Brian Carlo

Color Theory

Something about the whole red state/blue state phenomenon has always rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe it’s because it makes sweeping statements about big groups of people without much context. Or because it only became set during the 2000 election. Most people think it’s been that way for a long time.

So I was interested to see Sudhir Venkatesh’s post today on the Freakonomics blog that points to research that counters “the ‘red-blue paradox’: rich states vote Democratic; poor states vote Republican.” Of all the contributors to Freakonomics, Venkatesh is my favorite. His series of posts about watching Season 5 of The Wire with a bunch of New York gang members is classic.