Charting Views On Gun Control

The latest New York Times/CBS News poll shows support among Americans for stricter gun control laws:

The massacre of children at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., appears to be profoundly swaying Americans’ views on guns, galvanizing the broadest support for stricter gun laws in about a decade, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll.

This chart shows the trend:

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See the full graphic to see the interesting regional differences in Americans’ attitudes toward gun control.

Filed under: Crime, Guns, Line Charts, The New York Times

“Women In The Obama Administration”

Just noticed Derek Willis’ post about ‘Freeing the Plum Book,’ the federal government’s list of appointees. His work made this graphic possible…


While the White House itself employs about an equal number of men and women under President Obama, the gender ratio of appointees in 11 of the 15 cabinet departments favors men. Related Article ” Departments in bold have a female secretary or acting secretary.

Read more at: www.nytimes.com

Mapping ‘Your Warming World’

New Scientist has published a fascinating interactive map related to increasing global temperatures over time:

The graphs and maps all show changes relative to average temperatures for the three decades from 1951 to 1980, the earliest period for which there was sufficiently good coverage for comparison. This gives a consistent view of climate change across the globe. To put these numbers in context, the NASA team estimates that the global average temperature for the 1951-1980 baseline period was about 14 °C.

Users can change the map, made by Chris Amico and Peter Aldhous, by time period and see an interactive chart with time series data. Here’s the global view for the last two decades:

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And users can also zoom to their location (and the time series chart changes):

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Filed under: Weather, climate change, Mapping, Weather

“The Good And Bad News For Chuck Hagel – In Three Charts”

Sometimes a table works just fine…


As Chuck Hagel, the former Nebraska senator and now President Obama’s nominee for secretary of defense, gears up for his confirmation process in the Senate, there is at least a possibility that he won’t be cleared by the upper chamber to head up the Pentagon.

Read more at: www.washingtonpost.com

Mapping ‘Rich Blocks, Poor Blocks’

“Rich Blocks, Poor Blocks” allows users to get information about income in their neighborhoods, using the 2006-2010 American Community Survey estimates* compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau. Here’s a map of Washington, D.C., which — as I’ve noted before — is segregated by race, educational attainment and income:

Source: Rich Blocks, Small Blocks

Source: Rich Blocks, Small Blocks

* These data have high margins of error in small geographic units like Census tracts, which this service uses, so don’t take the figures literally. Still, the estimates can be useful for spotting broader trends about communities.

Thanks to the wife for sharing this discovery.

Filed under: Demographics, American Community Survey, Census, DC, Mapping

“As Swing Districts Dwindle, Can A Divided House Stand?”


In 2012, there were only 53 such districts based on the presidential vote. But the decline in the number of ticket-splitting districts was sharper still. Of the 53 districts, just six, or about 11 percent, went against their presidential lean in their vote for the House.

Read more at: fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com