The Red States, Blue States Electoral Map Project

Red States, Blue States: The Electoral Strategy Behind the Map was created by librarians at the Newman Library, Baruch College CUNY in preparation for the 2008 Presidential Election.

This resource will enable students to:

• Enhance their understanding of the US Presidential election using a visual, map-based approach
• Deconstruct the simple red state / blue state dichotomy used by the mass media
• Improve their geographic information literacy
• Identify patterns and trends that impact the election process
• Discover quantitative data sources that are useful for political and social analysis
• Explore different election scenarios with an interactive map

This resource will enable faculty to:

• Supplement and enhance instruction about the upcoming election with materials to integrate into their course work
• Help students conceptualize the election in a visual format

The project was created by Geospatial Librarian Frank Donnelly, Information Services Librarian Chris Tuthill, and Web Designer Rasun Williams. The site was reviewed and by Professors Gerry DeMaio and Louis Bolce of the Political Science Department at Baruch College and by several members of the Newman Library's faculty and staff.

Maps for the project were designed in ArcGIS 9.2 using the US Census Bureau's Generalized Cartographic Boundary Files. State-level election data was collected from the US Federal Election Commission's Online Library. County-level election data was downloaded from the Geovisualization of the 2004 Presidential Election project at Penn State, and was improved with minor additions and error corrections. The interactive 2008 election prediction map is being licensed from Creative Ventures LLC and is copyrighted.

If you have any questions or comments, please use the library's comments and suggestions page, and reference the red states / blue states project.