Does the 1972 map resemble 2000-2016 maps?

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

If you shift every state to their vote relative to the nation, simulating a 49%/49%/2% popular result, you get this:

That doesn't look much like a 2000-2016 map to me.

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

Closest states:

Maine (0.17% D)
Alaska (0.36% R)
Maryland (0.75% R)
New Mexico (1.34% R)
Missouri (1.44% R)
Ohio (1.59% D)
New Jersey (1.65% R)
Hawaii (1.81% R)
Delaware (2.74% D)
Vermont (3.05% R)
Montana (3.07% D)
North Dakota (3.13% R)
Pennsylvania (3.17% D)

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

If you shift every state to their vote relative to the nation, simulating a 49%/49%/2% popular result, you get this:

That doesn't look much like a 2000-2016 map to me.

Eh, flip MT/SD GOP and NV/NM/CO/NH/VT/NJ/MD/VA Dem and it's 2012. 40 out of 50 states is a pretty good correlation.

I messed up Hawaii. So it's 39 out of 50 states.

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

The differences between 1972 and 2000-2016:

1. Northeastern liberal/moderate Republicans were still a thing
2. BosNyWash suburbs hadn't spread as far into CT/NJ/MD/VA/DE
3. Northern Plains farmer-progressives were a much larger group, covering a much larger territory

By 2000 the liberal Republicans were Democrats, Northeastern states were much more diverse, and all that remained of the northern farmer-progressives was the northern-Mississippi-Valley anomaly, which itself was almost extinct.

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

If you shift every state to their vote relative to the nation, simulating a 49%/49%/2% popular result, you get this:

That doesn't look much like a 2000-2016 map to me.

Democrats would have been much better off creating the coalition this map shows than chasing southern votes for another quarter century.

If Roe v Wade had never happened the following year, the New Deal Coalition probably could have been rebuilt, and you'd have a much broader battleground. Things were better off when voters in places like Texas and Tennessee mattered.

I'd rather have an alignment with 35 battleground states than one with 10. Regardless of who is winning elections, that's healthier for the nation as a whole.