Gracie J.
asked • 05/15/199th grade civics
If a state were to have EXACTLY 20% of the Country’s population, how many legislators would it be allowed to send to the House of Representatives?
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1 Expert Answer
Arnold F. answered • 09/24/19
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20 Yrs. Teaching History. Be prepared for the Regents or AP Exam!
Representation in the House of Representatives is determined by several factors. The total number of legislators is 435, that number was set by the Congress. The state's population relative to the nation's entire population would determine how many of the 435 representatives would be assigned to a state.
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The obvious answer with simple math would be to calculate 20% of the total number of representatives (fixed at 435), and you would get 87. But given that each state is guaranteed at least 1 rep, even if their population is less than 1/435th of the total population, then the state with 20% of the population might get a few less than 87. For instance, the total pop. of the US in the 2010 census was about 308.75 million, divide that by 435 and you get a little under 710,000 people per representative. Two states, Wyoming and Vermont have a smaller population than that, but would be guaranteed one rep.05/24/19