2008 US Election

Maybe I should try to compile one after our next election. Of course, I live in good old Australia with 6 states and 2 territories.

For the record, I also live in a stupid red state.

It seems like so long ago that I watched Barack Obama on that cold morning on February 2, 2007, when I watched him announce that he was running for President. I'm happy to say that I'm proud to be an American today. A new wave of change is on it's way and with my life finally starting to move forward, it comes at a good time. I congratulate John McCain for his service and a hard-fought campaign. Congrats President Obama! To change the mood a little bit though, I'm sick and tired of bitter McCain voters claiming that Obama is a terrorist and that this country is going to go straight to hell. They act like it's the end of the world. For God sakes, we had 8 years of Bush and could have had more. I am also bothered by McCain voters blaming the African-American voters of ignorance and that they are the only reason President Obama won. Lets look at the facts, the biggest African-American population is in the South. North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi...... All of them, went to McCain. So did it make that big of a difference? Doesn't really look like it (Yes, they are normally conservative states). Anyways, I'm done ranting... Time to move on. I can see great things on the horizon.

Ryan

I'm really excited about our 50 states right about now . . . NOT.

Just had some time on my hands... so I check the IQ issue. Here is the real deal from here:

http://services.alphaworks.ibm.com/m...ha6cGEMGuwWF2-

And here:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/


State IQ Candidate

Massachussets 101.5 Obama
North Dakota 101.4 McCain
Vermont 101.2 Obama
Montana 101.1 McCain
South Dakota 101.1 McCain
New Hampshire 101 Obama
Minnesota 100.8 Obama
Wisconsin 100.3 Obama
Wyoming 100.2 McCain
Iowa 100 Obama
Idaho 99.9 McCain
Main 99.9 Obama
Nebraska 99.7 McCain
Virginia 99.7 Obama
Ohio 99.6 Obama
Washington 99.6 Obama
Colorado 99.4 Obama
New Jersey 99.3 Obama
Kansas 99.2 McCain
Oregon 99.1 Obama
Michigan 99 Obama
Utah 99 McCain
Connecticut 98.9 Obama
Delaware 98.8 Obama
Missouri 98.7 McCain
Alaska 98.6 McCain
Pennsylvania 98.6 Obama
Indiana 98.5 Obama
Kentucky 98.3 McCain
Illinois 97.8 Obama
New York 97.8 Obama
South Carolina 97.5 McCain
North Carolina 97.4 Obama
Maryland 97.2 Obama
Texas 97.2 McCain
Oklahoma 96.9 McCain
Rhode Island 96.8 Obama
West Virginia 96.7 McCain
Tennessee 96.6 McCain
Arkansas 96.5 McCain
Georgia 96.5 McCain
Florida 96.1 Obama
Arizona 95.9 McCain
Nevada 95.2 Obama
Louisiana 95 McCain
California 94.7 Obama
New Mexico 94.5 Obama
Alabama 94.4 McCain
Hawai 94.4 Obama
Mississippi 93.3 McCain

Top state:Massachussets 101.5 Obama
Bottom state: Mississippi 93.3 McCain

Top state Obama:Massachussets 101.5
Top state McCain:North Dakota 101.4

Bottom state Obama:Hawai 94.4
Bottom state McCain:Mississippi 93.3

Obama states average IQ: 98.5
McCain states average IQ: 97.9

These stats pretty much seems to show IQ is not a really significant factor... it's not as clear a cut as in the post that first mentioned this... BUT when you consider that McCain leads 13-12 in the 25 bottom states and Obama leads 16-9 in the 25 top states... it does show that the "smarter" states actually made the difference this time around.


Ponrauil

Okay, it turns out that I'm smart enough to create the chart, but I'm not smart enough to figure out how to post it here. If I don't do some real work, I'll be an unemployed semi-smart person, so I'll have to try to solve that problem later.

The chart still has concentrations, but it is hardly the solid blocks of blue and red that the earlier chart suggested.

EDIT - problem solved. Thanks, Ponrauil.

I was just bored enough to put your figures in a SPSS data sheet and tried some correlations. Nothing is significant, ergo all is chance. Taking the face-value in this case is simply misleading.

I DO NOT, repeat DO NOT hope he destroys our country. I do hope people come to realize what a profoundly bad decision they made. A nice dawning "oh shit" moment in about 2 years would be nice.

Adrian

I hate to burst your IQ ideas but there's no statistically significant difference in an IQ of 101.5 and an IQ of 93.3. The average IQ is 100 and anything between 90-109 is considered Average. In order for a difference to be significant, it has to be a standard deviation which is 15 points. If the top state had an IQ of 108 and the bottom had an IQ of 93, the difference would matter, but both scores would still be considered average. As it is, the difference in the average scores for the states are more likely a reflection of socioeconomic status. Children who live in rural areas will do more poorly on an IQ test than those who live in more populated areas. I can't discuss in detail because of test security, but there are photographic items in some of the major IQ tests that are biased against rural children because those children not likely to have ever seen these things. That doesn't make them stupid. It makes them disadvantaged.

That difference could not be any more meaningless.

And for the record, I have a Master's degree in psychological testing and have given at least a thousand IQ tests in my career. I assure you I know what I'm talking about on this subject because I know the tests and the way they are normed and I know the bias I see every day in testing.

Unfortunately for me, the election isn't truly over here in Georgia. In order to win an election in this state, a candidate must get a majority of the vote, not just a plurality. There was a Libertarian candidate on the ballot for the U.S. Senate race, and he pulled 3.4%. In a close race, that was enough, though. Right now, with 99% of the precincts reporting, the candidate in first place has 49.8%. <sigh> In all likelihood we're headed for a run off between the top 2 candidates and 4 more weeks of incredibly ugly campaign ads. Fabulous.

Rest assured, I don't think you're bursting anything serious.


Ponrauil