Saturday, January 12, 2008

Drinking and Voting

Is it necessary to drink heavily before voting for a Democrat? The answer seems to be "yes," based on the results of the 2004 presidential election:
Sources: Share of popular vote, by State, derived from this page at Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Index of alcohol consumption (total of beer, wine, and spirits) in 2005, by State, derived from "Per capita ethanol consumption for States, census regions, and the United States, 1970–2005" at the website of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health.
The four most bibulous (not Bible-reading) jurisdictions are Delaware (index of 2.59), Nevada (2.83), the District of Columbia (3.05), and New Hampshire (3.26). New Hampshirites should change their motto, "Live Free or Die," to "Live Hard and Die Cold."