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Illinois Is So-So In Political Engagement Rankings

WalletHub.com

There is good news and not-so-good news about political engagement in Illinois.

The good news is that Illinois ranked first for Voter Accessibility Policies in the study by wallethub.com.

The not-so-good news is that the Prairie State only ranked 23 out of the 50 states and District of Columbia in overall political engagement.

In its own neighborhood, Illinois fared about the same. Among states that share borders with Illinois, Missouri ranked 25th, Kentucky was 28th, and Indiana came in at 39th.

But Wisconsin was just below the top in second place, and Iowa ranked seventh.

Washington D.C was at the top of the list overall, and Oklahoma came in dead last.

Rankings were based on voter registration and turnout, political contributions, civic education engagement, and voter accessibility. Illinois ranked number one in that last category.

Illinois also was tied for ninth in Civic Education Engagement (with Wisconsin) and eleventh in total political contributions per adult. But the state was pulled down by rankings of 34th in both the percentage of electorate who voted in the 2012 elections and percentage who voted in the 2014 midterm elections. Those results were 58.2 percent in 2012 and 39.5 percent in 2014.

Illinois rankings in individual categories were:

  •  28th in percentage of registered voters in the 2012 Presidential Election
  • 34th in percentage of the electorate who voted in the 2012 Presidential Election
  • 23rd in the change in the percentage of electorate who actually voted in 2012 Elections vs. 2008 Elections
  • 34th in the percentage of the electorate who voted in the 2014 Midterm Election
  • 11th in total political contributions per adult population
  • 9th in Civic Education Engagement
  • 1st in voter accessibility policies

Wisconsin rankings in individual categories were:

  •  7th in percentage of registered voters in the 2012 Presidential Election
  • 3rd in percentage of the electorate who voted in the 2012 Presidential Election
  • 5th in the change in the percentage of electorate who actually voted in 2012 Elections vs. 2008 Elections
  • 4th in the percentage of the electorate who voted in the 2014 Midterm Election
  • 22nd in total political contributions per adult population
  • 9th in Civic Education Engagement
  • 8th in voter accessibility policies