Friday, August 27, 2004

Politics of Self-Destruction

Here is an analysis of Presidential voting based on suicide rates, by Michael Craig Miller in the Boston Globe.


WHEN DEMOCRATS and Republicans decided where to hold their national conventions, they probably didn't know that Massachusetts and New York have the lowest suicide rates in the nation, about 6.5 per 100,000 people per year. The national average is 10.7, and states with the biggest problem are in the 19 to 20 range.

Suicide rates in the United States generally rise as you go south and west. Earlier this year, I got interested in the exceptions to that rule, so I decided to create a map. States with lower than average suicide rates I colored blue; the rest I colored red.

And there it was: an approximation of the year 2000 presidential election map.


But...where's the actual map? Couldn't find it. If he's right, it would look like this map of the 2000 election, with Repub states red and Dem states blue. Of course, I expect Miller could be wrong: if Bush wins, I have a lot of liberal friends who have promised to kill themselves.

Here is a current map, a little optimistically tilted toward Bush (They give W both Florida and Ohio!). Have fun, Dems, but don't hurt yourselves!
(Thanks to JAR for the tip)

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