Behind the ‘Purple America’ map
Down-in-the-dumps Democrats, gloating Republicans and secessionist wannabes, take note: The presidential election results weren’t what they seemed.
At least that’s the finding of Jeff Culver, a University of Washington grad and information-graphics junkie whose impromptu creation, “Purple America,” flashed through the post-election blogosphere to become an Internet cause celebre.
The now-familiar Electoral College map isolates “blue” John Kerry voters mostly on the coasts and “red” George Bush voters in the “heartland.” Culver’s map uses the same colors, but blends them rather than separating them. Each state takes on its own shade of purple, reflecting not whether Democrats or Republicans “won” outright, but how many of each voted in each state.
Culver, 28, idly e-mailed his creation to one Web log; within days, his map was an Internet phenomenon. The experience, he said, has been a fascinating study in politics, technology and the human need for reassurance.
Question: Why did you make Purple America?
Answer: I was just driving around, thinking about how the media were processing the election results. I kept seeing these disconnects. I thought about Pennsylvania, which was a “blue” state, and New Mexico, a “red” one, and knew the fight was very close in each. The red and blue (Electoral College) map presents information in such a polarized way.
Q: How many gradations of red, blue and purple did you use?
A: An almost infinite number. I created a continuum from pure red to pure blue using 100 (units); I could select almost anything in there.
Q: What does that tell you?
A: Maybe that the United States is not as divided, geographically speaking, as it seems. Differences are still deep, but more so from one individual to the next than one region to the next. If you look more closely than the Electoral College map can, you see lots of Republicans in blue states and Democrats in red states.
Q: What has the reaction to Purple America been?
A: I e-mailed it to a single blog and didn’t even know if they’d be interested. By (the next) morning, my e-mail in-box was full of messages from all over – South America, Indonesia, England. People seemed to want to say “thanks.” It relieved them to think the country maybe wasn’t as polarized as they thought. It’s funny how it has been spun. A couple of conservative sites said this was a desperate attempt to make Democrats feel better. A lot of Kerry supporters had very strong feelings and seemed to be looking for answers. One guy wrote to say this crushed (his) secessionist dreams. I thought that was amusing.