Wisconsin is a key swing state this year – and has a history of being unpredictable
Voters in Wisconsin – now considered a critical swing state ahead of the 2024 presidential election – may be among the most unpredictable in the nation. Although former President Barack Obama carried the state in the 2008 election and again in 2012, Wisconsin voters stunned pollsters by voting for Donald Trump in 2016, marking the first time since 1984 that the state’s electoral votes went to a Republican. Alex Wróblewski/AFP via Getty Images A history of Wisconsin’s voting In the early 20th century, the Republican party dominated Wisconsin, winning every statewide election between 1894 and 1930 and controlling large majorities in the Legislature. The rural white voter Trump’s 2016 campaign appealed to Wisconsin’s rural, overwhelmingly white voters, especially among those without a college degree. Both Democrats and Republicans have used apocalyptic language urging Wisconsin voters to “save America,” but Democrats can point to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot and Trump’s ongoing legal problems rather than Republicans’ more abstract concern about border security.
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