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Showing posts with label national. Show all posts
Showing posts with label national. Show all posts

Sunday, May 23, 2021

Partisan Control of State Governments: 1938 v. 1939

Today's maps are on a very interesting topic: control of state governments.  And not only that, but it's another set of historical maps!  This pair from @Mill226 on Twitter show the fascinating political time period of the late 1930s USA.  The threat of war in Europe and Asia was growing, while the US continued to suffer from depressed economic conditions.  As the first map shows, the Democratic Party was still riding high on FDR's re-election in 1938.

A point of interest on both maps is Nebraska, which has used a "non-partisan" unicameral state legislature since 1936.

However, after the 1938 midterm elections, Republicans had gained in New England, the Midwest, and the Great Plains.


One thing I really appreciate about these maps is the calculations of what percentage of the US population was governed by each party.  To me, that is a fascinating metric of the parties' relative strengths.  I'm not sure, but I'd guess that the 1938 map shows one of the highest concentrations of state and population control in the hands of single party in the nation's history, perhaps only rivaled by the early-1800s Era of Good Feelings when the Democratic-Republicans were ascendant.


Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Most Recent Year Each State Elected a Democrat or a Republican to the Senate

Twitter user @realFrosst shows us that Kansas hasn't elected a Democrat to the US Senate since 1932(!), while Hawai'i has the longest streak of not electing any Republican senators, going back to 1970.

If you compare the same state across the two maps, you can get a sense of how competitive the state is in recent history.

Maine is notable as a technicality, due to independent Senator Angus King, who caucuses with the Democrats.

Most Recent Year Each State Elected a Democrat to the Senate

Most Recent Year Each State Elected a Republican to the Senate



Sunday, May 16, 2021

Building Locations in the USA Compared to 2020 Presidential Margins

This beautiful set of maps from Twitter user @Akko2021 shows how population density correlates with political outcomes.  Here's what they had to say:

  And here are the maps (definitely click open the full-size versions, they're awesome!):