| Presidential vote by county, 2008. See
that blue curving band across the deep south? http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/results/president/map.html |
|
|
Black Population, 1990 http://www.census.gov/geo/www/mapGallery/RHOriginPD-1990.html |
By the way, this effect isn't just present in Obama's victory; Democratic voting and the cotton belt have a longstanding correlation, at least dating back to Lyndon Johnson. http://cstl-cla.semo.edu/renka/ui320-75/renka_papers/party_system_maps.asp Here are 2004 election results: Yellow is Kerry, blue is Bush.  http://geoelections.free.fr/USA/elec_comtes/2004.htm |
In response to
StumbleUpon commenters who suggest the effect is due to urban centers
voting Democratic, here's the population density for 2004.  http://www.census.gov/popest/gallery/maps/PopDensCounties_2004.pdf |
Since I posted this page originally, the main images have been picked up in Pin-the-Tail StrangeMaps (which has a nice overlay of the cotton and electoral vote maps) Andrew Sullivan Wonkette The Vigorous North (with further explanation tracing this pattern back to the Cretaceous!)  http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~rcb7/nam.html |
| Allen Gathman, 11/6/2008 |
