Princeton paints nation as "Purple America" based on election results

Princeton University ^ | November 2004 | Robert J. Vanderbei

[mhking]

Using County-by-County election return data from USA Today together with County boundary data from the US Census' Tiger database we produced the following graphic depicting the results. Of course, blue is for the democrats, red is for the republicans, and green is for all other. Each county's color is a mix of these three color components in proportion to the results for that county.

Counties shown in black represent either missing election data or a mismatch between the US Census data and the USA Today data. For example, the New England states' election return data is given for each municipality and/or district rather than for each county. Hence, it couldn't be easily matched with the county boundaries.

Click anywhere on the map for a larger version.

[jocon307]

"I've been looking for a bigger version of the blue-red map for days."

check out the "today's toons" thread, pookie's got a pretty huge on on there.

[icecold]

=

[Clemenza]

The nabe I lived in in Miami-Dade County (Doral) was a red zone in 2000 and was red again in 2004. Its North Dade and the Beach that turn it blue.

[dead]

Boy, they really vagued-up that entirely too-illustrative red/blue map!

Très ivy league!

[ctdonath2]

Cool! Was hoping someone would do that.

[Smile-n-Win]

Years ago the Republicans were always, always portrayed as BLUE on national election maps and the Democrats were always portrayed as red.

This site still uses red for RATs and blue for us.

[Thinkin' Gal]

2363 Thuateira {thoo-at'-i-rah}

of uncertain derivation;; n pr loc

AV - Thyatira 4; 4

Thyatira = "odour of affliction"

1) a colony of Macedonia Greeks, situated between Sardis and Pergamos on the river Lycus; its inhabitants gained their living by traffic and the art of dyeing in purple

[Future Useless Eater]

Their color patterns SUCK!

The areas which were close but contributed to Bush's victory look DARK purple And the areas which were close but contributed to Kerry's victory ALSO look DARK purple

Their map as a whole looks pro-kerry. I prefer the straight RED/BLUE color patterns... I temporarily lost my ability to upload graphics, but I see that if you edit THEIR map, and crank it up to MAXIMUM contrast, you only get a few counties MAGENTA, and everything else is bright RED or BLUE. Its quite beautiful!

They also forgot Alaska and Hawaii, probably because Alaska would be a whole lotta red.

Lots of people might like to make this their background wallpaper, so if anyone makes this change and UPLOADS it somewhere, please keep it AT LEAST 1024x768 pixels, and maybe change the title to NOT So Purple America

[cogitator]

The areas which were close but contributed to Bush's victory look DARK purple And the areas which were close but contributed to Kerry's victory ALSO look DARK purple.

I noted that I think blue (GOP) vs. red (Dem) provides a better pattern distribution than the standard. That doesn't mean it's the best choice: two highly-contrasted colors should be used.

However, if the areas are close, then the "close" color should be near to purple. I think the source of your comment is that blue is a stronger color than red.

[nuconvert]

Looks like a fish

[GraniteStateConservative]

We should all be like Nebraska and Maine. Bush would have picked up like 20 more electoral votes or so. Too many lawns are disenfranchised. Where's Jesse Jackson?

[laurav]

I want to know why the Mississippi River Valley, from Minnesota to Louisiana, tends Democratic.

Isn't the Mississippi Delta disproportionately African American? That would explain it being a Democratic spot in the midst of a very Republican south.

[anonymous_user]

Poor Democrats got "marooned" in the hearland.

[cogitator]

After much deliberation, I think this is the best representation I've seen yet. White is an exact tie. Darker shades of red are an increasingly large vote for Bush; darker shades of blue are an increasingly large vote for Kerry. The cartogram is modified (as are others already shown) for the actual size of the population.

[Clemenza]

The northern half of the Mississippi from Minneapolis to around Cape Girardeau is heavily industrialized (and unionized). The Misssissippi south of Missouri is heavily black.

[Future Useless Eater]

To each his own but I prefer maximum contrast and I would even go so far as to eliminate ALL ties if possible.

Any county that generated even 1 vote more for Bush, contributed toward Bush's victory. And I like to see the maximum sea of bright red.

[Porterville]

Blue is the dominant color over red... so the hue is going to point more strongly to democrats... once again liberals showing bias in their decision making.... nice try

[cogitator]

That's why I like the reversed palette better.

[Porterville]

ART 101: BLUE IS DOMINANT TO RED SO RED TO BLUE IN EQUAL PORTIONS DOES NOT REPRESENT A FAIR VISUAL ANALYSIS TO QUANTITY

JUST LIKE WHITE WITH A LITTLE BLACK MAKES A DARK GRAY

[najida]

Based on the color wheel (that I always have with me) it isn't purple,

It is a Red-Red Violet.
Way more red than blue.