As Americans prepare to head to the polls in November to elect the next president of the United States, the University of Richmond’s Digital Scholarship Lab recently released Electing the President, an interactive map that focuses on voting results in presidential elections since 1840.

Electing the President, part of the DSL’s American Panorama project, visualizes the results of presidential elections through both the electoral college and the popular vote, from William Henry Harrison's contest with Martin Van Buren in 1840 to the election in 2020. The result is a map that helps viewers form a better understanding of the complex factors that have shaped presidential elections over nearly two centuries. 

Robert Nelson, director of the DSL, said that while there are many presidential maps available, Electing the President stands out for two reasons.

“First, it's not just about candidates and parties. It's about voters. The popular vote maps allow people to explore more nuanced, detailed voting patterns across the country,” he said. “Second, we go much deeper into history than most other maps, all the way back to 1840 when the Republican Party didn’t exist, and the Whigs were one of the two major political parties.”

For example, the map visualizes the election of 1860, when Abraham Lincoln won the presidency with a majority of the electoral votes but only 40% of the popular vote.

“That election is exceptional because it precipitated the most important event in American history, the outbreak of a civil war,” said Nelson. He notes that Electing the President helps illustrate how the Civil War would shape the American electoral landscape for the next hundred years, showing how party dominance changed throughout the South after Reconstruction.

“It's hard to imagine an analysis of presidential elections that doesn't or wouldn't benefit from considering maps and space,” said Nelson. “Throughout American history, where people lived — whether in a specific region, a city, or the rural countryside — has both shaped and reflected their party affiliations and voting behaviors.” 

For example, the map offers granular county-level results of the popular vote, illustrating how patterns of Democratic strength in cities and Republican strength in surrounding suburbs can be seen across the country.

Exploring the maps, Nelson said, allows individuals to contribute to the ongoing conversation about the history of American democracy.