Votes: MIT Election Data + Science Lab, U.S. President 1976–2024. Margin = Democratic minus Republican nominee share of all votes cast. Every ballot line a nominee appeared on is counted (e.g., New York's Working Families and Conservative lines), matching certified totals.
House: MIT Election Data + Science Lab, U.S. House 1976–2024 (district returns). A state's House margin = Democratic minus Republican share of all House votes cast in that state, summed over its districts. Candidates' votes on every ballot line are added together; the few New York candidates nominated by both parties (1976–90) are counted for the party whose line gave them more votes. Blank, void, over- and under-vote rows are left out of the total because states report them inconsistently. Only November races count: December runoffs (Texas 1996, Louisiana 2002) are excluded, and Texas 1996/2006 districts redrawn by court order use their November special elections. Where one party ran nobody in a district, or an unopposed winner wasn't on the ballot (Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma), the statewide margin leans toward the other party; those states get a dot on the map and the counts on hover. The margin is left blank when a state had no Democratic or no Republican candidate in any district (e.g., Vermont when Bernie Sanders ran as an independent), or when votes were counted in fewer than half its districts (most of Louisiana 1978–98). D.C.'s non-voting delegate is in the file only for 2020 and 2024. House years pair with math scores the same way: 2002→2000, 2006→2005, 2010→2009, 2014→2013, 2018→2017, 2022→2022.
GDP: U.S. BEA SAGDP1, real GDP in millions of chained 2017 dollars (last updated Sept 30, 2026; 2018–2025 revised). Shown for the election year itself. 1-yr growth = election year vs. the year before. 4-yr growth = annualized over the four years ending in the election year. Series starts in 1997, so GDP is blank through 1996, 1-yr growth starts in 2000, and 4-yr growth starts in 2004. GDP is not per person, so levels mostly reflect state size. GDP’s “Every year” option steps through every year in the file (1997–2025); in that view a vote margin appears only in election years and a math score only in years NAEP was actually given.
Personal income: U.S. BEA SAINC1, state annual personal income summary, 1929–2025 (last updated Sept 30, 2026; 2009–2025 revised). Income per person is in current dollars, not adjusted for inflation, so it rises over time partly because prices rose. “Income vs. U.S.” divides each state’s income per person by the U.S. figure for the same year, which removes inflation and makes any two years comparable (100% = national average). BEA’s estimates for Alaska and Hawaii start in 1950, so those two are blank for 1929–1949. Personal income is what residents receive (wages, business income, investment income, government benefits); it is a different measure from GDP, which is what is produced in the state.
Relative to the U.S. (“Show as: vs. U.S.”): GDP per person = current-dollar GDP (BEA SAGDP1) ÷ resident population (BEA SAINC1), shown as a % of the U.S. figure for the same year (100% = national average). Income per person vs. U.S. likewise. Growth vs. U.S. = the state’s real growth rate minus the national rate, in percentage points, so a nationwide boom or recession (e.g. 2020) doesn’t paint every state the same color. Total GDP vs. U.S. = the state’s share of national real GDP. GDP per person is high where output outruns residents’ income, e.g. D.C. and Delaware (commuters, corporate headquarters) or North Dakota (oil); states with many retirees or out-of-state commuters, like Florida and Connecticut, sit closer to 1:1.
Math: NCSES/NCES NAEP Eighth Grade Mathematics Proficiency (S-6), public schools. NAEP isn't given every year, so each election uses the most recent test given in or before that year: 2000→2000, 2004→2003, 2008→2007, 2012→2011, 2016→2015, 2020→2019, 2024→2024 (NAEP 2024 was given Jan–Mar 2024). Nothing exists before 2000. In 2000, 10 states did not take part (NA) and Wisconsin's result was suppressed (S); those are blank. The state trend chart shows every NAEP year, including 2005, 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2022.
Correlation is not causation: income, education, urbanization and demographics all move with these measures.