The Distribution of Tea

by Peter Saint-Andre

2009-04-26

The folks at Pajamas Media have an interesting map of the recent Tax Day Tea Parties. If you mouse over each state, you can find out estimates of how many people attended in each state (I don't know whether these are final numbers or merely early estimates). If you then divide by the population of each state (source), you find that the percentages vary significantly:

  1. South Dakota 6,500 / 804,000 = .81
  2. New Mexico 12,700 / 1,984,000 = .64
  3. Oregon 24,090 / 3,790,000 = .63
  4. Tennessee 36,120 / 6,215,000 = .58
  5. Wyoming 3,080 / 532,000 = .58
  6. Texas 115,700 / 24,327,000 = .48
  7. Montana 4,325 / 967,000 = .45
  8. Kansas 12,035/ 2,802,000 = .43
  9. Colorado 20,400 / 4,939,000 = .41
  10. Idaho 6,150 / 1,524,000 = .40
  11. Louisiana 17,550 / 4,411,000 = .40
  12. Alabama 16,870 / 4,662,000 = .36
  13. Florida 65,730 / 18,328,000 = .36
  14. Minnesota 18,450 / 5,220,000 = .35
  15. Alaska 2,170 / 686,000 = .32
  16. Missouri 18,750 / 5,912,000 = .32
  17. Ohio 35,680 / 11,486,000 = .31
  18. Mississippi 9,200 / 2,939,000 = .31
  19. South Carolina 14,010 / 4,480,000 = .31
  20. West Virginia 5,600 / 1,815,000 = .31
  21. Arkansas 8,490 / 2,855,000 = .30
  22. Indiana 19,380 / 6,377,000 = .30
  23. Rhode Island 3,000 / 1,051,000 = .29
  24. Arizona 17,800 / 6,500,000 = .27
  25. Hawaii 3,260 / 1,218,000 = .27
  26. Wisconsin 15,230 / 5,628,000 = .27
  27. Georgia 25,370 / 9,686,000 = .26
  28. Washington 17,330 / 6,549,000 = .26
  29. California 89,910 / 36,757,000 = .25
  30. Oklahoma 9,170 / 3,642,000 = .25
  31. Delaware 2,120 / 873,000 = .24
  32. Nebraska 4,200 / 1,783,000 = .24
  33. Connecticut 8,150 / 3,501,000 = .23
  34. Vermont 1,300 / 621,000 = .21
  35. Virginia 16,430 / 7,769,000 = .21
  36. Iowa 5,620 / 3,002,000 = .19
  37. Michigan 19,380 / 10,003,000 = .19
  38. Nevada 4,930 / 2,600,000 = .19
  39. Utah 5,200 / 2,736,000 = .19
  40. North Carolina 16,025 / 9,222,000 = .17
  41. New York 33,050 / 19,490,000 = .17
  42. New Hampshire 2,125 / 1,316,000 = .16
  43. Pennsylvania 14,650 / 12,448,000 = .12
  44. Kentucky 4,400 / 4,269,000 = .10
  45. Maryland 5,200 / 5,636,000 = .09
  46. North Dakota 600 / 642,000 = .09
  47. Illinois 11,260 / 12,901,000 = .08
  48. New Jersey 6,750 / 8,627,000 = .08
  49. Maine 1,000 / 1,316,000 = .08
  50. Massachusetts 4,750 / 6,498,000 = .07

It's no surprise to me that places like Taxachusetts, my home state of Maine, and the corruption capitals of Illinois and New Jersey bring up the rear. I'm a bit surprised to see the supposed free state of New Hampshire in the bottom decile and to see the supposed leftist bastion of Oregon at #3. Someone with better mapping skills than I have could put together a color-coded map showing the percentage by state -- I have a sense that western areas would stand out from the rest, given that South Dakota, New Mexico, Oregon, Wyoming, Texas, Montana, Kansas, Colorado, and Idaho are in the top ten.

Peter Saint-Andre > Journal