Young People’s Priorities: An Illustrative Example of Scaling Skew-Symmetric Data

A scaling procedure for skew-symmetric data is illustrated using results from a survey by the Institute of Politics at Harvard University. These data were discussed in an April 27, 2012 op-ed column from the New York Times by Charles Blow. The op-ed columnist for the New York Times, Charles Blow, is known for his creative graphics and visual representation of data. One of his more recent columns, entitled “Young People’s Priorities” (Blow, 2012), presented two tables of percentages representing young people’s views on a number of real-world issues. One table was labeled Domestic Affairs and the second Foreign Affairs. These data were collected by the Institute of Politics (IOP) at Harvard University (Harvard University, 2012); the respondents were between the ages of 18 and 29. This 21st edition released in 2012 is available on their website. The two tables presented by Mr. Blow were selected from the larger IOP survey that compared all of the issues together. The display of the raw data in table form and the information is certainly helpful for interpretation. But however informative, there is more that can be done to add clarity. For example, one might note the scattering of the three colors representing