# What was the average of the purple states?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-average-of-the-purple-states/610147>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [January 20, 2012, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-average-of-the-purple-states/610147 "2012-01-20T17:16:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![kfraser34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@kfraser34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kfraser34)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-average-of-the-purple-states/610147/1 "2012-01-20T17:16:48Z")

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Near the end of the [article](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3033/are-blue-states-smarter-than-red-states) it is mentioned that Una separated the states into three categories: red, blue, and purple. Then, in the last paragraph the averages for the red and the blue states were given but not the purples. What was that average?

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**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-average-of-the-purple-states/610147/2 "2012-01-20T23:55:04Z")

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Significantly higher; 100.9.

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**Author:** ![kfraser34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@kfraser34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kfraser34)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-average-of-the-purple-states/610147/3 "2012-01-21T02:50:31Z")

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Thank you…

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**Author:** ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-average-of-the-purple-states/610147/4 "2012-01-22T15:23:09Z")

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> [@Una\_Persson](#):
>
> Significantly higher; 100.9.

That’s a point worth noting and I’ll humbly suggest to the Master that he amend the column to do so.

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**Author:** ![penumbrage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c77e96/32.png) [@penumbrage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penumbrage)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-average-of-the-purple-states/610147/5 "2012-02-10T20:08:09Z")

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> [@Ed\_Zotti](#):
>
> That’s a point worth noting and I’ll humbly suggest to the Master that he amend the column to do so.

I feel like Roy Neary staring at a little mountain of mashed potatoes.  
(“This means something. This is important.”)

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**Author:** ![penumbrage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c77e96/32.png) [@penumbrage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penumbrage)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-average-of-the-purple-states/610147/6 "2012-03-04T21:30:48Z")

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> [@Una\_Persson](#):
>
> Significantly higher; 100.9.

Forgive the double post but the ‘Are blue states smarter than red states?’ thread is now up to 4 pages, although I did notice this thread _was_ referenced there. Since many people (unwisely) fail to re-read Cecil’s columns and might miss the edit,  
I felt that keeping the single most important fact about their debate fresh in people’s minds was the smart thing to do.