Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Plotting Map Shapes Using Axes
The 2012 U.S. presidential election pitted the Democratic candidate and incumbent, Barack
Obama, against the Republican candidate and former governor of the state of Massachusetts,
Mitt Romney. After the votes were tallied, a whole host of comparisons could be made, such
as how the voting record compared with other demographic variables, including unemploy-
ment levels, degree of urbanization, and education levels, among many others. We'll con-
sider a few of these variables in tandem, and see if there is any correlation between them.
NOTE
The trick with these types of comparisons is to remember that correlation does not imply
causation.
First, we'll start with the data. At a state level, we can obtain the voting percentages and
demographic statistics from governmental sites (
http://bit.ly/fed-elec-2012
,
http://bit.ly/reg-
state-employment
,
http://bit.ly/2010-UR-census
,
and
http://bit.ly/educ-attainment
), and com-
bine them into the table shown in
Figure 11-17
.
