The day after the Presidential election Matt Yglesias spotted this map that shows the counties across the country which swung towards John McCain this year. As you can see, there aren’t that many of them. But what’s interesting is where they are:
Matt quipped that, “You can see why John McCain’s principled stand against higher taxes on the wealthy would have a special resonance in this region. Liberals who thought race had something to do with those appeals should be ashamed of themselves.” Andrew Sullivan agreed with Matt: “Ah, yes, Appalachia and Arkansas. Obviously concerned about marginal tax rates for those earning over $250,000 a year, I suppose.”
Now, clearly, it would be absurd to pretend – and I do not so pretend – that race had nothing to do with this. But I think this map rather more interesting than that. For that matter, I think the nature of the Appalachian and “Highland” vote is more interesting than this map might initially suggest.
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