# Very cool maps show why Obama won **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 15, 2012, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-cool-maps-show-why-obama-won/641047 "2012-11-15T00:33:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-cool-maps-show-why-obama-won/641047/1 "2012-11-15T00:33:04Z")
From Yahoo. > **[Maps of the 2012 election results](https://news.yahoo.com/photos/2012-election-maps-slideshow/)** > > Mark Newman of the Department of Physics and Center for the Study of Complex Systems at the University of Michigan created a series of maps like you've never seen before, to better explain the election 2012 results across the country. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-cool-maps-show-why-obama-won/641047/2 "2012-11-15T00:39:23Z")
Because he got more electoral votes? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-cool-maps-show-why-obama-won/641047/3 "2012-11-15T00:41:07Z")
[The original source](http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2012/). Edit: I think the article in the OP has maps #2 and #3 reversed. Check the relative size of Wyoming between the two. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-cool-maps-show-why-obama-won/641047/4 "2012-11-15T00:45:37Z")
I’m pretty sure maps #2 and #3 are swapped. Wyoming, for example, is much smaller in map #3 than #2, while New Hampshire and Vermont are closer in size in #2 than #3. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-cool-maps-show-why-obama-won/641047/5 "2012-11-15T03:42:18Z")
All I know is I want that cool #7 purple map on a T-shirt. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-cool-maps-show-why-obama-won/641047/6 "2012-11-15T15:32:52Z")
These ones don’t really look all that different from [ones of 2008](http://www.adsavvy.org/facts-and-interpretation-the-2008-election-result-maps/), but the difference between those two and the [2004 one](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gastner_map_purple_bypopulation_bycounty.png) is pretty significant. Interestingly if you compared [2000’s map](http://www.princeton.edu/~rvdb/JAVA/election2000/) with screen 6 of the 2012 maps what stands out is how much less purple we are since that Bush v Gore election. (And become that much less purple by 2004.) ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-cool-maps-show-why-obama-won/641047/7 "2012-11-15T16:11:39Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > These ones don’t really look all that different from [ones of 2008](http://www.adsavvy.org/facts-and-interpretation-the-2008-election-result-maps/), but the difference between those two and the [2004 one](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gastner_map_purple_bypopulation_bycounty.png) is pretty significant. Interestingly if you compared [2000’s map](http://www.princeton.edu/~rvdb/JAVA/election2000/) with screen 6 of the 2012 maps what stands out is how much less purple we are since that Bush v Gore election. (And become that much less purple by 2004.) I don’t see it. I think the major difference is that the 2000 map has the county lines in black (or grey), which makes the map look more purple overall. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-cool-maps-show-why-obama-won/641047/8 "2012-11-15T16:27:03Z")
2 and 3 are swapped, and moreover wrong. California should be almost twice as big as Florida, for instance, in both maps. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-cool-maps-show-why-obama-won/641047/9 "2012-11-15T16:39:43Z")
Look for example middle of the south from Northeastern Texas eastwards. In 2000 that is almost all purple with a little red and a little blue; 2012 hardly any purple counties, red until you hit that North South line of blue. [Here’s a gif](http://www.fairobserver.com/article/purple-america-%E2%80%93-best-election-maps) that shows the map changing from 1960 through the 2008 results. Third parties make the colors a bit more varied. I love to see a similar gif of the cartogram! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-cool-maps-show-why-obama-won/641047/10 "2012-11-15T16:46:30Z")
> [@bup](#): > > 2 and 3 are swapped, and moreover wrong. California should be almost twice as big as Florida, for instance, in both maps. I blame Obama. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-cool-maps-show-why-obama-won/641047/11 "2012-11-16T05:59:40Z")
[More on the loss of purple.](http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/presidential-campaign/267847-the-peculiar-geography-of-the-american-electorate) > [@](#): > > At an even finer geographic level of neighborhoods, political party preference would be even more skewed towards one party or another. A major explanation for this is the high rate of mobility of the American population and how we end up residing near other like-minded persons. Currently, one-in-eight Americans move each year, which is down from the 1970s when one-in-five people changed their place of residence. … > > … A number of recent studies have parsed the different types of neighborhoods or clusters across the country and tried to explain how we have become so polarized. The most prominent was The Big Sort which showed how the sort, or segregation by lifestyle, was also a sort by political party affiliation and that this has become extreme since the 1970s. Not only are we self-segregating into like-minded cluster in the places we live, but also in the clubs we belong to, in the TV and radio stations we listen to, and in the newspaper and magazines we read. On TV, Fox News preaches to the converted conservatives while MSNBC occupies the same niche on the left, with CNN trying to hold onto viewers in the shrinking middle. We have become increasing less exposed to viewpoints which differ from our own as we don’t even know or associate with people who think differently from the way we do. Think of the last time you were at a party which was divided roughly equally between liberals and conservatives. Typically, any gathering of friends or acquaintances will result in ninety percent or more consisting of like-minded persons with similar views on a range of social and political issues. For the one or two oddballs who hold views which are opposite yours, you will not only not agree or understand them, you will likely question their mental stability. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-cool-maps-show-why-obama-won/641047/12 "2012-11-16T16:34:06Z")
Note what these maps make clear: The geographical-political divide in America today is not Red States v. Blue States, nor North vs. South, nor East vs. West, nor Coasts vs. Flyover; it is Countryside (Pub) vs. City (Dem). The maps shade from red for the least-populous counties, through purple for the suburbs/exurbs, to blue for the dense urban areas. And whenever a conflict comes down to Countryside vs. City, the Countryside usually loses and usually deserves to lose. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-cool-maps-show-why-obama-won/641047/13 "2012-11-16T17:01:27Z")
[This one is my dad having hot monkey sex with my mom on the pool table in the rec room, while my great-aunt is in the kitchen, setting fire to the dishwasher.](http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2012/countycartpurple1024.png) Now I need a Xanax. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-cool-maps-show-why-obama-won/641047/14 "2012-11-16T17:32:49Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > [This one is my dad having hot monkey sex with my mom on the pool table in the rec room, while my great-aunt is in the kitchen, setting fire to the dishwasher.](http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2012/countycartpurple1024.png) > > Now I need a Xanax. [ziiiip] . . . ☹ :mad: No it ain’t, dude! That’s just some weird trippy **map,** man!