Rhode Island leans Democratic by roughly 16 points: about 58% of voters vote Democratic and 42% Republican. These figures are model estimates: Rhode Island did not have precinct-level voting records available for training, so the numbers above come from demographic and health features rather than local ground truth.
About 63% of adults in Rhode Island typically vote, near the U.S. average of about 62%. Among adults in Rhode Island, ~37% vote Democratic, ~26% Republican, and ~37% don't vote. The map below shows estimated turnout by block group.
How Rhode Island compares
Among states within 500 miles, Rhode Island leans more Democratic than 7 of 11 neighbors.
Politics vary noticeably by county within Rhode Island. The northeast side runs the most Democratic (D+32) and the west side runs the most Republican (R+3), a spread of about 35 points.
Why Rhode Island leans the way it does
This analysis examined 14,881 data points per state to find what predicts political lean and turnout. The items below are a few correlations that stood out for Rhode Island, not a ranked or complete list of what matters most.
Areas with high college attainment vote Democratic. About 38% of adults in Rhode Island hold a bachelor's degree, about 10 points above the U.S. average of 28%. A high never-married share predicts Democratic voting, and about 37% of adults in Rhode Island have never been married, above 94% of states.
Walkability and Democratic lean
Places with a highly walkable street grid tend to lean Democratic; Rhode Island sits in the top tenth nationally on this measure. A walkable street grid does not change how people vote; it mostly reflects how urban a place is.
Why turnout in Rhode Island looks the way it does
Areas with strong routine healthcare access turn out at higher rates. Rhode Island is in the top quarter nationally for routine-care measures such as insurance coverage, preventive screenings, and dental visits. The dental-visit rate here is about 69%, about 9 points above the U.S. average of 60%. Learn more about the findings and methodology on the political spectrum map.
Nearby States
- Massachusetts D+26
- New Hampshire D+6
- Vermont D+13
- New Jersey D+11
- New York D+16
- Maine Even
- Delaware D+17
- Pennsylvania Even
- Maryland D+33
- District of Columbia D+80
States with Similar Populations
- Montana R+20
- Delaware D+17
- South Dakota R+29
- Maine Even
- New Hampshire D+6
- North Dakota R+30
- Hawaii D+18
- Alaska Even
- District of Columbia D+80
- Vermont D+13
Sources and methodology
Precinct-level voting records used to fit the model come from Rhode Island Board of Elections, distributed by the Voting and Election Science Team. Demographic inputs come from the U.S. Census Bureau (ACS 5-year estimates and the 2020 Decennial Census). Health and environmental inputs come from the CDC (PLACES and the Environmental Justice Index). Land cover comes from the USGS and EPA. Election-day and lead-up weather come from PRISM 4km daily grids and the NOAA Global Historical Climatology Network. Mail-voting and election-administration patterns come from the MIT Election Lab's Survey of the Performance of American Elections. Block-group crime detail comes from CrimeGrade. Internet data and modeling support provided by ISPreports.org.
Modeling and analysis by the BestNeighborhood data science team. Rhode Island did not have precinct-level voting records available for training, so the figures here come from extrapolation across demographic, health, and land-use features rather than local ground truth. Full methodology and findings: political spectrum map.
Methodology reviewed by the BestNeighborhood data team. Last updated May 2026.