Blue is the new green?

Peter Yared pointed me to these maps that he made showing various characteristics of U.S. states (from Census data) that have similar patterns to the votes for Democrats and Republicans in recent Presidential elections (that is, comparisons of the coasts and industrial midwest to the southern and central states). Many of these relate to the well-known recent correlation between state income and support for the Democrats. The patterns at the individual levels may differ, though. At a policy level, it makes sense that the Republicans favor transfer payments to poor states but not to poor people; with the reverse pattern for the Democrats.