Mainers take top honors as nation's most politically engaged state

When it comes to politics, Mainers take top honors as the most politically energized state.

It's all about turnout, experts say, and the stakes may never have been as high as they are now. But looking back on Election Day 2016 only 61.4 percent of the voting age population voted. During the 2018 midterms even less went to the polls at 53.4 percent. The personal-finance website WalletHub on Tuesday released its report on 2020's Most and Least Politically Engaged States.

Massachusetts came in 10th, while New Hampshire was listed at 13th.

In order to determine where Americans are most involved in politics, WalletHub compared the 50 states across 11 key indicators of political engagement. They range from "percentage of registered voters in the 2016 presidential election" to "total political contributions per adult population."

Key Stats

• Maine has the highest share of citizens who actually voted in the 2016 presidential election, 72.68 percent, which is 1.5 times higher than in Hawaii, where the percentage is lowest at 47.27 percent.
• Maine has the highest share of citizens who actually voted in the 2018 midterm elections, 65.60 percent, which is 1.5 times higher than in Arkansas, where the percentage is lowest at 42.60 percent.