Myth Busting (redux)

By DanCT Posted in Analysis and Predictions — Comments () / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Fact: The 45 Democratic Senators (including Jeffords) represent states with total population of 147,825,268, which exceeds the population of 138,026,809 represented by the 55 Republican Senators. (There was an error in my original calculation, and I apologize for any confusion this may have caused.) The calculations are below the fold.

Question: This "representation" issue is often cited as though it had some significance. Does it? Not according to our prior post.

Andrew Adds: The NY Times mentions the following in tomorrow's paper:

"A simple majority in the current Senate doesn't represent a majority of the United States..." Professor Gerhardt said.

That's dead wrong, if Vice President Cheney votes.

The calculation of how many people each party represents in the Senate is based on year 2000 census figures.

Working from the premise that Senators represent the people of the state as a whole, rather than only people in their own parties and that the states with split delegations have split representation, the calculation is as follows:

State       Population      GOP       Dem
Alabama       4447100   4447100         0
Alaska         626932    626932         0
Arizona       5130632   5130632         0
Arkansas      2673400         0   2673400
California   33871640         0  33871640
Colorado      4301261   2150630   2150630
Connecticut   3405565         0   3405565
Delaware       783600         0    783600
Florida      15982378   7991189   7991189
Georgia       8186453   8186453         0
Hawaii        1211537         0   1211537
Idaho         1293953   1293953         0
Illinois     12419293         0  12419293
Indiana       6080485   3040243   3040243
Iowa          2926324   1463162   1463162
Kansas        2688418   2688418         0
Kentucky      4041769   4041769         0
Louisiana     4468976   2234488   2234488
Maine         1274923   1274923         0
Maryland      5296486         0   5296486
Massachusetts 6349097         0   6349097
Michigan      14938444         0   14938444
Minnesota     4919479   2459740  2459740
Mississippi   2844658   2844658         0
Missouri      5595211   5595211         0
Montana        904433    452216    452216
Nebraska      1711263    855632    855632
Nevada        1998257    999128    999128
NewHampshire  1235786   1235786         0
NewJersey     8414350         0   8414350
NewMexico     1819046    909523    909523
NewYork      18976457         0  18976457
NorthCarolina 8049313   8049313         0
NorthDakota    642200         0    642200
Ohio         11353140  11353140         0
Oklahoma      3450654   3450654         0
Oregon        3421399   1710699   1710699
Pennsylvania1 2281054  12281054         0
RhodeIsland   1048319    524160    524160
SouthCarolina 4012012   4012012         0
SouthDakota    754844    377422    377422
Tennessee     5689283   5689283         0
Texas        20851820  20851820         0
Utah          2233169   2233169         0
Vermont        608827         0    608827
Virginia      7078515   7078515         0
Washington    5894121         0   5894121
WestVirginia  1808344         0   1808344
Wisconsin     5363675         0   5363675
Wyoming        493782    493782         0
Total       285852077 138026809	147825268

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