Wolfram Computation Meets Knowledge

Date Archive: 2008 September

Computation & Analysis

Analyzing US 2008 Elections with Mathematica

The 2008 United States presidential election is arguably the most interesting US presidential election in my lifetime.

Already, millions of Americans have registered to vote for the first time in their lives.

Regardless of the outcome, America is going to elect either its first black president or its first female vice president.

America will elect a sitting US senator to the highest office in the land—which, until now, has only occurred twice in US history (Warren Harding and John F. Kennedy were US senators).

Both presidential candidates were born outside of the continental United States.

If elected, John McCain will be the oldest sitting US president upon ascension to the presidency.

Never before in US history has there been such a large disparity in age between the two presidential candidates, either.

It’s also the first election you can analyze using Mathematica 6.