If only the poorest counties were allowed to vote, and if each of those counties got only one vote, Mitt Romney would have won the electoral college 402-113. I have posted two maps below. The first map shows all counties marked that have 16.9% or more of the population under the poverty line. The red marks are counties that voted Romney. The blue marks are counties that voted Obama. Counties with less than 16.9% of the population under poverty are unmarked. The second map shows what the electoral map would have looked like if only those poor counties were allowed to vote, if each of them only got one vote, and if a majority of counties in a particular state went for one candidate. Alaska is a toss-up because I don’t have enough data to include it. Delaware, Connecticut and New Hampshire are toss-ups because they have no counties with 16.9% or more under the poverty line, so they would not be allowed to vote at all. Iowa is a toss-up because Obama and Romney tied there with only poor counties voting.

I did this research in order to show that the poor are not to blame for Republicans losing. The poor would have voted overwhelmingly for Mitt Romney if only the poor counties were allowed to vote and if each county got one vote. Barack Obama may have won re-election, but he does not have a mandate from the poor in America, contrary to popular belief.

Click each map for a larger image.

Source on Poverty statistics by county: USDA  The first U.S. Map is from the U.S. Census Bureau. Electoral map created with Real Clear Politics electoral map tool. Election results are from Politico.

I am a poor person myself. Please hit the tip jar.