Here's how to sweep away the bias of actual geographic shapes for a sort-of-map sort-of-a-chart beautiful abomination called a cartogram. This form is based on a hexagon shape: each state is a hexagon. They're generally arranged true to their locations but cartograms don't get too worked up about that sort of thing. They help you visualize general geographic trends without the complexity of real-geography getting in the way of communicating a phenomenon.
0:00 Rapturous intro
0:23 Creating a hexagonal tessellation
0:57 Selecting state hexagons
1:22 Adding state name attribute
1:54 Fifty-one personal anecdotes...you should skip this
9:00 Joining data to the hexagons
9:47 Graduated symbols
11:18 Adding cool-looking lighting
13:27 New chickens join the Nelsons
Here's the hexagon layer: https://esriis-my.sharepoint.com/:u:/g/personal/john8409_esri_com/EbZ2yi15-A9ClPxilpRNt7IBIjiME87aAZAytSah8tVn3A?e=9XBHd6
If you want to learn more about thematic mapping, using election data, with lots of cartogram examples, check out this book from my colleague Kenneth Field: https://www.amazon.com/Thematic-Mapping-Inspiring-Visualise-Empirical-ebook/dp/B09C38N8MF
Check out some other social channels where I share how-to's and updates on random map adventures:
http://adventuresinmapping.com
https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/author/j_nelson/
https://twitter.com/John_M_Nelson
https://www.instagram.com/johnmnelson/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnmnelson/
Thanks for watching! Love, John Nelson