-- k. (k@k.k), November 12, 2000

Answers

It's a BIG RED COUNTRY out there, boys...

-- k (k@adelphia.net), November 12, 2000.

I think this is an excellent solution, 2 different governments for a nation divided. Let Gore run the blue counties and Shrub the red. If it turns out you don't like the style of your government, just move to another county.

-- (people.get@who.they.voted.for), November 12, 2000.

This is a map for people who think in binary terms. A better map would combine the blue and red into shades of purple, in proportion to the ratio of Gore to Bush votes. I know that each of those counties had at least a few Gore votes (most likely over 40%).

-- Brian McLaughlin (brianm@ims.com), November 12, 2000.

Brian:

I think the demographics have been analyzed pretty completely now. Men for Bush, women for Gore. Whites for Bush, blacks and hispanics for Gore. Urban areas for Gore, rural for Bush. Coasts for Gore, the heartland for Bush. Those making above the median for Bush, those under the median for Gore. Gun owners for Bush, nonowners for Gore. High school and less education for Gore, College grads for Bush.

What's remarkable is the sheer size of the gap in each of these demographics -- not one of them is even close. The overall tie doesn't represent national indifference, but the balance of very real (often extreme) national tensions.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), November 12, 2000.

"College grads for Bush."

LOL! Nice try Flint, trying to sneak that one in there since you voted for the Shrub. Hee hee hee!

Though I hardly think your definitive categorization is anywhere near a representation of reality, I'll let you slide on your general assumptions, up until the education part. Couldn't be more wrong.

College grads are educated near major cities, and most of them end up working and living in major cities, or at least in the suburbs within 40 miles of major metro areas.

Nearly all of the major metro areas are in Gore territory. The most educated people in our country voted for Gore by overwhelming majority.

-- (nice@try.flintsky), November 12, 2000.

PS: As long as we are making sweeping generalizations, there is one word that best describes the lifestyle and character of the majority of people who voted for Shrub... Rednecks.

These are gun toting farmers and shit-kickers who have an extreme prejudice toward minority races, mostly because of pure ignorance and fear, primarily because they have never had them as their neighbors.

-- (ignorance@breeds.prejudice), November 12, 2000.

Mr. Flint you have given us a remarkably accurate assessment in a very few words. IBm sure that one could find a college grad or two that voted for Gore but nowhere near the levels suggested by the posters Nice and Ignorance (sounds like a connection to me). This appears to be the same person and given enough time he will surely give rednecks a good name.

-- Wizard (onedirector@email.msn.com), November 12, 2000.

I'm not making any of this up. In fact there were some measurable demographic categories that split essentially 50-50. Suburbanites, and those with post-graduate degrees, voted evenly for Gore and Bush.

I myself have a post graduate degree and live in a suburb -- of a town near in size to the Gore/Bush changeover. So statistically speaking, my vote was a complete tossup.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), November 12, 2000.