Mapping the Chicago area

[RINO Tom]

Awesome work! Please keep it up. No complaints from me yet, but I dont know as much about the north side. Il be sure to leave some passive agressive comments in a later post.

Dont forget district 1 is home to Northwestern University! Our very own Big 10 team

I thought that was Notre Dame.

This is a common belief, but it's not true, IMO.  I recall a fan poll from a few years ago that had Illinois as the most popular team at about 31%, Notre Dame in second at 21% and Northwestern at like 11%; the remaining 37% was split among other teams.  Illini fans have had to deal with terrible football, so they're obviously going to be less vocal and wear their stuff less often than a good team like Notre Dame (and the map that the NYT made, which is based off of Facebook likes, HEAVILY leans toward teams that are doing well when the map is made ... for example, I will tell you for a fact that Illini fans outnumber Badgers fans in Rockford, IL and Gophers fans outnumber Badgers fans in MINNEAPOLIS, LOL), but they're clearly the plurality.  UI has over 220,000 alumni in the Chicago area, the next closest school is barely over 100,000.  When Illinois is good, the city gets behind them like no other team (see 2005 basketball).  I'll leave you with this gorgeous gem:

[RINO Tom]

Well, Notre Dame holds the southwest side!

That's most certainly true.

[RINO Tom]

I have a couple of comments on the recent history.

District 4

Population: 458,358

Breakdown: 68% White, 2% Black, 14% Hispanic, 12% Asian

2008 Result: 58% Obama

Sprawl, sprawl, sprawl. This district is intense with growth over the course of the last 20 years. It includes Schaumburg, Palatine, Arlington Heights, and Mount Prospect. It is a solidly middle class area. Lots of monotonous subdivisions. It's got sizeable Asian and Hispanic populations, suggesting that its white population is decently Republican, which is consistent with many new and sprawly middle class suburbs. Lots of individuals that have worked their way to the middle class and are big on the "pull yourself up" outlook.

District 5

Population: 151,792

Breakdown: 65% White, 2% Black, 18% Hispanic, 13% Asian

2008 Result: 63% Obama

This area is also new and growing but seemingly less sprawly. Strong Asian and Jewish populations exist in this area, although I was admittedly surprised when compiling the map that the Asian population is not near what I thought it was in this area. The district includes Buffalo Grove, Vernon Hills, and Lincolnshire. It is essentially a more well-off version of District 4. It is also more Democratic than District 4 (Rockefeller's hear spins again). It's schools are incredible - it is home to Stevenson High School and Vernon Hills High School, two award winners.

I'm not sure how you are categorizing either of these districts as new or recently sprawling. They are both a result of suburban development in the the 1970's and 80's. They have seen the first generation of families grow up and the next generation move in. These areas have been stable or declining in population.

To get an idea of how stable these areas are compare the 2000 to 2010 Census figures.

County	Township	2000 pop	2010 pop	%change
Cook	Elk Grove	94,969	92,905	-2.2%
Cook	Palatine	112,740	112,994	+0.0%
Cook	Schaumburg	134,114	131,288	-2.1%
Cook	Wheeling	155,834	153,630	-1.4%
Lake	Vernon	65,355	67,095	+2.7%

The big political shifts took place in the early 90's as those first families moved out and were replaced. The amount and type of demographic replacement accounts for how much the Dem swing has been over the last 20 years. Politically these areas were big for Rauner in 2014.

Didn't they start swinging Democrat due to Clinton and social liberalism?

It's not as if the GOP of the 1990s was THAT much more conservative than the GOP of the 1980s...  Sure, some suburbanites have defected over "culture war" type stuff in the past 2 decades, but I think the diversifying of the places we tend to still incorrectly think of as those same suburbs was a much bigger factor in suburbs becoming purple.

[RINO Tom]

I have a couple of comments on the recent history.

District 4

Population: 458,358

Breakdown: 68% White, 2% Black, 14% Hispanic, 12% Asian

2008 Result: 58% Obama

Sprawl, sprawl, sprawl. This district is intense with growth over the course of the last 20 years. It includes Schaumburg, Palatine, Arlington Heights, and Mount Prospect. It is a solidly middle class area. Lots of monotonous subdivisions. It's got sizeable Asian and Hispanic populations, suggesting that its white population is decently Republican, which is consistent with many new and sprawly middle class suburbs. Lots of individuals that have worked their way to the middle class and are big on the "pull yourself up" outlook.

District 5

Population: 151,792

Breakdown: 65% White, 2% Black, 18% Hispanic, 13% Asian

2008 Result: 63% Obama

This area is also new and growing but seemingly less sprawly. Strong Asian and Jewish populations exist in this area, although I was admittedly surprised when compiling the map that the Asian population is not near what I thought it was in this area. The district includes Buffalo Grove, Vernon Hills, and Lincolnshire. It is essentially a more well-off version of District 4. It is also more Democratic than District 4 (Rockefeller's hear spins again). It's schools are incredible - it is home to Stevenson High School and Vernon Hills High School, two award winners.

I'm not sure how you are categorizing either of these districts as new or recently sprawling. They are both a result of suburban development in the the 1970's and 80's. They have seen the first generation of families grow up and the next generation move in. These areas have been stable or declining in population.

To get an idea of how stable these areas are compare the 2000 to 2010 Census figures.

County	Township	2000 pop	2010 pop	%change
Cook	Elk Grove	94,969	92,905	-2.2%
Cook	Palatine	112,740	112,994	+0.0%
Cook	Schaumburg	134,114	131,288	-2.1%
Cook	Wheeling	155,834	153,630	-1.4%
Lake	Vernon	65,355	67,095	+2.7%

The big political shifts took place in the early 90's as those first families moved out and were replaced. The amount and type of demographic replacement accounts for how much the Dem swing has been over the last 20 years. Politically these areas were big for Rauner in 2014.

Didn't they start swinging Democrat due to Clinton and social liberalism?

It's not as if the GOP of the 1990s was THAT much more conservative than the GOP of the 1980s...  Sure, some suburbanites have defected over "culture war" type stuff in the past 2 decades, but I think the diversifying of the places we tend to still incorrectly think of as those same suburbs was a much bigger factor in suburbs becoming purple.

Suburban whites have no doubt moved to the left consistently since the 1980's. I think the prominence of cultural issues (and the polarization of the parties on them) has a lot to do with it.

Of course they have, but looking at your own wonderfully done and informative election maps of Chicagoland, the rich, White areas are still largely Republican.  Does being religious help?  Of course.  But my point is it's not as if academics voted for the Republican Party in the 1980s, and Jews weren't voting Republican in the 1980s and Hispanics weren't voting Republican in the 1980s, etc., but these groups were much smaller slices of the pie than they were in the 1980s.  Combine that fact with some defecting over cultural stuff, and you've got purple (and in Obama's case, blue) suburbs ... but it's certainly not as simple as "social issues."  I mean how many Republicans in Lake Forest give a rat's ass about gay marriage?  Haha.