United States Well-Being and Political Parties

L. David Roper (roperld@vt.edu)

(Back to Politics)
(Back to Economy and Political Parties)
(Go to data table at bottom.)

There are many factors that describe the well-being of a populace. Some of them relate to physical health, including mental health, and some relate to social health, including economic health.

This is a study of the correlations between various such factors and the two major political parties in the United States (Democrat and Republican). The question being asked is: Does one of the two major political parties in the United Staes correlate better with these health factors than the other? If so, then one can conclude that some of the conditions that favor the factor in question likely favor the highly-correlated political party being in power.

To make the study manageable one year is considered: the year of the 1996 presidential election (For the voting data see: http://clerkweb.house.gov/elections/1996/TABLE.HTM). The health-factors data are chosen for that year or as closely to that year as possible. Correlations are calculated for the Democratic and Republican votes for each state in that election with the chosen health factor for each state.

An interesting by-product of this study is how the various well-being factors correlate with each other. See http://arts.bev.net/roperldavid/politics/CorrUSHealth.htm for the results.

For a summary of the results, go to the bottom of this page.

• Deaths Rate & Political Parties.
• Infant Mortality & Political Parties.
• Auto Accident Deaths & Political Parties
• Occupational Deaths & Political Parties
• Suicides & Political Parties
• Gun Deaths & Political Parties
• Homicides/Interventions Deaths & Political Parties
• Drug-Induced Deaths & Political Parties
• Cirrhosis Deaths & Politcial Parties
• Cancer Deaths & Political Parties
• Cardiovascular Deaths & Political Parties
• Violent Crime & Political Parties
• Property Crime & Political Parties
• Child Abuse & Political Parties
• Toxins Release & Political Parties
• Abortions & Political Parties
• Poverty & Political Parties
• State Prisoners & Political Parties
• State/Local Police & Political Parties
• Medical Uninsured & Political Parties
• College Degrees & Political Parties
• Correlations of U.S. Health Factors
• Rankings for the Commonwealth of Virginia
• Priorities in a Society

Summary

I think that most people would regard all of the factors as negative, except number of police per capita and number per capita with college degrees. Note how the correlations with the Democratic vote are mostly negative for the negative factors, while the correlations with the Republican vote are generally positive for the negative factors. For the two positive factors the Democratic correlations are positive and the Republican correlations are negative.

Some possible factors that cause these correlations:

• Capitalism rules for Republicans more than for Democrats: Every person looks after mostly his own welfare; the welfare of the less able is not a high priority.
• Minimum government for Republicans: Government is to stay out of the lives of people, including making them better and safer.
• Low or no taxes for Republicans: Keep the taxes as low as possible, leaving little to care for the safety of the populace (less police), the health of the populace, the health of the infrastructure and protecting the environment.
• No universal medical care for Republicans: Government should not concern itself with making sure that all individuals have adequate medical care.

Some anomalies and their possible explanation:

• High cancer deaths in Democratic states: possibly because large cities, where pollutants are concentrated, tend to vote Democratic.
• High drug-induced deaths in Democratic states: possibly because Republicans tend to interfer more in the private lives of individuals.
• High legal abortions in Democratic states: possibly because Republicans tend to interfer more in the private lives of individuals.
• High violent crime in Democratic states: possibly because large cities, where much violent crime occurs, tend to vote Democratic.

(Back to Politics)
(Back to Economy and Political Parties)
(Go back to the top of this page.)

(Back to Politics)
(Back to Economy and Political Parties)
(Go back to the top of this page.)