2008 Election County-By-County

After George W. Bush won the 2000 election, despite having received substantially fewer votes nationwide than Al Gore, many of us took great comfort in this famous map, showing the election results county-by-county:

2000 Election County-By-County Map

2000 Election County-By-County Map

In 2004, Bush won re-election by a majority — but John Kerry nearly took it anyway because of a close call in Ohio — and we saw the reemergence of the map:

2004 Election County-By-County Map

2004 Election County-By-County Map

Well, here it is again, for 2008:

2008 Election County-By-County Map

2008 Election County-By-County Map

Because of population patterns, you’d guess that the Red team won.  The actual results, which aren’t final, have Obama winning 63.5 million to McCain’s 56.1 million, or 52.4% to 46.3%.

To make Brad Delong happy, here’s the “purple” version of the map, showing it based on the relative percentage of Republicans and Democrats in each county (as opposed to the winner-take-all version, which distorts the perception):

2008 Election County-By-County Map 'Purple America'

2008 Election County-By-County Map

Purple likely distorts it, too, simply because of the hue values, but it’s closer than Red-Blue in this case.

RELATED:

2008 maps courtesy Mark Newman.  Earlier maps from USA Today.

FILED UNDER: 2008 Election, US Politics, , , , , , , , , ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. @davidgs I had the same thought many times over recent years. Let’s draw lines. Lots of red out there. Ck it out.http://bit.ly/dOTZ #tcot

  2. Jeffrey W. Baker says:

    Useless without population weighting. We don’t have a one acre/one vote system.

  3. James Joyner says:

    We don’t have a one acre/one vote system.

    But we do have a federalist one. I’m in favor of a national popular vote for a variety of reasons but am not indifferent to the arguments for a state-by-state allocation of votes.

  4. Jeffrey W. Baker says:

    I’m not really talking about politics, I’m talking about cartography. See here for one of my favorite documents about election infographics, and some very nice examples.

    http://www.style.org/mappingvotes/

    Of course, the California gubernatorial election doesn’t have the 3EV-minimum distortion that our presidential election has. Neat maps, anyway.

  5. Anderson says:

    In other words, Obama won the counties where people tend to live.

  6. PD Shaw says:

    I live in one of those blue dots that was a red dot in 2000 and 2004. The thing I noticed about this blue dot is that in almost every other line on the ballot it voted Republican. I attribute this to a moderately conservative dispostion that was attracted to Obama’s personality, demeanor and life story.

    I see an opportunity for Obama to convert, but I think it would be a mistake to assume that they are converted.

  7. Triumph says:

    Because of population patterns, you’d guess that the Red team won.

    I’m sorry to pile on James, but, sorry, NO, only a moron would think that a particular side won by looking at the dominance of one color or another on those maps.

    As Jeff Baker and Anderson says the area on the maps represent land area–they don’t represent votes.

  8. G.A.Phillips says:

    I’m sorry to pile on James, but, sorry, NO, only a moron would think that a particular side won by looking at the dominance of one color or another on those maps.

    blah, I when I play Risk I alway start in China take over that side of the map and by the end of the night all them gimps are speaking Chinese.

    oh sorry you said on those maps. I see them now. I need to actually start looking at the post instead of just cheeking to see what the donkakooks are blithering now.

    Ill restart this as my effort into giving the the new 3rd R…. oops I mean administration a chance to show what there made of.

  9. Derrick says:

    Whatever the margin, at least we have a VP who knows that Africa isn’t one country and what countries are in North America.

  10. just me says:

    Whatever the margin, at least we have a VP who knows that Africa isn’t one country and what countries are in North America.

    I am not so sure of this one.

    After all he thinks the US and France kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon. And that JOBS is a three letter word.

  11. Patrick says:

    I’ve been looking everywhere for these maps. Thanks OTB!

  12. Dantheman says:

    To show how silly these maps are, consider 2 counties in Pennsylvania. Fulton County in South Central Pennsylvania voted 74-25 McCain, while Philadelphia County voted 83-16 Obama, so both would show up in pretty clear hues (source — PA Secretary of State). Fulton County is almost exactly 3 times larger than Philadelphia County (438 sq. miles to 143) (source — Wikipedia). Yet McCain’s win in Fulton County netted him 3,050 votes (4,612 to 1,562). Obama’s win in Philadelphia County netted him 461,008 votes (574,042 to 113,034).

    Sorry, but land mass just doesn’t mean much.

  13. Will says:

    people are stupid. land is good XD