8 Charts to Use for 2018 US Midterm Election Results

Newsrooms around the world are bracing themselves for the results of the U.S. midterm elections – the first major election since Trump became President in 2016. Election data can get pretty complicated, which is why readers have come to expect clear data visualizations from the media in order to fully understand the numbers.

Good election visuals can take time to create, so we’ve put together a short list of free charts you can quickly build with Infogram. Become the go-to source for your readers with high-quality maps, bar charts, pictorial charts, progress bars, and more.

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1) Maps – Heatmap (Cloropleth) and Grouped

Infogram gives you access to a free map of the United States, and our premium plans let you build individual state and regional maps. Our maps feature clickable legends, hover-over tooltips for additional information, and interactive tabs that save space and engage your audience.

2) Bar and Column Charts

Bar and column charts are insanely popular for a reason – they are easy to read and our brains love them! Here we visualized data from the 2016 presidential election, comparing total votes and swing-state votes from 2012 and 2016. With Infogram, you can make a standard, grouped, stacked (see below), or 100% stacked bar chart.

Make a chart

3) Pictorial Charts

On Nov. 6, the focus will be on which of the two parties will control the two chambers of the U.S. Congress. In the House of Representatives, all 435 seats are up for election, and in the Senate, 35 out of 100 seats are up for election. Pictorial charts use relative sizes or repetition of icons to represent data. Search our large library of icons to build the perfect election pictorial chart.

4) Semi-Circle and Pie Charts

Pie charts get a bad rep because they are often used to visualize data that could be much better served with a different chart type. But, if you have election data that represent parts of a whole, and adds up to 100%, a pie chart or semi-circle chart might be your best option.

Make a chart

5) Stacked Bar Charts

Here we built a stacked bar chart showing the party breakdown in specific states after the 2016 presidential election. Stacked bar charts are a nice way to display multiple datasets on the same topic, making your visualization concise and organized.

6) Progress Bars

Progress bars help monitor the overall progress towards a target or goal. Use them to update readers on election results in real-time, showing the number of votes counted compared to how many have yet to be calculated. This chart, showing the major parties in the Senate after the 2016 election, is easy to read and effective at a glance.

If you’re a journalist, it’s your job to grab people’s attention and keep it. People count on you to share the latest election results, which is possible with Infogram.

Cover the election

Interested in discovering how Infogram can enhance your team’s work? Join a brief Zoom session with our Infogram representative to explore key features, get answers to your questions, and understand how we can assist. It’s quick, informative, and just like a coffee break chat. Schedule your call now!