November 16, 2008
Building Better Election Maps
2008 results on a standard blue/red U.S. election map.
Those red and blue maps generated by the television networks on election night have neither the art nor the analysis of the “cartograms” produced by Mark Newman at the University of Michigan Department of Physics and Center for the Study of Complex Systems.
Newman points out that simply taking a standard map of the United States and coloring each state blue or red based on whether it voted for Barak Obama or John McCain distorts the overall strength of the candidate or his party. Why? Because those standard maps are based on geography, not population.
Newman’s cartogram adjusting for population.“It fails to allow for the fact that the population of the red states is, on average, significantly lower than that of the blue ones. The blue may be small in area, but they represent a large number of voters, which is what matters in an election,” Newman explains on his maps webpage.
The president, of course, isn’t elected by the popular vote, so Newman goes on to adjust his cartogram for the relative strength of each state’s voters under the Electoral College. Further, he breaks down the vote by county to show a more local distribution of reds and blues. And he even adjusts the blue/red color scheme to show shades of purple where the differences between blue and red outcomes are not as great.
Adjusting for population and breakdown by county.Newman first produced election cartograms for the 2004 presidential vote and now has maps for 2004, ’06 and ’08. His cartograms have even started creeping into the mainstream news media, with his 2004 work showing up as part of this year’s election night coverage on ABC, on the BBC in Britain, on CNN Headline News and in The Washington Post and other publications. As the saying goes, “Build a better election map, and the world will beat a path to your colorful door.”
Leadership Event Offers Guarantee
How’s this for news — a fundraising event that comes with the following guarantee: “stimulating conversation and an insider’s perspective on the national political scene.”
Better make that two insiders, as the Michigan Political Leadership Program at Michigan State University serves up Republican political media consultant Mike Murphy and former Tennessee Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. for dinner on February 26 in Livonia and breakfast the next morning in Grand Rapids. The event is the largest multi-partisan gathering in Michigan, held each year to raise money for the program that can boast it “recruits, trains, and inspires tomorrow’s public policy leaders, preparing them with vision, commitment, and the skills for effective governance.”
Murphy is one of the nation’s leading election consultants and has ties to Michigan, having advised John Engler on his successful gubernatorial campaigns. He also served as John McCain’s senior strategist during the senator’s 2000 presidential campaign and has become a regular with NBC/MSNBC, National Public Radio and the Weekly Standard. Ford is a former five-term congressman and chair of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council. His ties to Michigan include a degree from the University of Michigan Law School. He also has served as a television political analyst for NBC.
Sponsorships and tickets are available now for this popular event. To learn more, call 517.353.0891 or visit the MPLP website.
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