The concept of “red” and “blue” states is one of the worst tropes in conventional discourse about American political geography. Fortunately, James Gimpel, in collaboration with the Christian Science Monitor, has produced a much richer geographical portrait, one that captures interesting kinds of variation, such as “monied ‘burbs” (e.g., my hometown of Winston-Salem, NC) and “industrial metropolis” (my current home of Washington, DC), and “campus and careers” (Chapel Hill, NC, home of my alma mater, the top-ranked UNC Tarheels). The CSM will be profiling towns in each of 11 different types of communities during the campaign season.
Check out the website here.