Presidential
Elections, 2004 and 2000
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Geographers work at different scales to understand human
activities. The 2004 Presidential election results are shown in two
different spatial ways. These maps use a continuous color scale that
ranges from red for 70% Republican or
more, to blue for 70% Democrat or more.
The left-hand map shows results by county size (land area) and the
right-hand map is a cartogram, which adjusts county area to the number of
people who live there. The cartogram gives a more accurate picture. 
Source:
election by Michael Gastner, Cosma Shalizi, and Mark Newman, University of
Michigan.
Do you want to your buying of stuff to reflect your voting?
YES. |
 In
the 2004 USA elections only 29 out of 235 USA House seats were listed as
"competitive" (meaning that there was a real political fight) by the
Congressional Quarterly. In 2000-02, there were 50 and in 1992-96, more
than 100 competitive races. The blue and red dots on the map show 33
competitive races, but only 13 races were actually close! The conservative The Economist says that "the sheer uncompetitiveness of most
House races takes one's breath away." And yet the USA government
still thinks that it is a model of democracy to be exported around the
world. Source:
The Economist, 18 September 2004. |
 County
governments (over 3,143) determine what voting methods and machines are used
for federal, state, and local elections. The map shows the voting equipment
used across the USA in 2004. The USA is hardly a unified country!
Source: The Economist, 18 September 2004. |
 In the
2004 Presidential election, people's party vote largely reflected
their class interests. Yet, notice that many crossed over: for example, 36%
of the poorest people voted for Bush and 35% of the richest people, from
whom Kerry said he would increase their taxes, vote for Kerry! Source
of graph,
CNN. |
| How are U.S.
elections rigged? Every ten years, after each Census, state
legislatures redraw new voting maps which are approved by each state's
governors. The results of gerrymandering are bizarre and unfair -- to
whom? Here are a few examples, as published by The Economist, 27
April 2002.
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| Florida's
22nd District is 90 miles long and never more than 3 miles wide. It
consists of every beach house lining Route A1A along Florida's Gold Coast
from West Palm Beach to Miami Beach.You could say that about this district, as
used to be said of the old Texas 6th
District (which was a road from Houston to
Dallas), that you could kill most of the constituents by driving down the
road with the car doors open. Other districts look like donuts, embryos, or
Rorschach tests -- none look like fair representation for a democratic
society. Maybe before the US government promotes democracy, i.e.,
elections, abroad it needs to clean up its own electoral messes -- one of
which are gerrymandered electoral districts. |
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For more data, graphs, and maps for
federal and state elections, go to
Atlas of
U.S. Presidential Elections. |
