"Political Polarization in the U.S. Congress has been a topic of much
discussion recently. We show the party polarization of the House of
Representatives through time, with a focus on which members continue to
participate across party lines...
Each member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1949 - 2012 is
drawn as a single node. Republican (R) representatives are in red and
Democrat (D) representatives are in blue... Edges between nodes are drawn if each member agrees with another member
more often than the "threshold value" of votes specific to that
particular Congress... Each node is made bigger or smaller based on the number of connections
it has. Edges are thicker if the pair agrees on more votes. The starting
year of each 2-year Congress is written above the network. The network
is drawn using a linear-attraction linear-repulsion model with Barnes
Hut optimization.
Thirty-two networks are available, for every Congress from 1949 to the present.
Gerrymandering again.
ReplyDeleteI blame Newt Gingrich and his "Contract on America". The original district he was elected from would not re-elect him because he filed from divorce from his much older second wife when she was recovering from cancer surgery. He moved on to a redistricted Atlanta district that was very transient but Republican.
ReplyDeleteLooking from post Civil Rights Act til now it could be titled The Rise of Republicanism: Lee Atwater, Guns, & Money
ReplyDelete