Purple reign

While the electoral college system encourages a binary blue/red split, this map (click on it) gives a bit more, ah, nuanced approach, letting the color tones within each state reflect the balance of popular vote, not electoral.

Yes, there are broad patterns — a more red-violet in the south and Midwest, pretty much red through the northern mountain states, more blue and purple along the coast — but it makes things a lot more clearly muddled, too, if that makes sense. If only there weren’t a typo up in the date, it would be perfect. If nothing else, it shows that even if you think the Other Side is nothing but a flock of whackos, there’s plenty of Your Side hanging out there, too — unless you live in Utah, or Massachusetts.

(via BoingBoing)

UPDATE: It occurs to me that this map demonstrates one of the biggest weaknesses/strengths of the electoral college system. On the one hand, it overemphasizes the size of victories, lending a certain added air of legitimacy to the winner, usually a good thing. On the other hand, it overemphasizes the size of victories, making the voting seem much more divisive than it may actually be.