听力文本

Certainly and we can see the great plains here not very well because not many people live there
当然从图中我们看到大平原区域，这里的居民较少
This is a very heavily Republican voting area. It's a very old area
但这里共和党支持率非常高。这是一片比较旧区域
Many of these counties have some of the oldest populations in the country
这些区域的很多县的居住人口平均年龄非常高
and many of them are diminishing so much. They maybe disappearing
他们可能不久会面临死亡。这些县也随着消亡
So a lot of counties in western Nebraska, Kansas have very small and rapidly
因此在内布拉斯加西部，堪萨斯州都存在着很多人口少且即将消失的县
So actually, the Republican
因此，共和党人
they get the fastest growing populations
一方面享受着支持者群体的迅速增长
they get the fastest shrinking populations as well
一方面承受着支持者群体的严重流失
but it is in that red bell
这些都同时发生在红色带状区域
Oh, take a look at this
现在，来看看
There's Salt Lake city, it's big purple surrounded by very very red area of Utah outside of the city
盐城，它呈大片紫色同时也被深红的区域包围，这些区域是犹太州的外围城市
So that's another interesting pattern we can get to
这是我们看到的又一个有趣现象
Let's switch a little bit
让我们换一个角度来看
Let's shift from the national level to the level of state voting
现在把焦点放到各州的选情上来
That beautiful purple splotchy map I just showed you really tells you a lot about voting patterns
刚才那副布满紫色斑点的地图向我们透露了很多规律
but it doesn't tell you anything about the electoral college
但你从中无法看出选举团的情况
where the votes count
选举团才是大选真正的决定者
The way their party system works in this country
选举团才是美国承认的选举体系
Yes, it's a big emphasis on what's states overall are going to Democratic
不可否认，从宏观的角度观察哪些州倾向于支持民主党
What states are going to go Republican
哪些州支持共和党，的确非常重要
but if we look away from the national presidential election
但如果我们从美国总统大选的角度来看
and if we just focus on individual states and how they're voting for their senators, their representatives in the house their governors
或者仅从某个独立的州来观察选民的投票倾向与该州参议员众议员及州长的党籍有怎样的关系
We'll actually see very different patterns
我们会发现非常不同的规律
so here we have purple states, it has one Democratic and one Republican senator
图中的紫色州表示分别有一名民主党参议员和一名共和党参议员的州
blue states with two Democratics and red states with two Republicans
蓝色州表示两名参议员均为民主党人，红色州表示均为共和党人
and we find on this level
我们发现从这个角度绘制的地图
our map is very different than the maps we've seen before
颜色分布和刚才的地图很不同
maybe some surprises
我们会发现很多惊喜

Montana and North Dakota both with two Democratic senators
蒙大拿州和北达科他州居然都有两名共和党参议员
Arkansas as well West Virginia as well or Maine with its two Republican senators
阿肯色州，西弗吉尼亚州，也是如此，相反缅因州则有两名共和党参议员
Maine very clearly voting for Democratic presidential candidate
缅因州很明显是一个非常支持民主党的州
and the same while New Hampshire is more of a swing state
相同情况下的新罕布什尔则是一个摇摆州
That tells us different things about different places
由此可知，不同的州情况也各异
One thing it tells us that what it means to be a Democratic is different often on the local, on the state scale than it is, on the national scale
我们也能由此推论作为一名任职于地方的民主党人或任职于州的民主党人与任职于国家的民主党人是十分不同的
So a lot of Democrats from places like Montana wouldn't have a very good chance of getting winning the primary in Democratic party
因此，在蒙大拿州任职的民主党人并没有很好的机会来帮民主党获得广泛选民的支持
Because they tend to be too conservative
因为这些选民都非常保守
and the same with Republican and these areas
这对共和党人来说也一样是束手无策
But the two party system tends to lead to a competitive political environment in the different parties than adjust to local circumstances
面对这种情况两党都选择极力打造一个充满竞争氛围的政治环境而不是调整自身来适应当地的环境

视频及简介

本课程结合大量地图，探索了美国总统大选（包括过去和现在）中的地理学，并且对仅仅简单把美国分为红州（共和党）和蓝州（民主党）这一说法提出挑战。现实中，美国社会两党的情况，远比这种简单的两分法要复杂。