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The US elections are over, and with a few exceptions, we can now answer the question “What happened?” We know who won the 2012 presidential election, we know there was an upset in the Massachusetts senate race, and we know that Republicans maintained control of the House of Representatives. So now, whatever race you’re most concerned about, the big question is, “Why did it happen?”
We won’t be able to provide a definitive answer to that question, but whether you’re celebrating or drowning your sorrows this morning, we wanted to remind you that Wolfram|Alpha can help to provide some insight and context to all the analysis and second-guessing that’s sure to follow the election.
For some people, the election was all about the economy. For others, their vote hinged on the candidates’ views on women’s rights and reproductive health. Immigration was key in some areas, as was the rapidly growing Hispanic population in the US. But whatever the issue, or however you might want to assign credit (or blame) for the outcome of the elections, take a moment to dig up some critical facts with Wolfram|Alpha. Focusing on some of the key swing states (Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Ohio, Virginia, Wisconsin, North Carolina), for example, may reveal some interesting insights:
- YOY percent change in Gross State Product
- Unemployment rate
- Home prices
- Non-citizens
- Hispanic population fraction
And that’s just at the national level. If you’re looking to better understand the economic or demographic trends that might have influenced senate or house races at a more local level, recall that we’ve blogged before about coverage of critical economic statistics related to retail sales, income taxes, health insurance coverage, and more, much of it available by state or even more local areas (state-level economic data, trends in US retail sales, analyzing US income tax data)—as well as our more recent explanation of detailed American Community Survey data, available down to the county and city level for the entire US.
(Due to the sensitive nature of this topic, blog comments are closed for this post.)