The Challenge
Death with Dignity, the nonprofit, had been working to pass legislation in New York consistently for nearly a decade.
With this project, we wanted to emphasize the widespread support for medical aid in dying that exists across both geographic and socioeconomic demographics.
NY poll infographics
original data
At first, I was given the raw YouGov data to work with in the form of a massive Excel spreadsheet: over 1600 rows and 120 columns of variables, on data on everything from birth year and political affiliation, to religion and county of residence.
I set to work picking out the strongest variables and the most relevant points, using the YouGov variable guide to decode the spreadsheet as I went.
Later, after YouGov finished their complete analysis, I was able to use their finalized comparisons to create additional social media and other graphics to work alongside our release of the New York poll.
creating the chloropleth
I decided early on that I wanted a major focus of the graphic to be a chloropleth map: a form of color-based data mapping that’s usually used to show data like unemployment rates or election results on a map. It’s easy to read with a simple key.
My go-to program for this style of data visualization is DataWrapper, a user-friendly program with thousands of maps for just this purpose.
After sorting the raw data by region using the COUNTIF() function, I was able to quickly transfer the data into DataWrapper and adjust the aesthetics as needed.
honing the data
My boss and I settled on a few core variables we wanted the graphic to highlight: the overall support from New York, the geographic breakdown, and a handful of demographics. Here, you can see me settling on the palette, deciding how much data to show, and the best ways to represent it. In particular, I decided that my original map, split between counties, showed too much room for error.
Since there’s such a disparity in population density in New York state, our population-based sample had far more results from heavily populated areas like New York City and Buffalo than much smaller counties like Hamilton. As a result, our sample highlighted these areas as the “lowest” places of support, which in fact, there was only one or two respondents from that area. Instead, we collected these results into the 7 main regions of the state, which made the overall support much clearer.
follow up social
The main goal of making this poll in the first place was twofold. One, to show state legislators the widespread support for this bill among their voters. Two, to increase awareness of this issue among the New York public.
This accompanying social, both organic and paid ads, was created to accomplish this second goal. We created ads for specific regions, the state at large, and even organic social to repost on our own page!
This poll was a hit with both our audience and the general public, and has been a great boost to our ongoing efforts to build our email list and overall following.