A data-driven blog that uses chart, maps, cartograms, and other visualizations to understand important societal issues.

Economy, Elections

Illuminating America: Rural America and the 2016 Election

The headline: In the latest from the “Illuminating America” series from Charted Territory, the county-level rural population rate has replaced Chlamydia as the number-one explanatory variable of the 2016 election. The rural population explains 61% of the election result, with the Republican counties (i.e., counties that voted for Donald Trump) being almost five times more rural than Democrat counties. 

The chart:

  • X-axis: county-level rural population rate (percent).
  • Y-axis: county-level 2016 Trump vote (percent).
  • Bubble size: proportional to total county population.
  • Bubble color: state-level election result (red = Trump state, blue = Clinton state).

The data: The rural population data are taken from the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps (http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/explore-health-rankings). Election data were collected and compiled by Charted Territory.

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