USA TODAY STATS

A SwirlyWand gave me this today. it shows just how divided this nation is on some issues. the next thing to watch is who tries to exploit these differences and who tries to work around or through them. after that, you have to ask 'is that healthy?' on to the numbers:

*Voters in red states and swing states oppose civil unions for gay couples by double-digit margins, but voters in blue states overwhelmingly support civil unions.
*Three-fourths of red-state voters and two-thirds of swing state voters oppose legalizing same-sex marriage, but only half of the blue-state voters oppose same-sex marriage.
*Red-state and swing-state voters support the goals of the National Rifle Association by double-digit margins, but blue-state voters oppose those goals by an equally large margin.
*Red-state voters support a ban on partial-birth abortion by a 14-point margin, and swing-state voters support a ban by 15 points, but blue-state voters support a ban by only 6 points.
*Three-fourths of red-state voters and two-thirds of swing-state voters say religion is 'very important' in their lives, but only half of blue-state voters agree. Indeed, this religious-vs.-secular dimension explains many differences on other cultural attitudes' (6/17).