Electoral Map Based on Home Prices?
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
On this recent CD post, I featured the top map above (click to enlarge) showing annual home prices changes from OFHEO. In the light blue states, home prices have increased over the last year year (2007:Q2 to 2008:Q2), and in the yellow and red states home prices have declined, with the largest percentage price declines (double-digit) in the red states (CA, FL and NV). Is it possible that the pattern of home prices increases/decreases will translate into a comparable voting pattern in the presidential election?
Real Clear Politics allows you to create your own electoral map, and the bottom map above (click to enlarge) shows the results of an analysis done at Right Thinking blog, which reports:
Conventional wisdom, and the current strategy of the Democrats, would be to use the anger and suffering of those under economic hardship to vote against the incumbent party. According to this thinking, Republicans would suffer in those states. I got to wondering that if this theory were true, how would the election turn out?
As the bottom map shows, McCain would win with 275 electoral votes to Obama’s 263. As Right Thinking points out, it won’t actually end up that way, but it’s an interesting analysis. And using the Real Clear Politics website, you can create alternative electoral maps based on various assumptions.
HT: Ben Cunningham
