Politics & Mood - Is there a relationship between frequent mental distress and voting shifts?

A recent National Geographic News article reports that a study in the upcoming issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine shows a county-by-county map with percentages of US residents who reported "frequent mental distress" (FMD). FMD is defined as 14 or more days of emotional discomfort, including "stress, depression and problems with emotion," during the previous month. Data in this map shows results from CDC telephone survey between 2003 and 2006. (NOTE: 3-days of emotional discomfort is considered normal).

The study found that you're most likely to suffer periods of depression, stress, or other emotional problems if you live in the United States' Appalachian or Mississippi Valley regions—or at least that you're most likely to admit it to government survey takers.

It is interesting to compare this geographic distribution with the shift of voting patterns in the 2008 election. This is what I LOVE about geography and data – show data visually and you can really see some dramatic correlations. Hmmmm, I think I see a research project in here ;-) Would be interesting to see a voting shift map from 2006 – which is closer aligned to the data collected on mental heath.