I would have rearranged it so that the sections go, from top to bottom, Strong McCain, Weak McCain, Barely McCain, Tied, Barely Obama, Weak Obama, Strong Obama; dividing up the full range of 538 EVs, with a lines through the middle at 269, 268, 270.Well, here's my first go at that chart...
(click to view full size)
What do you think? Better? Worse? Different and useful, but neither better or worse? Your feedback is appreciated.
PS. In the spirit of bi-partisanship, I put Republicans on top this time.
18 comments:
I like it (v2.0) better. May I suggest considering another variation? How about running the candidate axis left to right ( a political spectrum) with time running upward on the vertical axis? That eliminates the "Who's on top?" issue. And although it may be a little unusual to put time on the vertical axis, that means you could make the graph much longer as people could scroll down the browser page to see the distant past. It's sort of a geological time order system.
blues tea-cha: I'll see what I can do... May take a few days, but we'll see what happens.
I think it's much clearer this way.
I think this is a better arrangement. Just by tracking the light color band (or the white areas) one gets a good grasp of where the balance is pointing.
This is a great visual. Thanks for putting it together.
I like v2.0 better. It's easier to figure out who's winning...
I agree with the other comments, except that I do think it feels more natural to have time on the horizontal axis. This format is better, I think, because there is only one "270" line, and you can easily see who's on the winning side of that line.
The new graph is very useful. I often watch electoral-vote.com, but it's hard to see trends there. This graph makes it much easier to see who has momentum.
Thanks for the feedbacks everyone... I'll be switching to the new format in the next day or so.
Nice alternate view.
Great visualization. I think this version is more effective than the first.
Better!
I like both formats. The new one makes it easier to see the balance, sure, but the old one makes it easier to compare the relative depth of support for each candidate. When I saw the first one, my eye immediately said, "Ah, it's close, but Obama's support is stronger -- he's got more EVs more solidly locked up." That comparison can be made in the new format, but it's a bit trickier to see it without conscious effort.
On the old one, perhaps a darker line at 270, rather than a shaded area, since the shading confuses the colors on the graph itself.
Something you're probably going to do anyway, but I think the 270 line could be a little clearer (tiny bit wider or darker?) than in your first go.
But yes, even though I like the LOOK of your original chart better, I think the new one is more informative and that's what's important.
I like this version much better, and agree with blues tea-cha on putting time on the vertical axis. Nice chart!
I'm digging this as well. Good job.
Another vote for the new format.
I agree with the other commenters, I like the new format better, in fact I was going to suggest the same thing myself.
I like it because I can easily visualize people spread along the political spectrum, with the undecideds in the white strip.
I agree, I like this view much better & I say keep the time on the x-axis.
One more recommendation though. I think it would be nice to have some vertical lines highlighting conventions & debates so we can see how the events impact the polls.
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