The 2016 Voting Map of the Nine Nations

The quadrennial University of Michigan election maps are out, and sure enough, they illuminate the state of the Nine Nations. Joel finds the sixth map, by county -- that includes the purple results as well as the blue and red -- the most interesting. MexAmerica, Ecoptopia, The Empty Quarter, The Islands and New England pop right out. Dixie, you see the centuries-old classic Southern racial divides of the "Black Belt" crescent. The Breadbasket, serving its role as the "decider" of what is a truly continental idea, is highly nuanced. The Foundry, interestingly, splits at the Appalachians. The western portion, that was totally a product of the Industrial Age and is what we mean by "rustbelt," is still hurting, clearly. The eastern coastal portion that was settled a century or more before the steam engine -- when power meant being near waterfalls -- has started to make an economic comeback earlier and voted accordingly.
See Maps.