Voting by Income

[Gabu]

Quick, find a way to disenfranchise wealthy people!

[Gabu]

Here are some other maps that may be of interest.  They compare, state by state, people earning under the two thresholds and people earning over the two thresholds:

Threshold of $50,000:



Threshold of $100,000:



Key:

Percentages are calculated as follows:

(% on map) = (% under threshold) - (% over threshold).

  > 10% Bush
  < 10% (either)
  > 10% Kerry
  > 20% Kerry
  > 30% Kerry

Percentages of 50% for either candidates were considered to be equivalent.

Note: No, the color of Maine in the second map is not an error.  For whatever reason, richer people voted more Democratic than poorer people did in that state with the $100,000 threshold applied.  Nowhere else in any state did that happen.

[Gabu]

Maine's figures are distorted by rich touristy places

And in comes Al with the explanation.

I'm beginning to wonder what you don't know about the demographics of American states/counties...

[Gabu]

How exactly are you calculating this?

Take Alabama...


 Kerry Bush
<50K 50 48
>50K 78 22


Would the number on the map be...

26 (48-22)

or

54 (78-22-(50-48))

I basically consider 50% to be 0 (neither candidate has any significant advantage), and any tilt to Bush to be a negative number and any tilt to Kerry to be a positive number (this is purely arbitrary; you could do it either way).  I went purely off of the maps given, so some roundoff error is probably in effect.

For example, let's take Alabama, as it's the state that you considered:

Over $50,000:



In Alabama, these people went 70% Bush, so that's -20.

Under $50,000:



In Alabama, these people went 50% Kerry, so that's 0.

The difference between the second and the first is

d = 0 - (-20) = 20

20 is positive, so that's a 20% difference in favor of Kerry between low income people and higher income people.

I think this methodology makes sense, though I'm not 100% sure.  Tell me if something seems off.