Post random maps here

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On the Republican map, since DC is greyed out, is it Congressional?

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On the assumption that the other two were answered correctly...

Political. Colours and Shadings matter.

Who's going to be the first to suggest it's Obama vs McCain?

Likewise, political. Colours and Shadings matter.

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Correct re: mine. I also used shading to show what proportion of the upper and lower house is controlled by the governing party...

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Any hints on the Governors map?

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I've been thinking and thinking about it, but Utah keeps throwing me. I figured even if you used some sort of average over the past x-years or something, it's still unlikely because it's been Republican since 1985... Perhaps another hint would be handy...

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Governors prior to the 1984 election?

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Hint: Tomorrow, it'll look like this:

Does it have to do with Primaries? Perhaps states still to hold Republican Congressional Primaries?

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Bilo, are shadings important?

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Interesting how Dark Minnesota and Hawaii are, compared with some of the other states. Also Mississippi, South Carolina and DC very deeply shaded the other way. Since it doesn't seem to have any super-tight correlation with median incomes, I'm guessing it's not proportion of the population with private health insurance but I'm going to guess that anyway since that's something that comes to mind. 

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Birth rates? Red states have more births per thousand women than green states? Although I guess Utah doesn't really fit that mould, so perhaps not...

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Non-political, Census Bureau collected stats (ie. demographic data), shading is important.

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1916, with no alterations whatsoever.

Even the same EVs.

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Yep! That's correct. Hence California and New Mexico (and much of the south) is low.

I didn't think you'd get it so quickly, so for my first hint, I was going to drop the same again, but as a map of over or under the average for the US...

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Interesting map, Joe. Any hints? It looks like one of those photos from space of the sunrise or something.

Bilo - anyone close on your map?

Erc - I'm about to look to see which year your map is.

        Okay, looked. 1896 with a swing of, I don't know 10% to the Republicans?

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Sorry guys, been a bit busy these past couple of weeks and haven't had much chance to get online and give this much thought...

Erc, I'm still pondering yours.

Xahar, that whole Texas switch thing has me intrigued... is it something to do with states that have finalised their primaries for Congress or something?

Ben, what level of government is yours?

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Difference in monthly mean temperature?

Green states have less change between their hotest and coldest month (cold winters/cool summers or warm winters/hot summers).

Red states have a greater change between their hotest and coldest month (hot summers/cold winters).

I don't think that's right, but I thought I should take a guess.

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That's a good guess - good thought...

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Colours are random and non-political but mean something.

See if you can guess.

There is one error on the map, Correze should be red. I probably gave part away.

Something to do with population growth?

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Here's one.

Is it presidential?

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Ignore the fact it's all blue. Focus on the shades. DC doesn't count either.

Percent of times they've voted for the winning presidential candidate?

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Is it political? It looks more like a over/under average map...

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Ind-474...44% popular vote
Dem-38...27% popular vote
Rep-26...28% popular vote

HINT: This map was made using stats from the 2004 election.

Registered Democrats vs Registered Republicans vs Independents?

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This map only looks at Republican and Democrat voters and assumes they make up 100% of all votes cast in their respective states... I'll do it up again when I have time, to reflect independent and minor party voters, but in the meantime, what does this map represent?

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Ind-474...44% popular vote
Dem-38...27% popular vote
Rep-26...28% popular vote

HINT: This map was made using stats from the 2004 election.

Registered Democrats vs Registered Republicans vs Independents?

Nope... it's what would happen if every member of the voting age population who didn't vote registered and turned out in 2004 to cast a ballot for the same 3rd party candidate.  Red states are states still won by John Kerry despite the 100% turnout and the blue states are states still won by Bush.  People who don't vote could alone elect a President in a landslide.

The really interesting thing is that even though the Wisconsin result was incredibly close, Kerry still would have won - likewise, even though Iowa was close, Bush still would have won - indeed, the strongest wins by the Independent candidate would be in the safest states for either the Democrats or the Republicans. I guess this is a combination of two factors:

i. In states that are "safe" for a particular party, voters may consider their votes worthless, and not bother showing up to vote, since a party will win it anyway.
ii. The GOTV campaigns are strongest in swing states, which reduces the impact of factor i, but also actively gets voters to polling stations.

Even in the states below that would have been won by the independent candidate are the ones which were closest - Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Colorado and Missouri.

This map you've done is exceptionally interesting - it does a particularly good job of showing states with a higher voter turnout and states with a lower voter turnout. Very interesting! Very good job!

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Republican Party: 49%
Democratic Party: 46%
Ind/Minor Parties: 5%

This is the same as the earlier one I posted a few days back, but including the Independent/Minor Party figures. What does it represent?