Interactive Electoral Maps: 12 ways to Pick your new President

If you are one of those people who follow the presidential elections closely, then this one is for you. In one of my recent posts on 2008 Electoral College Calculator using Crystal Xcelsius, I developed a tool to predict the next president of the United States. The user can click on the individual states and choose the party they think could win the state. Based on the click, the tool automatically counts and adds the total number of electoral seats won by the respective candidates. I developed this tool based on the Wall Street Jounal Electoral College Calculator. Since then I was reading a lot of predictions made by the experts and the National media. As I write this post, the prediction by majority of the news networks is that Barack Obama is leading by 8 points over his Republican Counterpart John McCain. Out of curiosity, I ran a search on Electoral Maps and I was surprised to see that there are so many electoral maps out there on the web by possibly every news media group. I consolidated some of the best Electoral Maps.

Note: Click on the Images for the interactive models.

1. Yahoo Election08 Political Dashboard: Create election scenarios by clicking on states in the Map to switch colors and electoral votes. Sign in as Yahoo! user to save your scenarios. You can also Print, eMail and compare scenarios or get the link on your blog.

   

2. CNN Electoral Map Calculator: You call the race: Click on a state, choose a winner and watch the electoral votes add up. The map starts with CNN’s estimate, but you can start at a different starting point.



3. Wall Street Journal Electoral College Calculator: As the presidential fight heats up in the swing states, look for hints about how things may go in the results of previous elections, listen for what the experts have to say and make your own 2008 electoral map. The opening scenario of the map is updated daily.



4. The New York Times Electoral Map: The colors show the latest breakdown by The New York Times of which states are considered to be in play in the presidential election. Ratings are based on a variety of factors, including polling, previous elections results and political landscape in the state.



5. Fox News Interactive Election Tracking Map: Check out the interactive map with race results all the way back to the 2004 and 2006 election.  And check back on Election Day to get up-to-the-minute results on every race in the country!



6. MSNBC Make your Prediction: You can make your own prediction, Select NBC’s predictions based on the date and also select one of the experts predictions.



7. RealClearPolitics Electoral College Calculator:



8. Electoral-Vote:



9. 270 To Win – The Road to 270: It takes 270 Electoral Votes to win the Presidential Election. Select one of the starting views below the map. Click any state to start customizing your map. You can split ME and NE votes. As you modify a state, the total Electoral Vote counter will update. If cookies are set, your custom map will be saved for future visits to the site.
   2008 Swing States
   Swing view updated as of 10-14-08. We define a swing state as one within +/- 5 points based on a composite of recent polls.
   1789-2004 Historical Maps
   Select any other election in the drop down list, to see the outcome of that election, and historical information.



10. Washington Post – Pick your president: The presidential prediction contest is closed and your entry will not be eligible to win.  However, you can still create a map to follow the race or track the results on election night. Choose which candidate will win each state and share your map with others.



11. Election 2008 – The Presidential Decision: Keep tabs on the latest poll numbers with our interactive.



12. MyXcelsius – Electoral College Calulator 2008: This one is my own built using Xcelsius 2008. This is based on the Wall street Journals Electoral College Calculator.