How the 2016 Election Could Reshape the Electoral Map

Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this interview.

The past four presidential cycles have left the electoral map relatively unchanged. The South and the Prairies vote red, the Northeast and the West Coast votes blue, and the Midwest tends to split.

Ohio and Florida have have enjoyed extra attention as the swing states to watch, and there's always an extra state or two that surprises, like Virginia or North Carolina. On the whole, that breakdown provides a pretty accurate description of how our country splits between Democrats and Republicans.

But Donald Trump's ascension could repaint the electoral map, particularly after the presumptive Republican nominee doubled down down on conspiracy theories and Muslim bans in the wake of the Orlando shooting.

Trump's response has produced an outcry among Republicans, both from leaders like House Speaker Paul Ryan, who said that a Muslim ban is not "reflective of our principles, not just as a party but as a country," as well as from regular voters. 

Election guru and data cruncher Sam Wang, a neuroscientist at Princeton University and founder of the Princeton Election Consortium, says that some unusual states could indeed be in play this season, like Utah and Kansas. But the map is unlikely to completely realign. Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear our full conversation with Dr. Wang.