If All Those State Secession Movements Got Their Way, America Would Look Like This Map [View all]

[n2doc]

BY NATE COHN

The electoral map divides the country neatly into blue states and red states. But blue states include vast conservative stretches; and most red states harbor liberal enclaves, too. In recent years, as partisan polarization has grown, some political minorities in these disaffected areas have proposed a radical solution: state partition.

It has happened before. Maine, for instance, was once part of Massachusetts. And while none of the current movements really has a shot, the eleven instances mapped here (including that to grant the District of Columbia statehood) have at least attracted the support of elected officials.

What would happen if all of them succeeded? Each new state would get two senators and its share of electoral college votes. We ran the numbers and recalculated the 2012 presidential race.

In this bizarro United States, the GOP would have a structural advantage in the expanded Senate, and Barack Obama would have had a tighter fight against Mitt Romney in the electoral college (which he won, in reality, 332–206).

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115001/state-secession-61-states-america


Except! I can pretty much guarantee you that if this happened, you would see blue areas in red states do the same. I can't see Atlanta or Savannah staying in Georgia, nor Research Triangle in NC, nor Austin-San Antonio, Houston, Or Dallas in Texas.....