Talk:1939: 2016 Election Map

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Revision as of 19:33, 8 January 2018 by Kynde (talk | contribs)
Jump to: navigation, search


Why now?

So why are we getting this map now instead of a year ago? Has something significant to this area just happened in the U.S.A.? (I am a Canadian so might well have missed something.) 108.162.216.154 16:42, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

I'm from the midwest in the US and I'm really confused as well... I also don't find anything particularly funny or poignant in this. So yeah, color me confused in the US. 162.158.75.76 16:52, 8 January 2018 (UTC) Sam

I think the idea is that this map, while interesting as an object, still sort of fails as a map - it doesn't provide the sort of easily digestible information that a map of this variety is supposed to show. Conceptually, I don't think it's that different than #1138 (Heatmap) - the map more or less shows population density and fails to easily communicate party alignment. As to why it's showing up in the first year of 2018, my best guess is that mid-term elections are this year...? 172.69.69.238

My friend I showed the comic to thinks it could be a general political commentary on the uselessness of these kinds of maps. 1. the map is a year old: useless. 2. there are no numbers: useless. 162.158.75.76 17:04, 8 January 2018 (UTC) Sam.

I'm wondering if it has to do with the fact that Trump just disbanded the commission on voter fraud. I think I heard somewhere that this commission was to "prove why Trump should have won the popular vote". I think the map relates to the whole popular vote versus electoral college discussion.--108.162.216.172 17:17, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

I think it might be claiming Trump only won because very many people failed to vote? Either that, or as already mentioned, it's about how useless these maps can be. That's right, Jacky720 just signed this (talk | contribs) 17:20, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

The point of the map is that the standard choropleth map for the 2016 election shows the vast majority of us area voting for Donald Trump. (shown on this link http://brilliantmaps.com/2016-county-election-map/) The comic is criticizing the visual accuracy of chloropleth maps in giving a strong understanding of election results (as the majority of voters voted for Hillary). ---- -- Widea (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

If this map is really so correct (as stated in the caption) then it has been a huge job to collect the data so precisely and calculate how to split voters across borders when not fitting. This says to me that this is a very big issue for Randall. Of course he has made it clear many times that he is against Trumps election and more or less anything he does... I believe there is a lot to learn from this map as opposed to those he mentions in the title text --Kynde (talk) 19:33, 8 January 2018 (UTC)