Global news with a spatial perspective: resources for educators and the inherently inquisitive.
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Global news with a spatial perspective: Interesting, current supplemental materials for geography students and teachers. http://geographyeducation.org
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Seth Dixon
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Nate Silver became about as big of a celebrity as a statistician can become during the election (being called everything from a prophet to a witch). This little nugget is obviously an overgeneralization, but it appears that is has enough substance to give it some serious consideration. Where does this hold true and where is it false? How come? If it is true, why would this be true? Delete the scoop?
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While this cartoon is flippant, the attached Washington Post article is not. In the culumative congressional voting, Democrats have more votes but won fewer seats than the Republicans. Many are starting to question the redistricting process after the 2010 census.
Tags: gerrymandering, political, mapping, census. Delete the scoop?
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"Why Republicans Can't Afford to Concede the City Vote Ever Again." Not trying to make a political statement, just bringing the geography into an analysis of the political landscape: the United States is an urban country and any political party hoping to win a national election must capture at least some of the major metropolitan areas of the country. That isn't ideological; that's simple urban geography and demographics making it's way into national politics. "The math of assuming that the cities will go to Democrats is just a losing game going forward for Republicans." Delete the scoop?
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Live election results from The Huffington Post. Romney vs. Obama, Senate, House and ballot measures. This is one of many election maps that I am continually refreshing. When I lived in California I would always try to stay up for the results--now that I'm on the East Coast I don't think that is going to happen tonight (FYI: I've refreshed this map too many times to count). 
Jeff F's comment,
November 9, 2012 4:41 PM
I projected this map for President Obama a few months ago. After his first debate disaster I said Florida would probably go to Romney as well.
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NP: Four years ago, Channel One News, the weekday news program for middle and high school kids featured a dynamic area cartogram as a way of making the point that some states have much more electoral weight than others. In that broadcast, the map of the United States, featuring the familiar red and blue states indicating presidential election results, became animated. States with smaller populations squeezed into tiny shapes, while states with large populations expanded. At the time, we didn't know this kind of map was called an area cartogram; we called it a "squishy map." It does a nice job of making this case: some states matter more than others when it comes to US presidential elections.
Seeing the map on Channel One also launched me into work that continues with my dissertation. What kind of sense do kids make from complex representations like an area cartogram? In the Channel One broadcast in 2008, the map was presented as part of a sensible lesson about "electoral weight." With Vanderbilt professors Rogers Hall and Kevin Leander, we wondered if the map made sense to kids and if the argument was strengthened by the map.
Four years later, I'm still working on those questions and others like them. In the mean time, here's another awesome area cartogram. In this case, NPR's "It's All Politics" blogger Adam Cole makes an argument about the advertisement spending of superPACs and other outside groups. Which states matter to these groups? And how much do they spend per voter on these ads? The squishy maps tell the story. Cole has a great video here as well--it's whimsical and informative. Finally, another move by Cole in these maps is the scaling of elections at the level of the state by popular vote. This means that states that are more contested turn purple (half blue and half red) rather than the color of the winning candidate from the last election. Via Nathan Phillips 
Matt Mallinson's comment,
November 5, 2012 11:28 AM
All the states blown up in size are the deciding factors in this years election as usual, this map is an interesting way to look at things. It's still crazy to me that this is how our voting system works and that some states dominate the others.
Lindsey Robinson's comment,
November 5, 2012 11:32 AM
This map is perfect for young voters. It uses visuals to show how important states like Ohio and Florida are during the election. It shows people why the candidates are always spending campaign money on these swing states and not states like Massachusetts, Rhode Island, etc. In states like these, Republican voters almost don't even matter because the two states are so democratic. The electoral votes automatically make the state blue. The same goes with strictly Republican states like Texas or Oklahoma.
Lisa Fonseca's comment,
November 6, 2012 9:56 PM
I found this article to be very informative, it represented information to those who aren't familiar with the facts of an election. It demonstrated that it isnt the size of a state that matter it is the electoral vote that counts, therefore regardless a state is so large it may not count as much in electoral votes as a smaller state. It also explained how bigger states need to spend more money because they are the states needing to get their point across and making a larger difference.
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Theories about our right-wing and left-wing mind-sets don't explain why they are tied to geography. While not endorsing all the cultural assumptions in the article, this is still an interesting exploration into expalining why distinct places are are politically aligned with particular parties. Questions to ponder: What portions of the author's argument do you agree (or disagree) with? What do you see as the reasons behind the spatial distributions of "blue" and "red" in the United States? Tags: political, place, USA, culture, unit 4 political. Delete the scoop?
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Mitt Romney’s narrow electoral vote path explained — in 5 maps... The above map represents the last time the Republican Party won a presidential election in the United States. As the polls currently are projecting that President Obama will be re-elected, the most critical questions about the voting patterns for both parties are spatial in nature. Questions to ponder: how are current political patterns changing the map? Which states become the most pivotal for either candidate to be victorious? Tags: political, regions, spatial, unit 4 political. Delete the scoop?
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For the first time in U.S. history, a Mormon is on a major-party presidential ticket. The Wall Street Journal examines the changing role of religion in Ameri...
Aren't religion and politics supposed to be the two things we are counseled not to discuss to avoid controversy? This video hits on something that plays a role for both candidates in the 2012 presidential campaign in the United States: their faith and how voters perceive their faith. This video discusses Mitt Romney, Barack Obama and some past presidents' religious beliefs. I feel this video handles very controversial topics in a thoughtful and fair manner given that it treats various religious traditions and political ideologies in a non-partisan manner. The geography of religion might play an significant role in the outcome of the 2012 election. Delete the scoop?
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In the race to the White House, no ethnic group is more prized than Hispanics. President Obama ended deportations for some young undocumented immigrants, and the Romney campaign is vetting Sen.
This interactive map feature combines to interesting variables (at the county level): the percentage of the total population that is Hispanic, and the 2008 presidential election. Analyze your local area and a few counties as well. What connection exists between the two variables? How come? What are some exceptions to these general patterns? Delete the scoop?
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Presidential candidate says Mexicans have voted for change of direction after exit polls project win for his PRI party.
For the first time in 12 years, Mexico's president will be from the PRI party (which dominated and led power from the 1920's to 2000). Enrique Peña Prieto won the election, in large part due to Mexico's dissatisfacation with the PAN's handling of the escalating drug violence. A few decades back, the PRI kept the violence out of the streets with some tacit agreements with the drug cartels to stay within particular territories. 
's comment, July 2, 2012 10:51 AM
With all the widespread violance from the drugwars it isn't surprising that the people of Mexico would prefer to be led under a political party that keeps the cartels in line. It would seem through my own expiereince that the people are afraid of those pushing drugs, and anyone involved with them. A friend of mine about two years ago had an opportunity to go to school in the UK and seized it as his chance to get out of Mexico. He once told me a story of members of a cartel threatening to make his nieghbor disapear, and as he told me, usually if someone says it will happen, it does. Although they will be returning power to the cartels, order could be restored through corruption, and in an ironic way curb the chaos.
Seth Dixon's comment,
July 2, 2012 11:00 AM
I'm afraid that stability and corruption is what Mexico is choosing over instability and freedom. Unfortunately, stability and liberty weren't both on the table. Maybe the PRI in the last 12 years out of power has cleaned up it's act but I am nervous since they were are "party monopoly" when in power that would violate human rights and rig elections.
Roland Trudeau Jr.'s comment,
July 7, 2012 11:26 AM
This picture speaks of how the Mexican people feel towards this election; http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=419149768126819&set=a.186306054744526.42461.175058372535961&type=1&ref=nf
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With President Obama announcing that he now supports the legalization of gay marriage and Gov. Romney reiterated the GOP stance that marriage should be between a man and a woman, this sets the stage for a 'culture war' to be at the center of the 2012 election. While communities, churches and families may be split on this topic, there are some strong regional patterns that (given the electoral college) will have important political ramifications. As Jennifer Mapes stated about this interactive map, "it's useful in showing the geographic polarization of the country (coasts/center; urban/rural) as states strengthen laws that either allow for or restrict gay marriage/civil unions over the past ten years." Delete the scoop?
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As the election year is ramping up, now is a good time to introduce electoral geography (since there are millions of dollars been spent of this type of analysis). Displayed is the county map of the 2008 presidential election (McCain=red, Obama=blue). What are the geographic and demographic characteristics of the 2008 voting base of both the Republican and Democratic parties? This is also a great map to discuss how to interpret maps--how could this map be misleading? What additional information is needed to contextualize this data? Follow the link for additional maps that provide attempt to visualize that context. 
Elizabeth Allen's comment,
September 16, 2012 3:03 PM
At first glance I would assume McCain would win; the map has a higher percentage of red. However, due to population density, we have to consider how many people live in the red areas as compared to the blue. Obama won the election because there are more peolpe/voters in the blue area compared to the red. The colors may be deceiving so we need to consider other factors.
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Excellent electoral geography maps from the U.S. presidential election of 2008. What are the major patterns you see? What do these patterns in say about the politics, culture and demographics about these places? Delete the scoop?
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Shaped like a giant pistol sitting on its butt end, Wisconsin's new 22nd state Senate District is Exhibit A in the case against partisan redistricting. The redistricting process is far from neutral; to be far we should remember that gerrymandering is has happened on all ends of the political spectum. Which map to you think is the best way to divide these districts? What is the fairest way to divide them? Delete the scoop?
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I'm sure most of you have seen the 2008 version of these fantastic maps and cartograms and they've been a go-to reference for me since the last election. The typical red state/blue state map conceals much concerning the spatial voting patterns in the United States and fails to account for the population densities of these distributions. That's what makes this county level voting maps and cartograms so valuable. Questions to Ponder: What new patterns can you see in the county map that you couldn't see in the state map? What do the cartograms tell you about the United States population? Tags: cartography, mapping, rural, zbestofzbest. Delete the scoop?
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See how much voter groups have shifted in the 2012 exit polls, compared to 2008. Early numbers are preliminary and may change significantly until midday Wednesday, when poll results are finalized. The 2012 election mostly went as predicted (given Virginia and Florida's voting pattern, I'd invite you to re-think the "Where Does the South Begin" or at least to contextualize the political and cultural implications for the defining the vernacular region of "the South"). I'm sure we've all seen the electoral college map, but this great graphic shows the demographic groups voting patterns that produced that map. Delete the scoop?
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Listed here are the top choices for election maps for keeping an eye on election results and twitter maps. Just a friendly reminder to vote tomorrow for those of you in the United States. Delete the scoop?
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Right now, the conventional wisdom says that there are just nine states that might go either way on Nov. Not all votes are created equally; votes in these 9 key states have a greater likelihood of impacting the actual outcome of the Presidential election. If we assume that the other states vote as anticipated, and that each candidate has an equal opportunity in the remaining 9 states (yes, these are a major assumptions, but work with me), than President Obama has a 84% likelihood of winning in the 512 possible permuations. Geographer Andy Baker has created a video that provides a solid non-partisan analysis of the political geography of these states (and other) states. Tags: political, unit 4 political. Delete the scoop?
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Geographer Andy Baker provides an excellent spatial analysis of the key voting patterns that will shape the 2012 presidential election in the United States.
Tags: political, statistics, spatial, regions, USA. 
Jesse Gauthier's comment,
October 14, 2012 3:24 PM
This video was very helpful for me because the speaker clearly gave visual examples of the many topics that can steer certain voters in the U.S. to vote a certain way, during election time. It helped me better interpret political data, since I am a visual learner.
Frank Fenn's comment,
March 2, 2:09 AM
I used this during the Political Unit. I find that 9th graders know nothing about politics beyond what concerns them at the moment. Stretching their brain back to when they were 7 helps build the political foundations of the future!
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We suggested ways to teach about Election 2012 and included links to lesson plans and Times features, and we'll be updating the page regularly as the march to the White House proceeds. The Learning Network has partnered with the NY Times to produce lesson plans for all ages (and all disciplines) on how to teach using the 2012 United States Presidential Election. Delete the scoop?
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What political books are residents of your state reading? A new interactive map from Amazon shows recent book sales broken down by either "red" or "blue" political leanings.
I do not think that "book sales" is a surrogate for "projected votes," but this is revealing about the political landscape and especially the marketing of politically partisan materials. Delete the scoop?
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President Obama and Mitt Romney are set to make appearances beginning Thursday at a major gathering of Latino officials and activists...
A core component of the 2012 U.S. presidential elections will be the demographic profile of both the Republican and Democratic Parties’ power base. For most of American history, the African-American population was the largest minority second to the Caucasian minority. Since the 2000 census, the Latino population has overtaken the African-American population as the largest minority in the U.S. How does this impact both parties? What are the strategies of both parties to appeal from a diverse set of voters? How does the immigration issue shape 'identity politics?' 
Don Brown Jr's comment,
September 12, 2012 3:40 PM
Unlike African Americans there is much more differentiation within the Latino population which contains within itself many nationalities with competing priorities. Due to this wide variation of interest it will likely be much harder for either the Democrats or Republicans to gain the support of the entire group. Therefor this question may revolve around what kind of people or concerns will both parties use to gain the support of the majority ofdifferent interest groups within Americas Latino population for the 2012 election.
's comment, September 13, 2012 9:25 AM
The problem ahead for the republicans is that many of their views and opinions go against the ideas of many Latinos. According to the article Romney has many struggles with Latino community because his views are the opposite of what the majority of the Latino voters consider. On the opposite side Obama has a difficult road ahead as well. Does he focus his campaign more on the large minority or does he concentrate on the majority which could cause a shift in the minority. Regardless Florida has been a primary example of identity politics ever since the election 2008 where some areas were no longer considered battleground areas.
Nicholas Rose's comment,
September 13, 2012 10:05 AM
Well, I would like to say is that the Hispanic minority is the majority of the Florida population including major cities like Orlando which is mentioned in the article and Miami. Historically, Florida was a Spanish colony which was led by Juan Ponce De Leon. Even though that Florida is usually a Republican state when it comes to voting but I think that it'll be more of a major impact for the Democratic party than the republican party because of the immigration issues that President Obama was paying attention to throughout his presidency so far.
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An interesting case of identity politics is playing out in New York's new 13th Congressional District. A Dominican-American state senator is threatening longtime Rep. Charles Rangel in the district, which is now majority Hispanic.
Identity, whether it be be race, religious, color or creed absolutely matters in politics. Especially local politics where the demographics of a city or district play a major role in the viablity of a candidate. If the constituency perceives the candidate's cultural identity as either representing or not representing 'the people,' that can play a key role in the election. Delete the scoop?
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The 2012 election are showing again some of the cultural, political and economic divides that exist in the United States. This above map portrays the 2008 presidential election, with counties that voted for McCain in red and Obama in blue. Rick Santorum has said, in reference the political map of the United States today, "Think about it, look at the map of the United States...it's almost all red except around the big cities." Rick Santorum, by taking on “blue” big cities, is also criticizing the Republicans, his own party. This political portray is an attempt to accentuate the difference between rural and urban America to hit his key demographic, but it also begs for further analysis into the electoral geography of the United States. As some social media skeptics have retorted, "It's all blue except where nobody lives." Which is it? What do these patterns say about United States politics? Why do these patterns exist? For more maps that shed light on the spatial voting patterns from the 2008 election, see: http://www.scoop.it/t/geography-education/p/462087007/2008-election-maps Delete the scoop?
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Christian leaders voted to support the presidential candidacy of Rick Santorum in hopes of undercutting Mitt Romney’s dominance of the Republican field.
The geography of the 'Bible Belt' is going to intersect powerfully with the GOP primaries in a hurry. As Mitt Romney (an active member of the LDS church) appears to be the early frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination, there are some interesting religious ramifications for that on both the right and left. Evangelicals listened to every major Republican hopeful but two in deciding whom they should endorse. Romney and Huntsman were not considered, because as Mormons, they are the two candidates that they are seeking to block.
Many evangelicals do not feel that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are in fact 'Christians.' Although this Southern/Intermountain West political coalition often line up in socially conservative issues of politics, doctrinal discrepancies are fracturing the GOP political power base and the geography of religion and religious groups in the United States might play a key role in the 2012 election. Delete the scoop?
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