Every time, in the months leading up to any US Election, you frequently come across a lot of election maps offering predictions. They tend to use the classical US States format, like this one:
However, there are some issues with using the traditional map template for this kind of maps.
In the US Presidential Elections, it’s all about the 538 Electoral College votes. Each state is allocated Electors equal to the number of its U.S. Senators (always 2) plus the number of its U.S. Representatives. The latter may change according to the size of each State’s population as determined in the most recent census.
As a result, the traditional maps that show the geography of the country obscure the fact that some states may be smaller, but have a lot more population, which also means many more electoral votes.
This phenomenon has been well-known and documented:
One of the solutions to counter this issue is the cartogram map format. In this format, the geometry or space of the map is distorted, sometimes extremely, to convey the information on an alternate variable.
Of course, the variable we want to account for in the US Elections case is the aforementioned 538 electoral votes.
So, without further ado, here is the new hexagonal cartogram US Elections map that is now available on MapChart:
In this map, every state is sized by its number of electoral votes assigned. It more or less distorts the geographical position and shape of each state, but you can still easily make sense of the map.
In all but two states, electoral votes are ‘winner-take-all’, meaning the candidate winning the popular vote receives all of that state’s votes. Maine and Nebraska have adapted the ‘congressional district method’, and their votes can be colored distinctly on the map (2-1-1 for ME and 2-1-1-1 for NE).
With this map, you can effortlessly create a cartogram with predictions for past or the upcoming US Elections:
Furthermore, to help with the process, each time you color or remove the color of a state, the corresponding color box in the legend area gets updated. The update reflects the current electoral vote sum.
Keeping track of the electoral votes for each entity on the map is made easier this way. This is particularly useful when creating prediction maps for the Election, as a candidate needs 270 votes to win.
I hope that the US hexagonal cartogram map on MapChart, with its unique features, will be a useful tool.
It should make it easier for users to create accurate maps that can help with analyzing and predicting election results!