Missouri's electoral votes in U.S. presidential elections 1820-2020

Missouri has taken part in all 51 U.S. presidential elections since 1820, voting for the winning candidate on 37 occasions, giving a success rate of 73 percent. Missouri was a staunchly Democrat state for most of the nineteenth century, only voting Republican during the Civil War and Reconstruction. Throughout the twentieth century, Missouri was the epitomic bellwether state; siding with the winning candidate in 23 out of 25 elections, only failing to vote for the nationwide winner in 1900 and 1956. The Show-Me State has voted for the Republican Party's nominee in the past six elections, with Donald Trump winning the 2016 election in Missouri by the largest margin in over three decades; the state's status has changed from being a battleground state to a safe red state, and in the 2020 election, Donald Trump won the state again, with the same share of the popular vote.

Missouri's President

As of 2020, President Harry S. Truman is the only Missouri native to have ascended to the presidency. Truman was born and raised in Missouri, and then represented his home state in the senate, before winning the vice presidency in the 1944 election, and ascending to the presidency less than four months after taking office. No other president has been born in or resided in Missouri when taking office, nor has any major party candidate (although Benjamin G. Brown did receive some electoral votes in the 1872*** election).

Electoral votes

Since its admission to the union in 1821****, Missouri's allocation of electoral votes grew from just three to eighteen throughout the nineteenth century. It then plateaued at this number from 1904 to 1928, but has fallen to just ten votes since 2012. For the past century, Missouri's population growth in each decade has been below ten percent, and growing at a much lower rate than the national average; it is estimated that Missouri's population growth in the 2010s was just 2.5 percent, which is its lowest growth rate of any decade since records began.