Who We Are, How We Vote: Mapping the U.S. Electorate

A bachelor’s degree is still a fairly exclusive achievement in much of the U.S., particularly rural areas. Two trends are clear on these maps. In counties where high-school educations dominate, the edge for Mitt Romney and the Republicans is clear. Look at the map for bachelor’s degrees or graduate degrees and you can see how President Barack Obama won in well-educated population centers near big cities—New York, Chicago, Seattle—and in scattered college counties such as Champaign in Illinois, and Douglas in Kansas.

The graying of America is particularly noticeable in the counties running through the center of the country. Look at the “senior” counties map to see Romney’s strength in those dark orange areas. Click to see counties by median age and note Obama’s strength in younger communities.

While the nation is diversifying, large parts of the country remain largely white and non-Hispanic. That’s significant at election time. Note the Romney vote in counties with large white, non-Hispanic populations. Conversely, you can see how Obama won a swath of counties in the Deep South with large African-American populations. Meanwhile, while Hispanics went heavily for Obama, Romney did well in less-populated rural counties with big Hispanic populations.

Wealth in the United States tends to be clustered in and around major cities, while rural areas have lower incomes. Look at the median household income view and note Obama’s strength on the wealthy East and West coasts. Keeping with median household income, look at Romney’s map to see how higher-income suburban and exurban counties tilted toward him, creating a doughnut effect in metro areas such as Dallas and Columbus, Ohio. In addition, note how owner-occupied housing isn’t always the best way to measure wealth. Many Romney counties won have higher ownership numbers, but in those rural places homes are also relatively inexpensive.

The impact of immigration and majority-minority communities is felt in a relatively small handful of counties. Look at the majority-minority counties map and you can see how Obama dominated. Romney’s strength in rural counties around the country is also apparent. The map of foreign-born populations shows a split. Obama won in and around cities with big foreign populations, while in rural places those counties mostly belonged to Romney.

The county-by-county percentage votes for Obama and Romney paint a subtler picture of the political strength for each candidate. Click to see the percentage of votes for Obama and the northern Midwest looks closely divided. The president won a few counties decisively to capture states such as Ohio and Michigan. The same is true of Pennsylvania. Conversely, click to see the percentage of votes for Romney and the Plains states are a deep red, with the Republican winning more than 60% of the vote in most counties.