Red
State Characteristics
Here
is my continually growing set of choropleth maps of the United
States. Are they fair, accurate, or truly predictive? No,
but it is fun to see how "red states" and "blue states" can be
compared. This phenomenon started in the blogosphere, largely as
a way for Democrats to make themselves feel beter about
themselves. One of the most hotly-debated was a map showing a
very strong correleation between low IQ scores and the Bush vote.
Of course, because all of the data is on the state level, we really
cannot come to any definitive conclusions about charcteristics and Bush
voters. It very well may be, for example, that most of those with
high IQs or high educational attainment voted for Bush and most of
those of low IQ and low educational attainment voted for Kerry.
What is to blame here? The Electoral College, naturally! In
the interest of balance, I will do my best to find data sets that make
the red state look good. Enjoy.
Do Red
State voters have lower IQs?
With
some exceptions, education
is
least important there
![Percent with Bachelor's degree 2002](College02.jpg)
They
hate "government handouts,"
but
are the ones with their snouts
deepest
in the trough
![Return on tax dollar 2003](Taxburden03.jpg)
Science?
Who needs science?
![Evolution endangered 2004](Evolution04.jpg)
Abortion:
Make it hard to
get. . .
![Abortion waiting periods 2004](Abortwait04.jpg)
. . .and if Bush
can stack the Supreme Court. . .
More
to come...
Updated
June 19, 2006