
Following the publication of its Extraordinarily Detailed Map of the 2016 Election, the New York Instances was extensively criticized for visually misrepresenting the election outcomes. Regardless of this backlash, the newspaper selected to repeat the error after the 2020 election – and has now accomplished so once more!
The New York Instances lately launched its Extraordinarily Detailed Map of the 2024 Election. Based on the NYT, the map continues to be a piece in progress, at present displaying outcomes from 73% of all votes solid. Outcomes from some voting precincts are lacking however will probably be added within the coming weeks.
The methodology behind the 2024 map stays unchanged from that used within the authentic Extraordinarily Detailed Map of the 2016 Election. This choice is stunning, given the widespread criticism the 2016 map obtained from cartographers and information visualization specialists. Cartonerd’s Cartographic Hyperbole summarized these critiques into two details:
- Use of a choropleth map: The map disproportionately highlights sparsely populated areas, giving them the identical visible prominence as densely populated areas.
- Internet Mercator projection: The projection doesn’t preserve equal space, an important requirement for correct visible illustration in electoral maps.
The map is undeniably a strong instrument for exploring precinct-level vote counts for every presidential candidate. It additionally permits customers to shortly establish precincts that overwhelmingly voted for one candidate. Nonetheless, it suffers from the identical flaw as its predecessors: it overemphasizes massive, rural precincts (which normally vote Republican) , resulting in a visually skewed illustration of the general election outcomes.
Within the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election, Donald Trump secured 49.9% of the vote, narrowly defeating Harris, who garnered 48.4%. But, the NYT’s ‘Extraordinarily Detailed Map’ gives the look of a landslide victory for Trump as a result of huge swaths of purple representing rural areas. You may nearly say that the NYT map creates an extraordinarily distorted view of simply how shut the 2024 election actually was.