Monday, October 20, 2008

Presidential Forecast - 10/20 - Leveling off

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The projection has leveled off, and Obama leads 330-208, down 1 EV from the last projection. Colorado remains our tipping point state, and CO and VA continue to be the key states in this election. If Obama wins either, he wins, regardless of FL, OH and the other Tossups.

The state-by-state map consensus is Obama 286 (Strong-259(+10), Lean-27(-10)), McCain 174 (+5) (Strong-137, Lean-37 (+5)), Tossup: 78 (-5).

Map changes: Towards Obama: MN: OL->O. Towards McCain: WV: T->ML

Please also check out our Senate Forecast and House Forecast.

The sources are sorted by each projection's estimate of Obama's Electoral Votes (Algorithm at bottom). The states are sorted from Obama-Strong to McCain -Strong. The right column shows a running total of Obama's EVs. States in 3 or more categories: CO, MT, ND, VA, WV.

DCW Presidential Forecast
State
EVs538
.com
Open LeftEV.
com
RCPElect. Proj.RMCNNFHQNBCEVs
Date

10/20.10/19.10/20.10/20.10/20.10/20.10/15.10/20.10/20.
Obama-Strong (O)

286264264259242260192217175
Obama-Lean (OL)

786522274426855689
Tossup (T)

0381009797788791111
McCain-Lean (ML)

111915182411522229
McCain-Strong (M)

163152137137131163122152134
Obama Total

364329286286286286277273264
McCain Total

174171152155155174174174163
Obama Est.

344339335333333323324320324

California
55OOOOOOOOO55
Conn.
7OOOOOOOOO62
DC
3OOOOOOOOO65
Delaware
3OOOOOOOOO68
Hawaii
4OOOOOOOOO72
Illinois
21OOOOOOOOO93
Maryland
10OOOOOOOOO103
Massachusetts
12OOOOOOOOO115
New York
31OOOOOOOOO146
Oregon
7OOOOOOOOO153
Rhode Island
4OOOOOOOOO157
Vermont
3OOOOOOOOO160
Maine
4OOOOOOOLOO164
New Jersey
15OOOOOOOOOL179
Washington
11OOOOOOOLOO190
Iowa
7OOOOOOOLOOL197
Minnesota
10OOOOOOOLOOL207
Wisconsin
10OOOOOOOLOOL217
Michigan
17OOOOOLOOOLOL234
Pennsylvania
21OOOOOOOLOLOL255
NH
4OOOOOOLOLOLOL259
New Mexico
5OOOOLOLOOLOLOL264
Colorado
9OOLOLOLOLOLTOLT273
Virginia
13OOLOLOLOLOLOLTT286
Florida
27OLOLTTTTTTT313
Missouri
11OLOLTTTTTTT324
Nevada
5OLOLTTTTTTT329
N. Carolina
15OLTTTTTTTT344
Ohio
20OLTTTTTTTT364
Indiana
11MLMLTTTMLMLMLT375
N. Dakota
3MTTTTMMLMLML378
W. Virginia
5MMLTTTMMLMLML
Montana
3MMLTMLMLMMLMLML
Georgia
15MMMLMLMLMMLMML
Arkansas
6MMMMMLMMLMM
Louisiana
9MMMMMMMLMM
S. Dakota
3MMMMMMMMML
Alabama
9MMMMMMMMM
Alaska
3MMMMMMMMM
Arizona
10MMMMMMMMM
Idaho
4MMMMMMMMM
Kansas
6MMMMMMMMM
Kentucky
8MMMMMMMMM
Mississippi
6MMMMMMMMM
Nebraska
5MMMMMMMMM
Oklahoma
7MMMMMMMMM
S. Carolina
8MMMMMMMMM
Tennessee
11MMMMMMMMM
Texas
34MMMMMMMMM
Utah
5MMMMMMMMM
Wyoming
3MMMMMMMMM


538
.com
Open LeftEV.
com
RCPElect. Proj.RMCNNFHQNBC....










































































Notes:
538 - FiveThirtyEight - Safe and Likely mapped to Strong (O or M), Lean to Lean (OL or ML), Tossup to Tossup (T)
CNN - Safe mapped to Strong, Leaning to Lean, Tossup to Tossup
Elect. Proj. - Election Projection - Solid and Strong mapped to Strong, Moderate to Lean, Weak to Tossup
EV.com - Electoral-Vote.com - Strong mapped to Strong, Weak to Lean, Barely and Tossup to Tossup
FHQ -
FrontLoading HQ - Solid mapped to Strong, Lean to Lean, Tossup (Dem and Rep) to Tossup
NBC - Base mapped to strong,
Lean to Lean, Tossup to Tossup
OpenLeft - Solid mapped to Strong, Lean to Lean, Tossup to Tossup
RM - Rasmussen - Safe and Likely mapped to Strong, Lean to Lean, Tossup to Tossup
RCP - RealClearPolitics - Solid mapped to Strong, Lean to Lean, Tossup to Tossup

The overall projection is just a straight average of each projections' estimate of Electoral Votes (EVs) for each candidate. For each projection other than FiveThirtyEight, we give Obama 100% of the EVs in a state that is solid for him, 80% of the EVs for a leaner, 50% of the EVs for a Tossup, 20% of the EVs for state that is McCain-Lean, and 0% of the Solid McCain states. Exact opposite for McCain. For FiveThirtyEight, we use their overall estimate of Obama's EVs, not the state-by-state categories.

Any state which is majority Strong, and has no Tossups, is considered to be Strong for all projections. The categories in the chart are original, but the final number for each projection is adjusted. For this week, the following states were affected by this change: IA, ME, MI, MN, NH, NJ, PA, WA, WI (Obama), AR, LA, SD (McCain). This change has added 4 EVs to Obama's total.