Nice graphic? Are they taking the p…

Yes, it started with a tweet:

Nice graphic on urine components via https://t.co/sfuXNB02sF pic.twitter.com/vhVLahQ8su

— Metabolomics (@metabolomics) January 31, 2017

By what measure is this a “nice graphic”? First, the JPEG itself is low-quality. Second, it contains spelling and numerical errors (more on that later). And third…do I have to spell this out…those are exploded 3D pie charts.

Can it be fixed?

The y-axis: to zero or not to zero

I don’t “do politics” at this blog, but I’m always happy to do charts. Here’s one that’s been doing the rounds on Twitter recently:

A quick look at turnout data: It seems 2016 was nothing special for the Rep-candidate. It's the Dem-candidate that didn't get the vote out. pic.twitter.com/wby3gta26m

— D Yanagizawa-Drott (@yanagiz) November 9, 2016

What’s the first thing that comes into your mind on seeing that chart?

It seems that there are two main responses to the chart:

1. Wow, what happened to all those Democrat voters between 2008 and 2016?
2. Wow, that’s misleading, it makes it look like Democrat support almost halved between 2008 and 2016

The question then is: when (if ever) is it acceptable to start a y-axis at a non-zero value?