Saturday, October 15, 2011

A Tale of Two Belts

Above: the Rust Belt as defined by counties in the region suffering a net per-capita income loss between 1980 and 2002; blue and red indicate counties that went to Obama / McCain, respectively; the pink region indicates the Bible Belt (click for a larger view).

A curious phenomenon in Rust Belt states which are also Bible Belt states: net per-capita income loss can be counted on to translate into a Republican vote with an almost uncanny degree of certainty. The inverse is also true: counties that went to Obama in 2008 could be relied on to have enjoyed a net per-capita income gain between 1980 and 2002. Notice the gerrymandered appearance of the county blocs in states with an inordinate degree of red; the 'spaces in between' tend almost exclusively to have gone blue.