Skip to main content
Statistics Are Interesting!

The Wall Street Journal 2012 Election Map


This is a brilliant map, showing each county (or county-equivalent state subdivision, seemingly aside from those in Alaska and Hawaii).  You can see that the deeper the blue, the more skewed towards Obama, and the deeper the read, the more skewed towards Romney the counties are.

Although there are Red States and Blue States, it easy to see that things aren't so simple as that.  Maps like these tell us that it's mostly urban areas (as well as rural areas with large minority populations) that go for Democrats, and rural areas that go for Republicans.

Even looking at New York, California, Washington, and Oregon (among others) you can see that lots of rural counties went Red.  It was the same in recent past elections.

Nevada is a Blue state, yet the only Blue areas of the state are Las Vegas and Reno.  All other counties are Red.  Yet the population distribution is such that just those cities can stand up to the rest of the state.

Even in many "Red" states, the major cities are Blue.  For example, in North Carolina (which switched from Blue to Red this election), Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro, Chapel Hill, and Asheville were all Blue...some being quite deep blue.  There were many other Blue counties, too, but they were not enough to keep the whole state Blue.

In Indiana, the only previously Blue state which also switched, Indianapolis was deep blue, and Gary (a suburb of Chicago), Michigan City, and South Bend (home of the University of Notre Dame) were also blue.

Even in Texas (a solid Red state), Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio went blue, while Houston was pale Red (yet had been Blue in 2008).

As for race, it's pretty interesting.

In Mississippi, 59% of people are white, and Romney got 55% of the total vote.  My guess is that the vast majority of white people there voted for Romney.

However, in Vermont (a totally "Blue" state), 94% of the population is made up of "non-Hispanic whites" (with blacks accounting for 1%), while 67% of the total population voted for Obama.  Obviously a large majority of whites voted for Obama in Vermont.

It just goes to show you that things are complex...and I'm glad they are.  It's more interesting.  And those progressives who are from Red states but live in Blue counties can have some pride that at least their subdivision voted the right way!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

In Defense of...Cecil Rhodes?!

You all know Cecil Rhodes, right?  He was a British Imperialist (living from 1853-1902) who founded the De Beers diamond mining and trading company.  Just this morning, I came upon a post comparing him to Adolf Hitler, and claiming that Cecil Rhodes killed at least 60 million Africans.  It has been shared 99 times.  Here is the post: https://plus.google.com/+TonyJefferson/posts/CZ6HW3AxDo6 Unlike many, I decided to do some research on it.  That is my nature.  I don't accept things without evidence given, and even when no evidence is provided, I search for evidence.  If after looking, no evidence is forthcoming, then I discount the claim unless compelling evidence does surface.  After my research on this topic (taking up about an hour of my day and 28 open tabs on my browser...but still an enjoyable time because this is what I like to do), I found that my initial skepticism was well justified and that this comparison is incorrect.  Adolph H...

The Dark Side of the Women's March

The recent Women's March, which took place in Washington and numerous other cities one day after the inauguration of President Trump, may go down as the largest protest in American history. Millions showed up to these events to advocate for women's issues and to protest against Donald Trump. While very few would find fault in a women's march in and of itself, upon inspecting this women's march further, some disturbing information comes to light. The Women's March was thankfully quite peaceful, unlike Inauguration Day when the group Antifa (the "anti-fascists"), although stymied by the police, were ironically able to carry out their own mini "Kristallnacht" (or rather, "Kristalltag"), smashing windows and setting fires in broad daylight. The Women's March appears to have been non-violent and there were apparently no arrests. However, problems start to manifest themselves when we look at the people who set up and spoke at th...

The Sixth Great Mass Extinction and Human Survival

Recently, there have been numerous articles about a study showing that we are in the midst of the Earth's sixth great mass extinction.  Below are some quotes, and then I will give my thoughts. "Miami (AFP) - The world is embarking on its sixth mass extinction with animals disappearing about 100 times faster than they used to, scientists warned Friday, and humans could be among the first victims." "Not since the age of the dinosaurs ended 66 million years ago has the planet been losing species at this rapid a rate, said a study led by experts at Stanford University, Princeton University and the University of California, Berkeley." "The study "shows without any significant doubt that we are now entering the sixth great mass extinction event," said co-author Paul Ehrlich, a Stanford University professor of biology." http://news.yahoo.com/sixth-mass-extinction-us-study-210749359.html This is sad, although it's not news.  I ...