By Marguerite Ward and Cole Rosengran
Our story will examine the racial breakdown of voters for the past three presidential elections (2000, 20004, 2008) to show which racial groups are voting more and which groups are voting less, and how the numbers have changed over time. We’ll use current demographic data along with projections based on the latest studies we can find to project/estimate how much different racial groups will show up at the polls for 2016.
Our first chart will show if certain groups are voting more over time – perhaps in a bar format, but also perhaps in a more visually interesting way like a group of circles that change size based on what year the viewer selects, in order to show, for example, if the number of female voters is increasing or decreasing over time. It will compare voter turnout for the past three presidential elections and include an estimate bubble for 2016.
Our second chart will show how these groups have voted – democrat or republican or independent. If we can find more data on issues they are most concerned with, perhaps we could also break that down as well. We envision a alluvial diagram or something that relies more on words than numbers.
Some preliminary data sources:
Comprehensive Election Data often cited by major media outlets
Census Data
Who voted in 2012 election
Both years
Deep Demographic Data
Party affiliation by various factors: http://www.people-press.org/2015/04/07/a-deep-dive-into-party-affiliation/
