Update on US Presidential Election

I think we are at the end of the count. The Electoral College meets on Monday.

On the popular count, Hillary got 2.86 million more votes than Donald. Nonetheless, Trump won 306 electoral college votes to Clinton's 232.

2012
Dem                   65918507
Rep                   60934407
Other                  2384728
Total                129237642

2016
Dem_2016              65818318
Rep_2016              62958211
Other_2016             8130756
Total_2016           136907285

                          Swing  
State                            
Alabama                5.538357  
Alaska                 0.741723  
Arizona               -5.532347  
Arkansas               3.233032  
California            -6.904200  
Colorado               0.454730  
Connecticut            3.692955  
Delaware               7.196230  
District of Columbia  -3.141525  
Florida                2.063364  
Georgia               -2.694949  
Hawaii                10.523484  
Idaho                  0.070853  
Illinois              -0.115693  
Indiana                8.967002  
Iowa                  15.216986  
Kansas                -0.986894  
Kentucky               7.156187  
Louisiana              2.432006  
Maine                 12.327412  
Maryland              -0.345453  
Massachusetts         -4.047876  
Michigan               9.691593  
Minnesota              6.173972  
Mississippi            6.304284  
Missouri               9.278486  
Montana                6.781621  
Nebraska               3.272717  
Nevada                 4.263805  
New Hampshire          5.208235  
New Jersey             3.759336  
New Mexico             1.936178  
New York               5.608862  
North Carolina         1.613141  
North Dakota          16.097549  
Ohio                  11.044685  
Oklahoma               2.846545  
Oregon                 1.111639  
Pennsylvania           6.102260  
Rhode Island          11.948748  
South Carolina         3.792815  
South Dakota          11.772774  
Tennessee              5.622094  
Texas                 -6.772736  
Utah                 -29.960350  
Vermont                9.189564  
Virginia              -1.450352  
Washington            -0.959397  
West Virginia         14.985933  
Wisconsin              7.706614  
Wyoming                5.471542

Change in raw vote count (percent change on 2012 vote count)

                            Turnout Republican   Democrat        Other
State                                                                    
Alabama                    2.363838   4.962876  -8.313351   232.658362   
Alaska                     6.027721  -0.782749  -5.044031   194.157372   
Arizona                   12.892191   1.519632  13.258950   299.297296   
Arkansas                   5.719386   5.731894  -3.528064   138.949295   
California                 9.046888  -7.358494  11.452386   176.393637   
Colorado                   8.102118   1.454638   1.191745   276.161005   
Connecticut                5.511699   6.034976  -0.832717   290.481959   
Delaware                   6.684609  11.870030  -2.877766   256.398428   
District of Columbia       5.958525 -40.493896   5.901075   195.783926   
Florida                   11.886731  10.914970   6.305672   316.343490   
Georgia                    5.817874   0.501085   5.870697   202.012389   
Hawaii                    -1.325061   6.471925 -12.967866   372.650911   
Idaho                      5.130021  -2.816747 -10.819270   297.556848   
Illinois                   6.103345   0.505757   2.358560   246.625786   
Indiana                    3.853494   9.446668 -10.495679   157.516608   
Iowa                      -1.020680   9.631038 -20.530817   283.814053   
Kansas                     2.321232  -2.724087  -2.933113   210.544670   
Kentucky                   7.013217  10.649564  -7.435712   193.203760   
Louisiana                  1.753554   2.289063  -3.582441   115.051130   
Maine                      4.871982  14.820581 -10.857301   178.589652   
Maryland                   2.716443  -2.953073   0.005006   177.316277   
Massachusetts              4.964980  -8.209532   3.821235   315.245195   
Michigan                   1.136468   7.766767 -11.531372   283.049579   
Minnesota                  0.281009   0.206480 -11.541509   262.191281   
Mississippi               -5.794721  -1.411475 -13.823277   112.322315   
Missouri                   1.625110   7.559901 -12.479858   148.939133   
Montana                    2.613709   4.222030 -11.955073   173.139906   
Nebraska                   6.275090   4.398776  -5.821948   270.035975   
Nevada                    10.884328  10.460408   1.484268   270.742817   
New Hampshire              4.670929   4.810892  -5.691888   333.872792   
New Jersey                 7.000088   8.330285   1.018899   241.871082   
New Mexico                 1.857846  -4.801244  -7.247403   186.259729   
New York                   8.123803  12.142481   0.781297   226.157489   
North Carolina             5.242209   4.062553   0.501517   235.075814   
North Dakota               6.736262  15.216063 -24.889647   250.814569   
Ohio                      -0.972467   6.747032 -15.332023   196.100719   
Oklahoma                   8.848788   6.485962  -5.224249          inf   
Oregon                    11.852096   3.742898   3.257949   235.609145   
Pennsylvania               7.078056  10.831679  -2.134119   213.004051   
Rhode Island               4.056729  14.846314  -9.708342   238.961606   
South Carolina             7.072335   7.814528  -1.220406   247.749887   
South Dakota               1.712959   8.114999 -19.027296   204.971834   
Tennessee                  1.914865   4.143730  -9.369539   202.144461   
Texas                     12.120132   2.520962  17.222571   233.890213   
Utah                      11.819337 -30.430597  23.375680  1009.438273   
Vermont                    5.271476   2.881400 -10.372467   459.295526   
Virginia                   3.327627  -2.912393   0.489548   285.448983   
Washington                 5.266186  -5.340095  -0.722230   247.540344   
West Virginia              7.307039  17.171110 -20.764346   165.921581   
Wisconsin                 -3.007528  -0.190488 -14.710130   376.990097   
Wyoming                    2.725437   2.022087 -19.214560   188.857370 

2016 Vote share by state (per cent)

                        Democrat  Republican         Other
State                                                     
Alabama                34.357946   62.083092      3.558962
Alaska                 36.550871   51.281512     12.167617
Arizona                44.592951   48.096662      7.310387
Arkansas               33.653124   60.574102      5.772774
California             61.486357   31.494153      7.019490
Colorado               48.156980   43.251397      8.591622
Connecticut            54.566301   40.926914      4.506785
Delaware               53.353337   41.922824      4.723839
District of Columbia   90.863822    4.087474      5.048704
Florida                47.412719   48.601054      3.986227
Georgia                45.408007   50.513268      4.078725
Hawaii                 62.221492   30.038677      7.739831
Idaho                  27.484926   59.246154     13.268920
Illinois               55.469481   38.514648      6.015871
Indiana                37.779633   56.947259      5.273108
Iowa                   41.740489   51.147327      7.112184
Kansas                 36.052401   56.654630      7.292969
Kentucky               32.682188   62.519639      4.798173
Louisiana              38.449566   58.088685      3.461749
Maine                  47.830267   44.869813      7.299920
Maryland               60.338239   33.916328      5.745432
Massachusetts          60.005065   32.808358      7.186577
Michigan               47.274915   47.497950      5.227135
Minnesota              46.444919   44.924788      8.630293
Mississippi            40.057452   57.858223      2.084324
Missouri               38.135272   56.772408      5.092320
Montana                35.745765   56.168497      8.085737
Nebraska               33.698756   58.747351      7.553892
Nevada                 47.917824   45.500695      6.581481
New Hampshire          46.833499   46.465846      6.700655
New Jersey             54.989258   41.004520      4.006222
New Mexico             48.255708   40.042439     11.701853
New York               59.044374   36.476002      4.479624
North Carolina         46.172973   49.828210      3.998816
North Dakota           27.226739   62.955628      9.817633
Ohio                   43.242777   51.313504      5.443719
Oklahoma               28.931680   65.322865      5.745455
Oregon                 50.071852   39.094035     10.834113
Pennsylvania           47.484263   48.203263      4.312473
Rhode Island           54.406607   38.898057      6.695336
South Carolina         40.673420   54.939333      4.387248
South Dakota           31.737050   61.532994      6.729956
Tennessee              34.716333   60.722034      4.561634
Texas                  43.235258   52.234686      4.530056
Utah                   27.215993   45.135521     27.648486
Vermont                56.677786   30.269435     13.052779
Virginia               49.751353   44.427647      5.821000
Washington             52.624176   36.892618     10.483206
West Virginia          26.176634   67.852186      5.971180
Wisconsin              46.453841   47.218185      6.327974
Wyoming                21.877357   68.172633      9.950010

Percentage point change in party vote share by state from 2012 to 2016

                         Democrats   Republicans          Others
State                                                           
Alabama                  -4.001087      1.537270        2.463817
Alaska                   -4.261788     -3.520065        7.781853
Arizona                   0.144402     -5.387945        5.243542
Arkansas                 -3.225866      0.007166        3.218700
California                1.327071     -5.577129        4.250057
Colorado                 -3.288635     -2.833905        6.122540
Connecticut              -3.490983      0.201972        3.289011
Delaware                 -5.253016      1.943215        3.309801
District of Columbia     -0.049292     -3.190817        3.240109
Florida                  -2.489173     -0.425809        2.914982
Georgia                   0.022655     -2.672293        2.649638
Hawaii                   -8.323739      2.199746        6.123993
Idaho                    -4.915469     -4.844615        9.760084
Illinois                 -2.029349     -2.145043        4.174392
Indiana                  -6.056763      2.910239        3.146524
Iowa                    -10.247527      4.969459        5.278069
Kansas                   -1.951559     -2.938453        4.890012
Kentucky                 -5.101564      2.054623        3.046941
Louisiana                -2.127898      0.304109        1.823789
Maine                    -8.439679      3.887733        4.551946
Maryland                 -1.635951     -1.981404        3.617355
Massachusetts            -0.661045     -4.708921        5.369966
Michigan                 -6.769304      2.922289        3.847016
Minnesota                -6.207385     -0.033413        6.240798
Mississippi              -3.731907      2.572377        1.159530
Missouri                 -6.145977      3.132509        3.013468
Montana                  -5.914847      0.866774        5.048072
Nebraska                 -4.328558     -1.055841        5.384399
Nevada                   -4.438426     -0.174620        4.613046
New Hampshire            -5.146185      0.062050        5.084135
New Jersey               -3.255838      0.503498        2.752340
New Mexico               -4.737121     -2.800942        7.538063
New York                 -4.301727      1.307135        2.994593
North Carolina           -2.177995     -0.564854        2.742849
North Dakota            -11.464071      4.633479        6.830592
Ohio                     -7.333907      3.710778        3.623129
Oklahoma                 -4.296000     -1.449455        5.745455
Oregon                   -4.167475     -3.055836        7.223311
Pennsylvania             -4.469722      1.632537        2.837185
Rhode Island             -8.294352      3.654396        4.639956
South Carolina           -3.414614      0.378201        3.036412
South Dakota             -8.129091      3.643683        4.485409
Tennessee                -4.322533      1.299561        3.022971
Texas                     1.881935     -4.890801        3.008866
Utah                      2.549265    -27.411084       24.861819
Vermont                  -9.892764     -0.703200       10.595965
Virginia                 -1.405104     -2.855456        4.260560
Washington               -3.174280     -4.133677        7.307957
West Virginia            -9.273785      5.712148        3.561636
Wisconsin                -6.373920      1.332694        5.041226
Wyoming                  -5.941530     -0.469989        6.411519

Republican results

Democrat results

Other parties results

Update on US presidential election

Last weekend when I looked at the vote tally, some 134.8 million votes had been counted. The count this morning is 135.8 million (an increase in around 1 million votes counted).

2012
Dem              65918507
Rep              60934407
Other             2384728
Total           129237642

2016
Dem              65223761
Rep              62676271
Other             7919530
Total           135819562 

Clinton won the popular vote (she is currently up by some 2.5 million votes nationally). However, the US Electoral College system gives additional voting weight to the less populous states. As a result, Trump will win the election. In the following maps the Republicans are in red and the Democrats in blue.

For me the big story is the growth in the other party vote. In the US system of first-past-the post voting, these are largely wasted votes. My contention is that these votes were largely lost from Democrat voters, and they cost Clinton the election.

The first chart following is percentage point change in the other parties vote (without Utah, because it was a special case). The second chart is the percentage change in the number of votes cast for other parties (without Oklahoma, because there were no other party votes in 2012). The final chart is the vote share for other parties

The Democrat count is clearly down in the industrial mid-west. The first chart following is the vote share for the Democrats in each state. The second chart is the change in vote share (in percentage points) from 2012 to 2016. The final chart is the change in raw vote count from 2012 to 2016 (expressed as a percent of the 2012 vote count).

For the Republicans, the story is a mixed bag: votes were up in the mid-west (but a close result), but down in Texas, and the west of the country.

Given the size of the margins in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, it is highly unlikely that the proposed recounts will change the election outcome.

The more detailed analysis follows ...

Percentage change in raw vote count 2012 to 2016

                      Delta_turnout  Delta_Rep  Delta_Dem  Delta_Other  \
State                                                                    
Alabama                    2.363838   4.962876  -8.313351   232.658362   
Alaska                     6.027721  -0.782749  -5.044031   194.157372   
Arizona                   12.892191   1.519632  13.258950   299.297296   
Arkansas                   5.719386   5.731894  -3.528064   138.949295   
California                 6.237405  -9.226299   9.256438   147.651367   
Colorado                   8.102040   1.454470   1.191745   276.161005   
Connecticut                5.511699   6.034976  -0.832717   290.481959   
Delaware                   6.684609  11.870030  -2.877766   256.398428   
District of Columbia       5.958525 -40.493896   5.901075   195.783926   
Florida                   11.803749  10.914970   6.305672   308.597151   
Georgia                    4.707949   0.501085   5.870697   124.345615   
Hawaii                    -1.325061   6.471925 -12.967866   372.650911   
Idaho                      5.130021  -2.816747 -10.819270   297.556848   
Illinois                   5.819346   0.251918   2.123886   244.135713   
Indiana                    4.072623   9.447582  -9.975526   157.075505   
Iowa                      -1.020680   9.631038 -20.530817   283.814053   
Kansas                     2.321232  -2.724087  -2.933113   210.544670   
Kentucky                   7.013217  10.649564  -7.435712   193.203760   
Louisiana                  1.753554   2.289063  -3.582441   115.051130   
Maine                      3.292296  13.793469 -12.165530   163.210532   
Maryland                   2.718068  -2.953073   0.004887   177.396119   
Massachusetts              4.964980  -8.209532   3.821235   315.245195   
Michigan                   1.136468   7.766767 -11.531372   283.049579   
Minnesota                  0.281009   0.206480 -11.541509   262.191281   
Mississippi               -5.924778  -1.542886 -13.947267   111.985869   
Missouri                   0.464235   6.969118 -13.801892   136.501140   
Montana                    2.072514   4.222030 -11.955073   155.323775   
Nebraska                   3.935905   4.171438  -6.209924   175.281420   
Nevada                    10.884328  10.460408   1.484268   270.742817   
New Hampshire              4.670929   4.810892  -5.691888   333.872792   
New Jersey                 6.481592   7.855897   0.484856   240.650051   
New Mexico                 1.857846  -4.801244  -7.247403   186.259729   
New York                   0.445977   6.002740  -7.498578   207.735610   
North Carolina             5.244450   4.065460   0.503078   235.077581   
North Dakota               6.736262  15.216063 -24.889647   250.814569   
Ohio                      -0.972467   6.747032 -15.332023   196.100719   
Oklahoma                   8.848788   6.485962  -5.224249          inf   
Oregon                    13.127253   3.620512   3.025488   275.844723   
Pennsylvania               6.733714  10.532324  -2.476629   211.175099   
Rhode Island               4.051797  14.845678  -9.715493   238.950698   
South Carolina             7.072335   7.814528  -1.220406   247.749887   
South Dakota               1.712959   8.114999 -19.027296   204.971834   
Tennessee                  1.214797   4.023169  -9.526298   165.279282   
Texas                     12.120132   2.520962  17.222571   233.890213   
Utah                      11.819337 -30.430597  23.375680  1009.438273   
Vermont                    5.271476   2.881400 -10.372467   459.295526   
Virginia                   3.327627  -2.912393   0.489548   285.448983   
Washington                 4.733566  -5.340095  -0.722230   230.766228   
West Virginia              7.190393  17.050915 -20.853741   165.495523   
Wisconsin                 -3.034805  -0.281683 -14.754116   379.928070   
Wyoming                    2.725437   2.022087 -19.214560   188.857370   


Two-party swing from 2012 to 2016 (in percentage points)

                          Swing  
State                            
Alabama                5.538357  
Alaska                 0.741723  
Arizona               -5.532347  
Arkansas               3.233032  
California            -7.105616  
Colorado               0.454655  
Connecticut            3.692955  
Delaware               7.196230  
District of Columbia  -3.141525  
Florida                2.064246  
Georgia               -2.640832  
Hawaii                10.523484  
Idaho                  0.070853  
Illinois              -0.131217  
Indiana                8.708025  
Iowa                  15.216986  
Kansas                -0.986894  
Kentucky               7.156187  
Louisiana              2.432006  
Maine                 12.587298  
Maryland              -0.344963  
Massachusetts         -4.047876  
Michigan               9.691593  
Minnesota              6.173972  
Mississippi            6.309379  
Missouri               9.761118  
Montana                6.889904  
Nebraska               3.847604  
Nevada                 4.263805  
New Hampshire          5.208235  
New Jersey             3.802922  
New Mexico             1.936178  
New York               6.955795  
North Carolina         1.613738  
North Dakota          16.097549  
Ohio                  11.044685  
Oklahoma               2.846545  
Oregon                 1.301234  
Pennsylvania           6.140685  
Rhode Island          11.952107  
South Carolina         3.792815  
South Dakota          11.772774  
Tennessee              5.791648  
Texas                 -6.772736  
Utah                 -29.960350  
Vermont                9.189564  
Virginia              -1.450352  
Washington            -1.039399  
West Virginia         14.991171  
Wisconsin              7.687638  
Wyoming                5.471542  


Percentage point change in party vote share by state from 2012 to 2016

                         Democrats   Republicans          Others
State                                                           
Alabama                  -4.001087      1.537270        2.463817
Alaska                   -4.261788     -3.520065        7.781853
Arizona                   0.144402     -5.387945        5.243542
Arkansas                 -3.225866      0.007166        3.218700
California                1.709594     -5.396021        3.686427
Colorado                 -3.288600     -2.833946        6.122546
Connecticut              -3.490983      0.201972        3.289011
Delaware                 -5.253016      1.943215        3.309801
District of Columbia     -0.049292     -3.190817        3.240109
Florida                  -2.453982     -0.389737        2.843719
Georgia                   0.503990     -2.136842        1.632853
Hawaii                   -8.323739      2.199746        6.123993
Idaho                    -4.915469     -4.844615        9.760084
Illinois                 -2.007994     -2.139211        4.147205
Indiana                  -5.917216      2.790808        3.126408
Iowa                    -10.247527      4.969459        5.278069
Kansas                   -1.951559     -2.938453        4.890012
Kentucky                 -5.101564      2.054623        3.046941
Louisiana                -2.127898      0.304109        1.823789
Maine                    -8.420870      4.166428        4.254442
Maryland                 -1.636978     -1.981941        3.618919
Massachusetts            -0.661045     -4.708921        5.369966
Michigan                 -6.769304      2.922289        3.847016
Minnesota                -6.207385     -0.033413        6.240798
Mississippi              -3.734242      2.575137        1.159105
Missouri                 -6.288028      3.473090        2.814938
Montana                  -5.725321      1.164583        4.560738
Nebraska                 -3.712082      0.135522        3.576560
Nevada                   -4.438426     -0.174620        4.613046
New Hampshire            -5.146185      0.062050        5.084135
New Jersey               -3.280196      0.522727        2.757469
New Mexico               -4.737121     -2.800942        7.538063
New York                 -5.010221      1.945574        3.064648
North Carolina           -2.178262     -0.564523        2.742785
North Dakota            -11.464071      4.633479        6.830592
Ohio                     -7.333907      3.710778        3.623129
Oklahoma                 -4.296000     -1.449455        5.745455
Oregon                   -4.843333     -3.542099        8.385431
Pennsylvania             -4.483251      1.657433        2.825818
Rhode Island             -8.296083      3.656024        4.640058
South Carolina           -3.414614      0.378201        3.036412
South Dakota             -8.129091      3.643683        4.485409
Tennessee                -4.142874      1.648774        2.494100
Texas                     1.881935     -4.890801        3.008866
Utah                      2.549265    -27.411084       24.861819
Vermont                  -9.892764     -0.703200       10.595965
Virginia                 -1.405104     -2.855456        4.260560
Washington               -2.906661     -3.946060        6.852722
West Virginia            -9.274864      5.716307        3.558557
Wisconsin                -6.384816      1.302822        5.081994
Wyoming                  -5.941530     -0.469989        6.411519


Party vote share by state (per cent)

                      Dem_2016_p  Rep_2016_p  Other_2016_p
State                                                     
Alabama                34.357946   62.083092      3.558962
Alaska                 36.550871   51.281512     12.167617
Arizona                44.592951   48.096662      7.310387
Arkansas               33.653124   60.574102      5.772774
California             61.868880   31.675261      6.455860
Colorado               48.157015   43.251357      8.591628
Connecticut            54.566301   40.926914      4.506785
Delaware               53.353337   41.922824      4.723839
District of Columbia   90.863822    4.087474      5.048704
Florida                47.447910   48.637126      3.914964
Georgia                45.889341   51.048719      3.061940
Hawaii                 62.221492   30.038677      7.739831
Idaho                  27.484926   59.246154     13.268920
Illinois               55.490837   38.520480      5.988684
Indiana                37.919180   56.827828      5.252992
Iowa                   41.740489   51.147327      7.112184
Kansas                 36.052401   56.654630      7.292969
Kentucky               32.682188   62.519639      4.798173
Louisiana              38.449566   58.088685      3.461749
Maine                  47.849076   45.148508      7.002416
Maryland               60.337213   33.915792      5.746995
Massachusetts          60.005065   32.808358      7.186577
Michigan               47.274915   47.497950      5.227135
Minnesota              46.444919   44.924788      8.630293
Mississippi            40.055118   57.860984      2.083898
Missouri               37.993221   57.112989      4.893790
Montana                35.935291   56.466306      7.598403
Nebraska               34.315232   59.938715      5.746053
Nevada                 47.917824   45.500695      6.581481
New Hampshire          46.833499   46.465846      6.700655
New Jersey             54.964900   41.023748      4.011351
New Mexico             48.255708   40.042439     11.701853
New York               58.335880   37.114441      4.549678
North Carolina         46.172707   49.828541      3.998752
North Dakota           27.226739   62.955628      9.817633
Ohio                   43.242777   51.313504      5.443719
Oklahoma               28.931680   65.322865      5.745455
Oregon                 49.395994   38.607773     11.996233
Pennsylvania           47.470735   48.228159      4.301106
Rhode Island           54.404876   38.899686      6.695438
South Carolina         40.673420   54.939333      4.387248
South Dakota           31.737050   61.532994      6.729956
Tennessee              34.895991   61.071247      4.032762
Texas                  43.235258   52.234686      4.530056
Utah                   27.215993   45.135521     27.648486
Vermont                56.677786   30.269435     13.052779
Virginia               49.751353   44.427647      5.821000
Washington             52.891795   37.080234     10.027971
West Virginia          26.175555   67.856345      5.968100
Wisconsin              46.442946   47.188313      6.368742
Wyoming                21.877357   68.172633      9.950010
 

A quick acknowledgement: I sourced the data for this analysis from http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/.

Update on US Presidential Election

The vote count continues. Turnout in 2016 is clearly up on 2012.

Dem_2012              65918507
Rep_2012              60934407
Other_2012             2384728
Total_2012           129237642
Dem_2016              64641091
Rep_2016              62438763
Other_2016             7673054
Total_2016           134752908 

For me the big story is the growth in the other party vote. In the US system of first-past-the post voting, these are largely wasted votes. My contention is that these votes were largely lost from Democrat voters, and they cost Clinton the election.

The first chart following is percentage point change in the other parties vote (without Utah, because it was a special case). The second chart is the percentage change in the number of votes cast for other parties (without Oklahoma, because there were no other party votes in 2012). The final chart is the vote share for other parties

The Democrat count is clearly down in the industrial mid-west. The first chart following is the vote share for the Democrats in each state. The second chart is the change in vote share (in percentage points) from 2012 to 2016. The final chart is the change in raw vote count from 2012 to 2016 (expressed as a percent of the 2012 vote count).

For the Republicans, the story is a mixed bag: votes were up in the mid-west (but a close result), but down in Texas, and the west of the country.

While the Michigan count is still not declared (and is now subject to a recount), the indicative results give Michigan to the Republicans.

A quick acknowledgement: I sourced the data for this analysis from http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/.

Update on US Presidential election count

Last week some 128.5 million votes had been counted. The count is now at 132.3 million votes (and we are still counting). It continues to look like six states will flip from their 2012 party preference.

The two-party swings are now posting as follows (in percentage points) ...

                          Swing  
State                            
Alabama                5.662658  
Alaska                 0.818982  
Arizona               -5.405065  
Arkansas               3.274192  
California            -5.570583  
Colorado               0.528426  
Connecticut            3.772887  
Delaware               7.196230  
District of Columbia  -3.141525  
Florida                2.082540  
Georgia               -2.640453  
Hawaii                10.522691  
Idaho                  0.075144  
Illinois               0.199778  
Indiana                8.825116  
Iowa                  15.247820  
Kansas                -0.561142  
Kentucky               7.168176  
Louisiana              2.432006  
Maine                 12.587298  
Maryland               0.833312  
Massachusetts         -4.135420  
Michigan               9.736549  
Minnesota              6.174261  
Mississippi            7.042194  
Missouri               9.761118  
Montana                6.889904  
Nebraska               4.276905  
Nevada                 4.327039  
New Hampshire          5.212831  
New Jersey             4.152788  
New Mexico             1.898950  
New York               6.955795  
North Carolina         1.695493  
North Dakota          16.097549  
Ohio                  11.430740  
Oklahoma               2.846545  
Oregon                 1.103355  
Pennsylvania           6.471411  
Rhode Island          12.127632  
South Carolina         3.792815  
South Dakota          11.772774  
Tennessee              5.791648  
Texas                 -6.648189  
Utah                 -30.227091  
Vermont                9.189564  
Virginia              -1.450352  
Washington            -1.025402  
West Virginia         15.004805  
Wisconsin              7.751092  
Wyoming                5.471542   

The change in the raw vote counts by party between 2012 and 2016 are as follows:

These are expressed as percentage changes on the 2012 base year, Because there were no other party votes in Oklahoma in 2012, it records an infinite change.

                      Delta_turnout  Delta_Rep  Delta_Dem  Delta_Other
State                                                                    
Alabama                    1.910248   4.658399  -8.796324   224.990096   
Alaska                   -11.234463 -16.700066 -20.354697   141.930344   
Arizona                   10.195707   1.081340  12.628556   193.732301   
Arkansas                   5.355466   5.411706  -3.905844   137.748490   
California               -12.143508 -22.101411 -10.144488    77.727811   
Colorado                   7.426883   0.923017   0.497241   273.206721   
Connecticut                5.345566   6.008672  -1.035234   287.374243   
Delaware                   6.684609  11.870030  -2.877766   256.398428   
District of Columbia       5.958525 -40.493896   5.901075   195.783926   
Florida                   11.615576  10.867510   6.222609   297.072726   
Georgia                    4.705211   0.499065   5.867765   124.322340   
Hawaii                    -1.350366   6.446308 -12.988411   372.423121   
Idaho                      5.401512  -2.528325 -10.528839   297.344211   
Illinois                   4.753142  -0.275195   0.833446   238.168018   
Indiana                    3.737928   9.365213 -10.209785   148.258804   
Iowa                      -1.121048   9.560413 -20.634033   283.045591   
Kansas                    -0.897513  -4.899907  -5.710285   174.477800   
Kentucky                   6.968557  10.646897  -7.438656   190.809197   
Louisiana                  1.753554   2.289063  -3.582441   115.051130   
Maine                      3.292296  13.793469 -12.165530   163.210532   
Maryland                  -1.041027  -4.829046  -4.565800   165.506648   
Massachusetts              2.012901  -8.867863   2.237895   219.212456   
Michigan                   1.297279   7.717884 -11.656618   301.184896   
Minnesota                  0.279953   0.206328 -11.542220   262.165629   
Mississippi               -9.565847  -4.637944 -17.887766    89.881403   
Missouri                   0.464235   6.969118 -13.801892   136.501140   
Montana                    2.072514   4.222030 -11.955073   155.323775   
Nebraska                   2.677437   3.286084  -7.913440   171.538819   
Nevada                    10.648348  10.300992   1.200663   269.996997   
New Hampshire              4.639845   4.808771  -5.703253   332.376229   
New Jersey                 5.278954   7.086192  -0.970606   237.207575   
New Mexico                 1.093579  -5.565118  -7.912408   184.228106   
New York                   0.445977   6.002740  -7.498578   207.735610   
North Carolina             4.362881   3.296343  -0.408329   230.832715   
North Dakota               6.736262  15.216063 -24.889647   250.814569   
Ohio                      -3.771069   4.153658 -18.060840   185.997367   
Oklahoma                   8.848788   6.485962  -5.224249          inf   
Oregon                    10.541226   2.595684   2.118007   229.820298   
Pennsylvania               4.886111   9.001266  -4.489789   205.165348   
Rhode Island               3.504324  14.493906 -10.338355   237.347295   
South Carolina             7.072335   7.814528  -1.220406   247.749887   
South Dakota               1.712959   8.114999 -19.027296   204.971834   
Tennessee                  1.214797   4.023169  -9.526298   165.279282   
Texas                     11.669525   2.483871  16.933071   213.531104   
Utah                       6.737450 -33.180934  20.132797   927.379781   
Vermont                    5.271476   2.881400 -10.372467   459.295526   
Virginia                   3.327627  -2.912393   0.489548   285.448983   
Washington                 2.659095  -7.181619  -2.689820   223.803708   
West Virginia              5.995962  15.750081 -21.770352   162.957703   
Wisconsin                 -2.970212  -0.066621 -14.684775   374.432034   
Wyoming                    2.725437   2.022087 -19.214560   188.857370    

A quick acknowledgement: I sourced the data for this analysis from http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/.

Update

In addition to the change in the raw vote count (above), we can look at the change in vote share for Democrats, Others and Republicans in percentage points in 2016 compared with 2012. In these charts I have not reported Utah (which was a special case). We can see that the Democrat vote share was mostly down across the country, the Other vote share was up and it's an up-and-down mixed-bag for the Republicans.

                      Dem_2012_ppt  Rep_2012_ppt  Other_2012_ppt
State                                                           
Alabama                  -4.029955      1.632702        2.397253
Alaska                   -4.193305     -3.374323        7.567629
Arizona                   0.981314     -4.423750        3.442436
Arkansas                 -3.241861      0.032331        3.209530
California                1.368819     -4.201764        2.832944
Colorado                 -3.318534     -2.790108        6.108642
Connecticut              -3.516540      0.256346        3.260194
Delaware                 -5.253016      1.943215        3.309801
District of Columbia     -0.049292     -3.190817        3.240109
Florida                  -2.411126     -0.328586        2.739712
Georgia                   0.503919     -2.136534        1.632615
Hawaii                   -8.322469      2.200222        6.122247
Idaho                    -4.896985     -4.821842        9.718827
Illinois                 -2.151515     -1.951737        4.103252
Indiana                  -5.893867      2.931249        2.962617
Iowa                    -10.259427      4.988393        5.271034
Kansas                   -1.845608     -2.406751        4.252359
Kentucky                 -5.088959      2.079217        3.009741
Louisiana                -2.127898      0.304109        1.823789
Maine                    -8.420870      4.166428        4.254442
Maryland                 -2.207430     -1.374118        3.581547
Massachusetts             0.133802     -4.001618        3.867815
Michigan                 -6.911175      2.825374        4.085801
Minnesota                -6.207269     -0.033008        6.240277
Mississippi              -4.029578      3.012615        1.016963
Missouri                 -6.288028      3.473090        2.814938
Montana                  -5.725321      1.164583        4.560738
Nebraska                 -3.922406      0.354498        3.567908
Nevada                   -4.470427     -0.143387        4.613814
New Hampshire            -5.137918      0.074912        5.063006
New Jersey               -3.457540      0.695248        2.762292
New Mexico               -4.720900     -2.821951        7.542851
New York                 -5.010221      1.945574        3.064648
North Carolina           -2.210485     -0.514993        2.725478
North Dakota            -11.464071      4.633479        6.830592
Ohio                     -7.510519      3.920221        3.590298
Oklahoma                 -4.296000     -1.449455        5.745455
Oregon                   -4.133026     -3.029671        7.162697
Pennsylvania             -4.644232      1.827179        2.817052
Rhode Island             -8.385632      3.741999        4.643633
South Carolina           -3.414614      0.378201        3.036412
South Dakota             -8.129091      3.643683        4.485409
Tennessee                -4.142874      1.648774        2.494100
Texas                     1.949190     -4.698999        2.749809
Utah                      3.095627    -27.131464       24.035837
Vermont                  -9.892764     -0.703200       10.595965
Virginia                 -1.405104     -2.855456        4.260560
Washington               -2.907304     -3.932706        6.840010
West Virginia            -9.286462      5.718343        3.568118
Wisconsin                -6.377981      1.373111        5.004869
Wyoming                  -5.941530     -0.469989        6.411519  

A quick look at the US election

I have read a lot of garbage about what the 2016 US election means and signifies. In this post I want to look at what the raw numbers suggest.

While the counting has not finished, it looks like five and possibly six states will flip from Democratic in the 2012 presidential election to Republican in 2016: Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa. The states where the count is still in doubt are New Hampshire and Michigan.

In this first chart, I have plotted the likely state winners according to American sensibilities: the states which Trump/Republicans won are red and the states Clinton/Democrats won are blue. The states that have flipped from one side of politics to the other are in a darker hue.

The biggest swings to the Republicans (on a two-party basis) were in the industrial upper mid-west. This suggests the economy (and the challenges of managing economic change in those states previously heavily dependent on the industrial/manufacturing sector) may have driven the Trump win. There is an irony here: Bill Clinton won the 1992 with the catch-phrase: it's the economy stupid.

The bigger swings by state follow. In this table, a positive swing is to the Republicans, a negative swing is to the Democrats. In Utah, the measurement of a two-party swing was compounded by Evan McMullin an independent and former Republican, who took votes from Trump.

Hawaii                10.402887  
Indiana                8.836585  
Iowa                  15.197928  
Maine                 12.587298  
Michigan               9.742464  
Missouri               9.761118  
North Dakota          16.080305  
Ohio                  11.492718  
Rhode Island          12.140835  
South Dakota          11.772774  
Utah                 -29.320763  
Vermont                9.187492  
West Virginia         15.004805  
Wisconsin              7.751092   

If the economy was the distal cause, the immediate factor I find most compelling in explaining the election outcome was the decline in raw Democratic votes in 2016. Put simply, Clinton was not as attractive to voters in 2016 as Obama was in 2008 or 2012. This outcome is driven less by a decline in turn-out and more by an increase in votes for the Other parties. In the US first-past-the-post voting system, these third party votes are effectively wasted. Of note: Maine voted on a referendum to introduce ranked-choice voting for the next Presidential election. (Ranked-choice voting is what we have in Australia).

Before looking at voting patterns by party, let's look at the change in overall turnout between 2012 and 2016. At this point in the count some 128.5 million votes have been counted. In 2012, there were 129.2 million votes counted in total. I expect the final 2016 vote count will exceed the 2012 count.

In the next three charts, we will look at percentage changes in the raw vote numbers by state for Republicans, Democrats and Others. The most significant thing to notice here is the dramatic increase in votes for other parties. But also of note, the decline of the Democratic vote in many states, compared with the neutral or slight growth in Republican votes.

The table of percentage changes in vote count, by state, as set out in the above charts follows.

                      Delta_turnout  Delta_Rep  Delta_Dem  Delta_Other
State                                                                    
Alabama                    1.910248   4.658399  -8.796324   224.990096   
Alaska                   -15.597930 -20.805096 -24.162590   129.167615   
Arizona                   -5.535995 -12.783973  -3.453852   137.245401   
Arkansas                   5.213714   5.252229  -4.000162   137.342120   
California               -27.072075 -34.879166 -25.381954    40.718861   
Colorado                   3.527116  -1.778285  -3.800161   255.222752   
Connecticut                1.609885   2.175307  -4.469738   272.546747   
Delaware                   6.671321  11.855527  -2.886835   256.244661   
District of Columbia      -2.549325 -45.966045  -2.563747   172.896669   
Florida                   10.707080  10.657011   5.897012   237.066350   
Georgia                    4.378169   0.306924   5.403909   123.319726   
Hawaii                    -6.232617   1.119696 -17.158528   344.105923   
Idaho                      5.401512  -2.528325 -10.528839   297.344211   
Illinois                   3.193796  -0.797905  -1.391417   234.500124   
Indiana                    3.674430   9.364862 -10.209785   145.281806   
Iowa                      -1.581868   8.996916 -20.956447   281.246769   
Kansas                    -0.897513  -4.899907  -5.710285   174.477800   
Kentucky                   6.968557  10.646897  -7.438656   190.809197   
Louisiana                  1.711629   2.261031  -3.641763   114.950095   
Maine                      3.292296  13.793469 -12.165530   163.210532   
Maryland                  -5.847539  -8.262225  -9.363087   137.265248   
Massachusetts              2.012901  -8.867863   2.237895   219.212456   
Michigan                   0.840977   7.689755 -11.688592   270.282940   
Minnesota                  0.349763   0.288436 -11.490609   262.405051   
Mississippi               -9.565847  -4.637944 -17.887766    89.881403   
Missouri                   0.464235   6.969118 -13.801892   136.501140   
Montana                    0.116206   2.310695 -13.564276   147.788272   
Nebraska                   1.259726   2.155078  -9.568626   166.380411   
Nevada                    10.648348  10.300992   1.200663   269.996997   
New Hampshire              2.934855   4.816955  -5.699736   226.555295   
New Jersey                 3.286754   5.435946  -3.089847   230.071427   
New Mexico                 1.093579  -5.565118  -7.912408   184.228106   
New York                   0.445977   6.002740  -7.498578   207.735610   
North Carolina             4.071784   3.058278  -0.714748   229.003640   
North Dakota               6.415458  14.864772 -25.075504   249.341081   
Ohio                      -4.471185   4.153658 -18.060840   147.541950   
Oklahoma                   8.848788   6.485962  -5.224249          inf   
Oregon                     7.923902   0.593894  -0.472443   219.613974   
Pennsylvania               4.822087   9.001266  -4.489789   200.825561   
Rhode Island               3.164675  14.132592 -10.646210   236.409250   
South Carolina             6.294428   6.970219  -1.867564   245.386703   
South Dakota               1.712959   8.114999 -19.027296   204.971834   
Tennessee                  0.689381   3.938646  -9.561272   135.283243   
Texas                     11.603998   2.445314  16.918713   211.061714   
Utah                     -11.301832 -43.420065  -0.330404   727.731299   
Vermont                    5.270808   2.873848 -10.372969   459.377125   
Virginia                   2.607012  -3.299823  -0.501009   283.482135   
Washington               -13.282854 -21.421277 -16.438627   147.327113   
West Virginia              5.995962  15.750081 -21.770352   162.957703   
Wisconsin                 -2.970212  -0.066621 -14.684775   374.432034   
Wyoming                    2.702149   2.001029 -19.227550   188.709860   

This table tells a fairly consistent story of votes leaking from Democrats to the Other parties.This raises the interesting conjecture on whether Bernie Sanders would have done a better job at holding the flow of votes. My suspicion (without supporting evidence) is that he would have held more votes lost to others on the left, but may have lost more votes to Trump on the right.

Some have contested that Trump doesn't have a real mandate because he did not get more than 50 per cent of the vote. Arguments can be made about the fairness of the US voting system: particularly as it looks like Clinton won more of the popular vote but not the electoral college vote. However, these arguments are not resolvable. Fairness, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. The American founders decided to weight their voting system to those who are engaged (through voluntary voting) and to those who live in the less populous states (by giving all states two electoral college votes, and then one or more votes weighted to the population of the state). They also decided on a first-past-the-post system for counting votes. While compelling arguments can be made for and against each of these design elements, ultimately the Presidential election was conducted under the rules accepted by the American people.

Finally, a quick acknowledgement: I sourced the data for this analysis from http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/.