DID OBAMA WIN IN LANDSLIDE? BLUE STATE CREEP? 100 YEARS OF ELECTION MAPS WILL GIVE YOU SOME TRUE PERSPECTIVE
Everyone has a perspective on the 2012 election results and a theory about what Obama’s re-election means for both parties. However, conservatives shouldn’t believe the dooms day assumption that the country has never seen such a liberal turn, and liberals shouldn’t buy the idea that Obama won in a landslide. Both groups could gain some perspective. One hundred years of voting history should do.
TheBlaze did some digging and found the county-by-county voting maps for every election since 1900. We made a video of the results, end to end. The outcome is a fascinating display of our democratic past and gives necessary perspective for the countries unpredictable future.
Before you watch the video below, keep an eye out for some alarming and interesting trends like:
SWING STATE? HOW ABOUT SWING COUNTRY
How the country can change in just four years! Below are the results of Herbert Hoover’s 1928 victory and the resulting shift to elect FDR just four years later
THE THIRD PARTY EFFECT
A third party has never won the presidency in modern American political history. However, they did win 88 electoral votes and came in second place in the election of 1912.
Ross Perot caused some havoc in the more recent elections of 1992. He did not receive any electoral votes, but he did siphon off 20 million private votes. (Pink and green signifying counties carried by third parties):
THE REAL MANDATE LANDSLIDE
With the last four elections won on the decisions of a handful of precious swing states, it is astonishing to think of the potential of a true American landslide presidential victory. But it is possible, and actually quite common!
FDR had a few good ones (523 electoral college votes to 8):
So did Reagan (525 electoral votes to Mondale’s 13):
But Nixon takes the cake in the geographic landslide category (520 electoral college votes to McGovern’s 17):
Perhaps the moral is what goes around comes around in the American political tradition. Nothing is a given and trends come and go. What is most important is that democracy works.
Watch 112 years of American elections take place in two minutes below:
County Maps courtesy of Minnesota Population Center.
National Historical Geographic Information System: Version 2.0.
Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota 2011
www.nhgis.org
National Historical Geographic Information System: Version 2.0.
Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota 2011
www.nhgis.org
Combined election data from:
WD Burnham: Presidential Ballots, 1836-1892 - EE Robinson: The Presidential Vote: 1896 to 1932 - RM Scammon: America at the Polls (1920-1964) - RM Scammon: America at the Polls (1968-1984 ) - RM Scammon / A. McGillivray: America Votes No. 18, 1988 , No. 20, 1992 , No. 22, 1996 , No. 24, 2000, Election results by county and figures Bureau of the Census for 1880, 1920, 1960 and 2000