USA Today: Closely contested states with sagging economies

[Kathleen04]

A small chart in USA Today that I thought was interesting. What also suprised me was how many states Gore won with a margin of victory of less than 1%..


"Fourteen states were decided by less than 5.2 percentage points in the 2000 Presidential election. Half of them have experienced job losses greater than the national average. Those states' margins of victory in 2000 and percentage of jobs lost March 2000-October 2003:

Michigan: 5.1% Margin of victory (MOV) for Gore
-5.4% jobs

Ohio: 3.1% MOV for B*
-4.6% jobs

Missouri: 3.3% MOV for B*
-3.2% jobs

Iowa: 0.3% MOV for Gore
-2.5% jobs

Tennessee: 3.9% MOV for B*
-2.5% jobs

Oregon: 0.4% MOV for Gore
-2.4% jobs

Wisconsin: 0.2% MOV for Gore
-1.6% jobs