Florida ranks relatively low in all four economic indicators.
With two debates already behind us and the presidential election less than a month away, this week I thought I would take a look at the Miami Herald's election coverage. Like Wisconsin, Florida has often been a swing state in presidential elections, and its status is no different for this year's election between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. As a result, I was expecting to find a lot of news about both candidates' triumphs, gaffes and policies.
In terms of story content, I was a little disappointed. There were very few recent articles on national politics, and the ones I did find weren't unique to the Herald. Many were written by reporters from the McClatchy News Service or the Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau. There was, however, a great article about a poll which showed Romney moving ahead of Obama with likely Florida voters due to each candidate's debate performance. The story seemed to exemplify Florida's swing state status, revealing Romney's sudden 51-44 percent advantage among Florida voters.
What caught my eye, though, was the Herald's comprehensive and interactive infographic about swing state economics. The graphic shows the United States map with each of the 14 swing states shaded in according to how that state fares in one of four economic indicators: jobs, housing, pocketbook and output. The last tab, rankings, measures each swing state's economic standing in relation to the other states.
I was impressed with the infographic because the creator, Marco A. Ruiz, managed to pack a lot of information together in a very visually appealing and interactive way. It's interesting to observe how the swing states are faring economically compared to the rest of the country and how the states have improved or worsened since 2008. After the election is over, I will most definitely be going back to this graphic to search for a pattern in how the swing states' economic standings might have influenced voters.
In terms of story content, I was a little disappointed. There were very few recent articles on national politics, and the ones I did find weren't unique to the Herald. Many were written by reporters from the McClatchy News Service or the Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau. There was, however, a great article about a poll which showed Romney moving ahead of Obama with likely Florida voters due to each candidate's debate performance. The story seemed to exemplify Florida's swing state status, revealing Romney's sudden 51-44 percent advantage among Florida voters.
What caught my eye, though, was the Herald's comprehensive and interactive infographic about swing state economics. The graphic shows the United States map with each of the 14 swing states shaded in according to how that state fares in one of four economic indicators: jobs, housing, pocketbook and output. The last tab, rankings, measures each swing state's economic standing in relation to the other states.
I was impressed with the infographic because the creator, Marco A. Ruiz, managed to pack a lot of information together in a very visually appealing and interactive way. It's interesting to observe how the swing states are faring economically compared to the rest of the country and how the states have improved or worsened since 2008. After the election is over, I will most definitely be going back to this graphic to search for a pattern in how the swing states' economic standings might have influenced voters.
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