Purple America

2008 United States presidential election results by county, on a color spectrum from Democratic blue to Republican red

The phrase Purple America refers to the belief that a more detailed analysis of the voting results of recent United States national elections reveals that the U.S. electorate is not as polarized between "Red" America (Republican) and "Blue" America (Democratic) as is often depicted in news analysis.^[1]^[2] The term reflects the fact that news organizations generally use the colors red and blue on maps to indicate when a state or congressional district has been won by a Republican or Democratic candidate, respectively. Because the American political system often awards a state or congressional district entirely to one candidate ("winner take all") without regard to the margin of victory, it results in a map that does not reflect the true distribution of "red" or "blue" votes across the nation. The distortions contained in these maps, the argument goes, contribute to the misperception that the electorate is highly polarized by geography.

Robert Vanderbei at Princeton University made the first Purple America map after the 2000 presidential election. It attempts to reflect the margin of victory in each county by coloring each with a shade between true blue and true red. In light of the general absence of overwhelming victories, this technique results in mostly shades. This map was reprinted in US News & World Report a few months prior to the 2004 election. After the 2004 election, Vanderbei and then others made similar maps summarizing the results. Quickly thereafter, the term Purple America permeated the political blogosphere and entered the public lexicon as a way of stating that the United States is not as divided as the political pundits would have the people believe.^[3]

Cartograms developed by Gastner, Shalizi, Newman^[4] at the University of Michigan provide another way to depict election results.

References

↑ Sides, John (2013-11-12). "Most Americans live in Purple America, not Red or Blue America". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2016-09-05.
↑ "America really looks like this | Chris Howard's Writing & Art". Saltwaterwitch.com. 2012-11-10. Retrieved 2016-09-05.
↑ "U. S. Electoral College". Archives.gov. 2016-05-08. Retrieved 2016-09-05.
↑ "Election maps". Personal.umich.edu. Retrieved 2016-09-05.

External links

United States articles

History

Timeline	Pre-Columbian era Colonial era Thirteen Colonies military history Continental Congress American Revolution War American frontier Federalist Era War of 1812 Territorial acquisitions Territorial evolution Mexican–American War Civil War Reconstruction Era Indian Wars Gilded Age Progressive Era African-American Civil Rights Movement 1865–1895 / 1896–1954 Spanish–American War Imperialism California Republic World War I Roaring Twenties Great Depression World War II home front Nazism in the United States American Century Cold War Korean War Space Race Civil Rights Movement Feminist Movement Vietnam War Post-Cold War (1991–present) Collapse of the Soviet Union War on Terror War in Afghanistan Iraq War Timeline of modern American conservatism

By topic	Demographic Discoveries Economic debt ceiling Inventions before 1890 1890–1945 1946–91 after 1991 Military Postal Technological and industrial

Geography

Politics

Federal

Executive	President Executive Office Cabinet / Executive departments Civil service Independent agencies Law enforcement Public policy

Legislature	Congress Senate Vice President President pro tempore House of Representatives Speaker

Judiciary	Federal judiciary Supreme Court Courts of appeals District courts

Law	Constitution federalism preemption separation of powers Bill of Rights civil liberties Code of Federal Regulations Federal Reporter United States Code United States Reports

Intelligence	Central Intelligence Agency Defense Intelligence Agency Federal Bureau of Investigation National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency National Reconnaissance Office National Security Agency Office of the Director of National Intelligence

Uniformed	Armed Forces Army Marine Corps Navy Air Force Coast Guard National Guard NOAA Corps Public Health Service Corps

Political divisions

Economy

Society

Culture	Americana Architecture Art Cinema Crime Cuisine Dance Demographics Education Family structure Fashion Flag Folklore Health care Health insurance Incarceration Languages American English Indigenous languages ASL Black American Sign Language HSL Plains Sign Talk Arabic Chinese French German Italian Russian Spanish Literature Media Music Names People Philosophy Public holidays Radio Religion Sports Television Theater

Social class	Affluence American Dream Educational attainment Homelessness Home-ownership Household income Income inequality Middle class Personal income Poverty Professional and working class conflict Smoking Standard of living Wealth

Issues	Abortion Affirmative action Ages of consent Anti-Americanism Capital punishment Criticism of government Discrimination Drug policy Energy policy Environmental movement Exceptionalism list of vetos exercised by the US government in the UN Security Council Gun politics Health care reform Human rights Hunger Immigration illegal International rankings Islamophobia LGBT rights same-sex marriage Nationalism Obesity Racism Separation of church and state Terrorism

Book
Category
Portal

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/12/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.

Purple America

See also

References

External links