US Presidential Election Maps in R

Note: there was a stupid bug in map.r posted here before 04/12/10. Please use the new version. This version should work when issuing source("map.r").

The R (version > 2 required for transparancy plots) code for creating the plots shown below can be found in map.r. I'm not completely happy with the coloring of the counties, I would like to use something that would make the counties in which there was a 50/50 outcome more neutral colored. If you know a way, please let me know. (04/12/10: Solved with help from Gregoire Thomas, see first plot below, which I'm extremely happy with.)

These plots are based on a plot that appeared in a New York Times flash-based editoral, available here. Note that there are some differences in the maps shown below and the NYT maps, most notably with respect to some missing data in some New England states, some mismatches in county names, and the representation of NYC.


Click the image for a (nicer) PDF version.

Click the image for a (nicer) PDF version.

Files necessary:

HvR, 041210