If you are a blue voter, you are surely aware of the criticism of red state/blue state maps that the balance is improperly displayed because many of the red states in the middle of the country have a lot of land but not very many voters, so giving those states a large area on a map is misleading.
Mark Newman
My favorite solution to this problem has always been the Spider-Man-looking county-by-county cartogram scaled to population or electoral vote size, like the one above by Mark Newman of the Department of Physics and Center for the Study of Complex Systems at the University of Michigan. The above shows "a color scale that ranges from red for 70% Republican or more, to blue for 70% Democrat or more." Plus, it's Spider-Man-like.
Meet me on the other side for not only the best map yet, but another one that's a real mindblower.
This morning, io9 shared another solution to the problem: a Goldsberry map by John Nelson.
John Nelson
Nelson plotted a red or blue dot for every hundred votes for President Obama or Mitt Romney. You can see a bigger version here but I think it works best when you see the whole country and general patterns are visible (can you see the black belt?) along with a stark depiction of just how sparse the population is in those big red areas.
Unfortunately the details in the more heavily populated areas are lost in purple mud, so there's not much to see if you look really close.
Enter Chris Howard, a fantasy and science fiction author and illustrator who took the county-by-county map by Mark Newman and overlaid population density data from other sources to make the clearest picture I've seen of Purple America.*
Chris Howard
Now for the mindblower: Among the sources Howard cites in his explanation of his map is Princeton University's Robert J. Vanderbei (Note to self, go back and play with his faculty page later). Vanderbei's solution to showing the population differences without distorting the geography is to render the population data into a third dimension on a spinning 3D map. NOTE: The file is 55MB, so after you click, it takes a while to load. Here's the direct link.
*I've put a copy of the large version of the Chris Howard map on our media servers as well, to hopefully share some of the hosting burden, but please use the Chris Howard links as the credit is all his.
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These maps make me VERY HAPPY... Because there is a blue mass in my red state (Missouri) that represents me. I am really tired of the media and the campaigns acting like my state is a lost cause. I think that if they pretended like it mattered to them whether I vote more people would be empowered to fight the wave of political pull that the right has established in this state. We are a mixed state... we really are... I think that even if we did not go for Obama in 2008 or 2012, the image of 100,000 people under the best backdrop in the world for an image of change and potential the Gateway Arch WAS SIGNIFICANT... It does make a difference that over 50% of the popular vote went for Obama. Not to get him elected but to give a strong message that this is not just political math but what the country wants. EMPOWER US... Make us believe that WE COUNT... For weeks perhaps months perhaps years we have been told daily that if you are not in OHIO or a few other choice states that our vote does not count... THAT IS CRAP... EACH AND EVERY AMERICAN MUST VOICE OUR OPINIONS... it is the ONLY WAY to KEEP OUR FREEDOMS ALIVE... If we want to continue to be the UNITED STATES of AMERICA... we have to voice our opinions AND VOTE... The blue votes in the red states and the red votes in the blue states COUNT... PLEASE STOP TELLING US THEY DON'T... it is in those opposing opinions that we find balance to protect this country that is THE GREATEST LAND IN THE WORLD... PLEASE don't take it lightly no matter which side of the divide you happen to live on... I wish for a UNITED STATES of AMERICA... No secessions... however trivial they might seem... It breaks my heart that we cannot choose to be ONE NATION... UNDER GOD... INDIVISIBLE... with LIBERTY... and JUSTICE...... FOR ALL!!
That was one of my main goals,to put my two cents in for the passing of the anti-distrimination orderance within our work place including protections along with people with disabilities with equal rights for all!
I'm also from Missouri, Cindy. The funny thing is that the reddest county on the map is JASPER county (three up from the bottom on the far SW corner). That's where Joplin is located - and it's where I'm from. LOL
We are all trying to achieve the same goal. It's the method we are at odds over.
The House of Representatives is for population ( by Thomas Jefferson ). The Senate is for region ( by Alexander Hamilton ). The President is for all.
True. Unfortunatley, due to gerrymandering, our current house is imbalanced.
I agree!
How sad there are only two colors.
http://biggerfatterpolitics.blogspot.com/
Some interesting facts about the red states:
1. Higher divorce rates
2. Higher teen pregnancy rates
3. Lower collective IQ
4. More smokers
5. Higher obesity rates
6. Fat states receive more federal aid than the pay in taxes
Red states = fat + stupid + parasitic + gluttonous + hedonistic + imoral. PRAISE JESUS!
If indeed these are facts about the red states,then the evolutionary process will take care of it. Have patience.
The evolutionary process takes too much time. I only have about 30 more years on this earth - I kind of want to spend it enjoying my life and not having to deal every four years with wingnuts!!
And the Blue states use the meth, get more abortions and pay the highest health insurance rates!
...And higher taxes. Red states love to spend other people's hard hard earned money while taking money from the very government they bitch about.
The red states are the fattest, have the lowest IQs, highest teen pregnancy rates and highest divorce rates, highest poverty rates, most smokers and highest violent crime rates.
http://biggerfatterpolitics.blogspot.com/
AND they obviously have the least understanding of simple mathematics!! Maybe that's a new requirement to be a Republican these days!
Much of Democratic philosophy encompasses fighting bias and discrimination. Stereotyping conservative voters as stupid, fat, etc. is just as reprehensible as other forms of discrimination. Not everyone is going to think like you do. Respect the differences, at the very least.
Well, pointing to statistics isn't the same thing as stereotyping.
Seems to me that all these folks could quit playing with dots and do domething worthwhile-like coming up with a way to end gerrymandering of districts.
By the way---Obama won,end of story.
As Paul says, gerrymandering is the real culprit! And it can only be addressed every 10 years, in the census.
So, Progressives need to start working NOW, to assure a Democratic House in 2020.
Maybe we should consider a system where the states vote en masse for their representatives instead of voting for them by district. That would stop the gerrymandering and would ensure that the House would represent popular vote, as it was supposed to do.
Another interesting fact I discovered: Virginia State Law allows one voting machine for every 750 residents (thank god some counties have decided to require more machines than the state law!). Now if you spend five minutes voting at the machine, it would take 3750 minutes for 750 people to vote or 62.5 hours. But the voting day is only 12 hours. Since 76% of eligible voters voted in this last election, anyone see a problem??? Was there any surprise there were long lines?
Yea, the great gerrymandering State of Virginia REALLY WANTS its people to vote!!!
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I live in a red rural area of NYS and the same 'demographics' apply as mentioned above. People are heavy, there are lots of teen pregnancies, lots on medicaid due to really high unemloyment, very high cancer rate, high smoking rate, meth labs, etc.
I really believe people 'vote red' because they just don't get the facts. If they knew the facts and could comprehend them, then they wouldn't vote for republicans.
Karma, is this the famous open-mindedness that I hear liberals tout??
I vote 'red'. So I just do so because I don't get the facts?? Well why don't you explain them to me?
I pay my bills, do not receive gov't aid, own guns and fundamentally dislike the idea of a gov't that if it doesn't tell me how I have to live outright, pressures me 1000 ways to live how they desire. I have no children. I prefer that the referee never play the game. I regard the gov't as referee.
Republicans are far from my perfect position and I disagree with some, but I find vast and deep philosophical differences with the big gov't position of Democrats... Ultimately, I'd like gov't to get out of my way when I buy a gun or start a business or buy (or not buy) things...
Please explain how I should vote Democrat to get the outcome I seek??
This, too, is what democracy looks like:
"On the side of the Union, it is a struggle for maintaining in the world that form and substance of government whose leading object is to elevate the condition of men … to afford all an unfettered start, and a fair chance, in the race of life."
-President Abraham Lincoln, describing the Civil War as a "people's contest."
Read more at
http://lifeamongtheordinary.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-price-of-fame-part-one.html
I love the purple. It means we're all in this together. Neither gloating nor secession are appropriate responses (look at all the blue on the state who wish to secede). Instead, having meaningful conversation (outside of Facebook and comments) would be a better response. There have never been mandates on elections within our lifetime, and we need to realize that.
It really does show how the Applachians Mts are very much red and that seems to correlate with just how ill-educated most people are in those areas (I grew up there so I know just how bad it is). Poor western Pennsylvania. :(
Wait, what...I made a map? No, I made a TRMS Photo Book, but not a map. Oh...wrong Chris Howard, never mind. :)
I love the Spiderman map...it makes it look like America is a blue country with a red, Andromeda Strain-style infection spreading from border to border...
best way to stop gerrymandering in the 21st century. stop using the census for allocation of funds and federal representation. prisoners are counted in the census for where they are housed not where their home of record is. stop allowing non voting prisoners to be counted as a part of the local population as they are not represented by those districts. If this practice stops alot of the redrawing of districts and funneling of money from the inner cities will cease. For example,he small prison town of Florence, Arizona has 5,224 residents with another 11,830 people living in prisons located in the town. The effect is that for every dollar in Florence’s budget generated by local fees and taxes, an additional $1.76 cines from state and federal allocutions based on the counting as residents of prisoners housed there, roughly 70% of the city’s population, who receive little or no benefit from the services that outside money pays for. The same misappropriation of millions of dollars in funds from poor, urban districts to rural districts is occurring in every state throughout the nation. end prisons for profit end gerrymandering its that simple.
I am asking all my RED state voting Friends here in Missouri to vote Democratic in the next election..so that we can be the next Ohio and actually matter..but do you think those anti American right wing voters will do anything to benefit any one else? hardly..I mean all we have to do is become purple and we get to be the state where all the campaign money is spent..which would improve our economy, hell we might even get a debate again.. remember when W was here and tied up all the traffic and stayed at the Hunter Farms Compound in West County.. they had cops blocking roads and it added 25 minutes t my commute.. Hunter farms owners used to have money and clout, because they stopped a highway expansion for the longest time, but either they needed the eminent domain cash or they lost their clout because now we have the new road, but I digress( for a point)...So come on all you bumpkins in the rural areas.. lets work together for the benefit of our state, heck( because they are religious) you stepped up and sent that idiot Akin down the road crying, you have it in you, put your state first, quit being so petty...after all you know you only vote for the republicans because logic and facts do not play a part in your decision making process, if it did you would actually have valid reasons to use when you attempt to convince me to go red, instead of sending dogs pissing on Obama signs, or false welfare claims about "Larmando Flair Allen or my favorite "the because I said so" emails...you know them, they have no facts, no links excpet to Fox Nes or other biased right wing sites, that back up everything you say, yet are so easily disproved by actually checking factual sites..like actually going to the GAO or the US Dept of Labor, or any TANF site..so come on right wingers quit being so gullible.. be honest , you knew Willard couldnt win when he refused to share his taxes, you knew he was hiding a lot of information like actual work history and hidden tax shelters..please tell me you are not that stupid..I mean we know you voted for W twice, but surely you learn fire burns after the second time? right? --sorry Correct? O well 16 is coming..who you going to run against Hilary? Paul Ryan? and his perfect running mate , of course Sarah Palin..it will be dumb & dumberer redux..hell I bet the Park avenue nimrods will give you $2 Billion to lose..be sure to get Karl on Fox Again.. watching his melt down put me in the Holiday spirit early, more so than "Myth" losing...and now we have Mittens crying about why he lost.. I know-I know it is so hard when the wealthy learn the reality that "Money cannot buy everything" but if they do not learn it young, then they never will..I would love to discuss Ayn rand and Atlas Shrugged with Paul Ryan.. I wonder what his opinions are on Dagny having an affair with Hank( a married man) or Dagny abandoning her child hood friend Eddie Willers, he aligned his self with the wealthy1%..but it did him no good in the end..also the whole "Value for Value"concept Ayn addresses.. that the TEA baggers have misconstrued into "capitalism for the sake of capitalism"..So much I doubt Paul or the rest of the Tea Nuts comprehend..O well I do go on sometimes.. Have a nice Union day and if you are off this weekend..thank UNION member..(you are welcome)
The reason republicans are against eggy-cation is clearly seen on the map. The ill-educated people will alllow themselves to go humgry and do without and will always vote against their better interest, thinking that somehow the one percent will take care of them when they get old. The ill-educated love being patted on the head and told they are a good (ole) boy or girl. They know their place and it is not at the table with everyone else who know better and because they are ill-educated. We all know that wealth goes up, not downwards. They don't know that because they find ways to believe whatever they want to believe. Which in turn makes democracy messy for those of us who do vote correcty.
I favor the Kandinsky-esque one at the top.
From Jackson Pollack to Picasso and all points in between the maps are truly amazing. And what do they show us - individually and collectively? America is truly a country that embodies diversity. It's everywhere - shown in every-changing hues. And it is a visual representation of the future that the Democratic Party has embraced. A future that the GOP continues to turn a blind eye to.
Pollack, Picasso ... don't forget Georges Seurat (the second map) and Piet Mondrian (the third one).
Looking at these maps reveals that the divide in American politics has as much to do with urban vs. rural as anything. And that makes perfect sense. Rural folks are often isolated giving them the illusion that they are on their own. Urban folk are more used to depending on each other.
Let's not forget the use of the particular colors. These maps are great because they do represent by population and not land mass. But, red is also a color that stands out against it's darker blue counterpart which tricks the eye to thinking the red is more prevalent. Just like all the individual dots of blue and red together make it appear to be purple. Great research!
I love the blue heart over the upper midwest.................Is it a transplant? Or the healing heart of a nation?
Same with my state, Oklahoma. You can clearly see Oklahoma City and Tulsa--dark blue. Most of the rest is pinkish, with (I think) Lawton where there's a military post (Fort Sill)--it's very purple. Surprisingly, not much deep red. I suppose the pink is because of the sparser population in the farming areas?
There's a new Org. to get money out of politics, please join, it will solve a lot of the above problems.
I Live in Pima County, Arizona, Tucson is my home. For years and years we have been the Democratic stronghold in Arizona. I would like to point out that the current governor, Jan Brewer, has begun to explore the possibility of running for yet another term, next election, even though we all breathed a sigh of relief, in that with this election, she is legally term limited!!! Clearly a woman in possession of balls. Please Rachael, could you make this one of your stories when you have a spot for Political heresy? Anne Fisher
I love to see that deep blue square in the center of red red Utah. With demographics quickly shifting here, I'd love to see Utah grow more purple.