump threatened an additional 50% tariff on Chinese imports
