Editors’ note: In this archival piece from 2013, Good Authority contributor Joshua Tucker talks turkey!
In November 2013, Pew Research posted some data showing that the vast majority (>85 percent) of turkeys are produced in just 13 states. I rearranged the data to calculate the distribution of these turkeys by state. The result: Looks like Thanksgiving turkeys are neither red nor blue nor purple, but quintessentially American!
Of course, as is often the case, there are more red states producing smaller numbers of turkeys, and one blue state that produces a disproportionately high number of turkeys (although in this case it is Minnesota, not California!)! Here’s the data from Pew:
Happy Thanksgiving!