It really doesn’t matter how many square miles turn red, it’s the people who do the voting.
Inside of states for popular elections this is true. However, that giant area of red is over-represented at just about every level of government, from the electoral college to Congress to state legislatures.
A lot of it is low population and lots of square miles.
Take my state for example… We voted for Biden, but if you check it county by county:
You’d be right to go "Well, wait, how does that work?
See those 3 giant counties in the lower right hand corner? That’s Lake, Harney, and Malheur county from left to right.
Here’s how they voted in 2020:
Lake
Biden - 792 - 18.15%
Trump - 3,470 - 79.53%
Harney
Biden - 894 - 19.95%
Trump - 3,475 - 77.55%
Malheur
Biden - 3,260 - 27.62%
Trump - 8,187 - 69.36%
There’s more cattle than people down there, of course it goes Red.
Now if you look at the top of the map, you’ll see a sliver of dark blue, that’s Multnomah County, i.e. where most of the people live.
Biden - 367,249 - 79.21%
Trump - 82,995 - 17.90%
It really doesn’t matter how many square miles turn red, it’s the people who do the voting.
Inside of states for popular elections this is true. However, that giant area of red is over-represented at just about every level of government, from the electoral college to Congress to state legislatures.