Obama/Walker Era Wisconsin

[Gass3268]

Obama/Walker Era Wisconsin

I wanted to come up with the average Wisconsin map since President Obama was elected in 2008. I decided to use all major statewide elections that have taken place since from 2008 onward. I have made three maps from this data. One that adds up the votes from each election in every Wisconsin county and then finds the partisan percentage by dividing it by total votes cast from 2008 onward. The second map takes the percentages for each election and averages them for each county. The third map is a frequency map, showing the percentage each county went for the party/side that won the most times. I am counting non-partisan elections, as there are clear ideological classifications for the candidates in those elections that allow me to categorize them into either the Democratic or Republican camps.

Here are the elections that I used:

2015:
Supreme Court: Ann Bradley (Left) over James Daley (Right) 58.03%-41.89%

2014:
Governor:  Scott Walker (R) over Mary Burke (D) 52.26%-46.59%
Attorney General: Brad Schimel (R) over Susan Happ (D) 51.54%-45.39%
Secretary Of State: Doug La Follette (D) over Julian Bradley (R) 50.00%-46.29%
Treasurer: Matt Adamczyk (R) over David Sartori (D) 48.80%-44.73%

2013:
Superintendent Of Public Instruction: Tony Evers (Left) over Don Pridemore (Right) 61.15%-38.67%

2012:
President: Barack Obama (D) over Mitt Romney (R) 52.83%-45.89%
Senator: Tammy Baldwin (D) over Tommy Thompson (R) 51.41%-45.86%
Governor Recall: Scott Walker (R) over Tom Barrett (D) 53.08%-46.28%
Lieutenant Governor Recall: Rebecca Kleefisch (R) over Mahlon Mitchell (D) 52.89%-46.99%

2011:
Supreme Court: David Prosser (Right) over Joanne Kloppenburg 50.18%-49.71%

2010:
Senator: Ron Johnson (R) over Russ Feingold (D) 51.68%-47.02%
Governor: Scott Walker (R) over Tom Barrett (D) 52.25%-46.48%
Attorney General: J.B. Van Hollen (R) over Scott Hassett 57.79%-42.12%
Secretary Of State: Doug La Follette (D) over David King (R) 51.61%-48.30%
Treasurer: Kurt Shuller (R) over Dawn Sass (D) 53.39%-46.47%  

2009:
Superintendent Of Public Instruction: Tony Evers (Left) over Rose Fernandez (Right) 57.15%-42.74%
Supreme Court: Shirley Abrahamson (Left) over Randy Koschnick (Right) 59.67%-39.44%

2008:
President: Barack Obama (D) over John McCain (R) 56.22%-42.31%

Breakdown of Elections
Number of Elections: 19
Partisan Elections: 14
Non Partisan Elections: 5
Democratic/Left Leaning Victories: 9
Republican/Right Leaning Victories: 10

Statewide Election Percentages
County Totals Percentages: Democratic/Left Leaners 49.41% - Republicans/Right Leaners 49.07%
Average of County Percentages: Democratic/Left Leaners 50.52% - Republican/Right Leaners 48.18%  

County Totals Percentage Map


County Percentage Average Map


County Frequency Map

[Miles]

Thanks - good work!

[CountyTy90]

Really cool! I had no idea Portage County was so Democratic though. I guess it does have a university however.

[Gass3268]

Really cool! I had no idea Portage County was so Democratic though. I guess it does have a university however.

It's not THAT Democratic, the average of %'s was 56.08%-42.46%, it does however almost always vote Democratic. The 2010 AG race was the only time since 2008 it went for the Republican.

[TJ in Oregon]

Really cool! I had no idea Portage County was so Democratic though. I guess it does have a university however.

Portage County's voting is due to a combination of a university and a lot of traditionally Democratic Polish ethnics. The latter have been trending toward the GOP in recent decades, albeit slowly. But in any case they're way more friendly to the Democrats than their largely German neighbors in the surrounding counties. So it is a college town but there's more to it than just that.

[Ebsy]

Was Walker's ballooning unpopularity the cause of the lopsided nature of the recent Supreme Court election?

[Gass3268]

Was Walker's ballooning unpopularity the cause of the lopsided nature of the recent Supreme Court election?

I pretty confidently can say no on this. Wisconsin has only voted against an incumbent Justice twice in state history. Also it was before the budget debates and Presidential campaign that's dropped Walker's numbers.

[ElectionsGuy]

Very nice stuff Gass! The frequency map I think tells more about the counties than the other two do.

But man, how much more Republican can Washington County get?