Independent analysis of presidential elections, the Electoral College, and the voter coalitions that decide them.
The United States elects its president not by popular vote, but through the Electoral College — a system of 538 electors distributed across all 50 states and Washington D.C. To win the presidency, a candidate must secure at least 270 electoral votes.
This threshold makes a handful of competitive states — swing states — disproportionately decisive. The 270 Project tracks the shifting coalitions, demographic trends, and strategic decisions that determine which candidate reaches that magic number.
Modern presidential campaigns spend 90% of their resources in a handful of states. We map the logic — and the risks — of this approach.
The 2016 and 2020 cycles exposed systematic errors in state-level polling. Here's what the data science community has learned since.
Harry Byrd's 15 electoral votes from unpledged electors in 1960 remain the last time a third-party candidate meaningfully disrupted the Electoral College.
Analysis, data, and context — delivered before the news cycle moves on. No spin. No noise.
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