maps maps maps maps maps

[topaz]

The current meme going around seems to be electoral maps. We've all seen the state-by-state electoral breakdown, but here are some of the more interesting versions I've seen:

At http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/vote2004/countymap.htm, a map of Democratic and Republican votes, broken down by county rather than by state:


At http://www.electoral-vote.com/carto/nov04c.html, a "cartogram," which is apparently a map scaled to population rather than area:


From http://www.boingboing.net. This map describes just the margin of victory. Each state is colored a shade of purple depending on how many Republican (red) or Democrat (blue) votes it got. This gives a much better idea of how mixed the vote was:


moominmolly and claudia_ each posted a purple cartogram, combining the last two ideas. I think they did this independently, but I'm not sure. claudia_ posted her version here:


And moominmolly's is here:


I think this one is my favorite. A purple map drawn by county rather than by state. From KieranHealy.org.


Kieran links to a really huge version of this one: 1547x1053, 400KB.

Comments

[hissilliness.livejournal.com]

That last is fascinating. I'd always envisioned the Bible Belt as pretty much east-west, but it comes in clearly vertical on the county map.

It's interesting comparing it with a plain political map. The blue blotch linking Santa Fe and Denver is intriguing. What are those two bright blue counties in what appears to be South Dakota? Reservations?

Note also the sprinkling of strong blue in Black counties of the Southeast.

[reesei.livejournal.com]

Shannon and Todd counties, by comparison to a South Dakota county map, from this page. (http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/south_dakota.html)

And from another map on the same page... yes, the blue spots are all reservations. The ones along the bottom are the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations; the larger splotch at the top are the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River reservations.

[sirreality.livejournal.com]

The area around Pueblo, Colorado are the blue bloches you're seeing. The city has a decided blue-collar/Labor Dem slant.