Polarized States

Here’s an interesting chart from Nate Silver:

States whose Bush voters are conservative are located on the left. Those with moderate Bush voters are on the right. Those whose Kerry voters were liberal are on the top, and those whose Kerry voters were moderate are on the bottom.

Thus, we see one large group of states, mostly southern, clustered on the bottom-left. These are conservative states, featuring conservative Bush voters and moderate Kerry voters. Then there’s another group of states on the top-right. A lot of northeastern states here, plus Hawaii. These are the liberal states, with liberal Kerry voters and moderate Bush voters. And then you’ve got the polarized states on the top-left — Oregon, Washington, Vermont, Minnesota, Colorado, New Mexico. In these states, the liberals are liberal and the conservatives are conservative.

What’s interesting is that there’s basically nothing in the bottom-right corner where the hypothetical consensus states would exist. North Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming come the closest but none of them head very far out into that territory.