Nate Silver has commentary, as well as an earlier post showing the same general trend.

Kristen Soltis also presents data of young voters’ (18-29) party self-identification based on exit polls from presidential elections in 1972 to 2008. Contrary to public opinion, party identification among young voters appears to follow general trends (they’re not, say, overwhelmingly Democratic, contrary to popular opinion). There does appear to be a 5-point swing in the past two elections, though, with the vanishing of young republicans.

Also, for comparison, the President’s plan that was released last week:

And, specific information from the Federal Railroad Administration on each of the President’s proposed corridors:

• California Corridor
• Pacific Northwest Corridor
• South Central Corridor
• Gulf Coast Corridor
• Chicago Hub Network
• Florida Corridor
• Southeast Corridor
• Keystone Corridor
• Empire Corridor
• Northern New England Corridor

Nate Silver hypothesizes that the shift is due to the large number of people under 55 who have used marijuana in their lifetimes. He presents the following data from a 2007 survey conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration:

Related Stories:

• Marijuana Advocates Point to Signs of Change (NYT)
• Is It Possible the War on Pot Is on Its Last Legs? (In These Times)

A map of the proposed lines is below. Why regional, you might wonder. Here’s what Joseph Sussman, an external adviser to the Department  of Transportation and professor at MIT, told GOOD last week:

I’m not talking about a national network of high-speed rail, because our country is just too darn big for that to be useful. When I say national I mean that we can develop these clusters of high-speed rail. It’s not only the Northeast corridor. There are opportunities in Florida, in the Texas triangle, Chicago, and in the Pacific Northwest. And it could have significant long-term impacts economically as well as environmentally.

Sussman, it should be noted, thinks that he stimulus spending on a national rail system is still too small.

Most notably, Australians can expect a spreading desert, shrinking rain forest, withering barrier reef, and an increase in mosquito-borne illness stretching all the way down to Sydney. A local described the effects of the decade-long drought as:

Suicide is high. Depression is huge. Families are breaking up. It’s devastation,” he said, shaking his head. “I’ve got a neighbor in terrible trouble. Found him in the paddock, sitting in his [truck], crying his eyes out. Grown men — big, strong grown men. We’re holding on by the skin of our teeth. It’s desperate times.

It’s worth noting that Australia gets 80% of its energy from coal and has the largest per capita CO2 emissions. Apparently there’s more important things to focus on, like nationwide broadband.

Nate explains

It turns out that you can build a very effective model by including just three variables:

1. The year in which the amendment was voted upon;
2. The percentage of adults in 2008 Gallup tracking surveys who said that religion was an important part of their daily lives;
3. The percentage of white evangelicals in the state.
. . .
Unsurprisingly, there is a very strong correspondence between the religiosity of a state and its propensity to ban gay marriage, with a particular “bonus” effect depending on the number of white evangelicals in the state.

According to Nate’s model, Iowa, which has an average level of religiosity, would pass a ban today; by 2012, it should be a toss-up; and after 2013, any ban should be defeated.

And from Feminist Philosophers, an overview of same-sex marriage rights.

Slagsmålsklubben – Sponsored by destiny from Tomas Nilsson on Vimeo.

The basic idea is simple: Visual displays make information approachable. Often, they bring out larger patterns that we miss by observing only details. Sometimes, they’re the only way to make information salient for human beings. Other times, they’re just plain pretty.

DailyViz is intended to be mix of all of these. Each day, I’ll highlight a visualization that’s useful, unique, or artistic. Contributions and contributors are welcome; comments are hoped for.