Politics and Elections
ELECTIONS 2020: Projecting eligible voters by state
Political punditry and polls often form the basis for predicting election results, but rarely are they consistent or comprehensive. Given the importance of state-level voting, and the central role played by the Electoral College in the democratic process, projecting the…
Is congressional representation keeping pace with population growth?
Photo by Lawrence Jackson on Encyclopedia Britannica Last year, I examined how national population growth and the cap on the size of the U.S. House of Representatives has contributed to the formation of extremely large House districts. The graph below…
U.S. House districts are colossal. What’s the right size?
The recent wave of populism and anti-establishment voting behavior in the United States made me want to take a closer look at how the structure of the U.S. political representation system might be contributing to the development of these sentiments.…
A map that shows what’s wrong with Washington
The recent government shutdown and flirtation with default has seriously deteriorated public trust in Congress, and in Washington more generally. Disgust with Washington is often followed by bewilderment. How did things get this way?While there is no single answer to…
New Demographic Data on the 2012 Presidential Election
The recent release of the Census Bureau’s Voting and Registration data from the Current Population Survey finally allows us to look deeper into the population that turned out to vote this last November. And the results are quite astonishing.For the first…
Lower turnout in 2012 makes the case for political realignment in 2008
Now that most states have finalized and submitted their official election results (yes, it does take that long), we can take a closer look into state and local turnout rates for the 2012 presidential election.But first, an overview of the…
National Turnout Rates and Rankings
For 2012 election-related commentary, please see these recent posts : Forget Ohio, it’s all about Virginia…and demographics Virginia Votes 2012 Virginia Votes 2012: Turnout across localities Lower turnout in 2012 makes the case for political realignment in 2008 As an…
Voter Turnout in Virginia
For 2012 election-related commentary, please see these recent posts : Forget Ohio, it’s all about Virginia…and demographics Virginia Votes 2012 Virginia Votes 2012: Turnout across localities Lower turnout in 2012 makes the case for political realignment in 2008 In the…
The nation’s changing political topography
For 2012 election-related commentary, please see these recent posts : Forget Ohio, it’s all about Virginia…and demographics Virginia Votes 2012 Virginia Votes 2012: Turnout across localities Lower turnout in 2012 makes the case for political realignment in 2008 After posting Climbing…
Climbing Mount NoVa in 2012
For 2012 election-related commentary, please see these recent posts : Forget Ohio, it’s all about Virginia…and demographics Virginia Votes 2012 Virginia Votes 2012: Turnout across localities Lower turnout in 2012 makes the case for political realignment in 2008 As part…