Election maps

[kmusser]

Several of you have pointed out the neat election maps at http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2012/. If you haven't yet go check them out, I'll wait.

I agree with his point that the standard red vs blue maps mask a lot of what's really going on because our population is not evenly distributed and states and counties aren't really all red or all blue. I think his "purple" maps overcorrect though. While places aren't all red or blue, most counties are mostly one or the other - there is a real divide out there. He is mapping counties that having a 60%/40% split as purple and in my mind that isn't all that close.

So, I've made a new map. I've taken the difference between the percentage voting republican and the percentage voting democratic and averaged them over the last 3 elections. The counties that have a fairly even divide I've colored yellow so they stand out more - and note there aren't all that many of them. People living in what I've colored the deep red and deep blue counties are mostly surrounded by others with like views and probably don't encounter the opposing viewpoint in their day to day lives.



PDF format in case you want to zoom in.

Comments

[skill-grl.livejournal.com]

Awesome! I will officially ask (even though I know why it isn't really worth your time) for AK and HI.

[kmusser]

Yeah, I didn't bother because it would've made the map trickier to make, but Alaska is all red and Hawaii is all blue. Alaska also doesn't have 2012 data at the county level out yet.

[skill-grl.livejournal.com]

Yeah. It's actually pretty amazing that Alaska is all red given the strong voter turnout and Blue voting pattern of Indian Reservations throughout the rest of the USA.

[andrewducker]

Awesome. My favourite one so far.

Can I ask what you used to make it?

[kmusser]

I use ArcGIS, though any GIS type program could do it. 2004 and 2008 are already available in a GIS format via the National Atlas. 2012 I got from the umich site linked above (and had to do a little bit of messing with to get it to join up).

[andrewducker]

Aaah, cool. Sadly, not a piece of software I have handy.

Mind if I repost this?

[kmusser]

Feel free.

[struct.livejournal.com]

Wow, I had no idea that South Texas was so liberal! I knew that the Austin-San Antonio metroplex was blue, but I had no idea about the rest!

[kmusser]

Yeah, those are all majority hispanic counties, another couple of election cycles and Texas might be a swing state due to the hispanic vote.

[selki.livejournal.com]

Interesting, thanks! I agree that 60-40 isn't all that close, especially given how entrenched many are who are either red or blue.

I'd also be interested to see a version w' the states shrunken/expanded by electoral impact -- it looks like a LOT of red above, but my understanding is, many of the red states above don't have a huge electoral impact.

[kmusser]

Yes, I might try to do a version that adds in population - a lot of counties, especially in the great plains red swath have very low populations.

[selki.livejournal.com]

Via cheetahmaster: See http://www.theatlanticcities.com/politics/2012/11/political-map-weve-been-waiting/3908/ and scroll down: " Chris Howard, an author and illustrator living in New Hampshire, took Newman’s first map and instead layered directly on top of it census population data for every county in the continental U.S. (this is a measure of total population, not just voters)." http://www.theatlanticcities.com/politics/2012/11/political-map-weve-been-waiting/3908/

[kmusser]

Nice, yeah, I could definitely do the same thing here - I still think population heights would be easier to see what's going on, but adding a population shading is easier to implement.

[selki.livejournal.com]

Oops, just to clarify, I meant that as "this is interesting", not "you should do that!"

[rigelkitty.livejournal.com]

If there could somehow be a third dimension, beyond color and intensity, to denote population, I think it'd be very revealing.

[kmusser]

Yeah, unfortunately the software I used doesn't support doing cartograms like the umich guy has. I could probably do height though, will test it out.

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

Intensity of color might work, if you can get your five base colors down right (Green/Blue/Yellow/Purple/Red?)

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

I thought I saw a height thing go past on fb... Did you make one?

[kmusser]

No, wasn't mine, but I've seen them done for the 2008 election though. I was checking it out last night and it is doable for my map, but is a little tricky, so won't have it quickly.

[toothlesshag.livejournal.com]

I love how the DC/Metro I-95 corridor controls MD.