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The poverty rate (number/1000) varies greatly among the states in the United States. (See table at end for 1997-8 rates.)
An interesting question to ask is: Is there any correlation between the poverty rate and the strength of the two political parties in the states?
I compared different state's poverty rate (PR) data for 1996 with the results of the 1996 presidential election for each state. (See table at end for votes in the 1996 election.) A correlation calculation yielded the following:
| Correlation | Rate |
| Democrat vote | +0.010 |
| Republican vote | +0.110 |
That is, the Democratic votes for the states had a 1% positive correlation with increasing PR and the Republican votes had a 11% positive correlation. States with high poverty rate vote more Republican than Democratic and vice versa.
|
| This is a plot of the poverty rate (PR) sorted by rank of the states compared to the Democratic votes and the Republican votes. (See table at end for the data.) Also shown are linear fits to the two votes. This shows visually the positive correlation of PR with the Republican vote and the almost zero correlation of PR with the Democratic vote. Note the exceptionally high rate for New Mexico (20.8). |
What can one conclude from these results? Whatever factors cause the large disparity for poverty rates between the various states also cause those states to tend to vote Republican. I believe that the main factors are:
My Republican native state, Oklahoma (rate=13.9), ranked 35 of 50 and my Republican adopted state, Virginia (rate=10.8), ranked 22 of 50 for increasing poverty rate in 1997-8.
| U.S. Poverty Rate 1997-8 | 1996 election | |||
| State | Poverty Rate | Democrat | Republican | Rank |
| Maryland | 7.8 | 54.3% | 38.3% | 1 |
| Wisconsin | 8.5 | 48.8% | 38.5% | 2 |
| Colorado | 8.7 | 44.4% | 45.8% | 3 |
| New Jersey | 8.9 | 53.7% | 35.9% | 4 |
| Utah | 8.9 | 33.3% | 54.4% | 5 |
| Connecticut | 9 | 52.8% | 34.7% | 6 |
| Alaska | 9.1 | 33.3% | 50.8% | 7 |
| Indiana | 9.1 | 41.6% | 47.1% | 8 |
| Washington | 9.1 | 49.8% | 37.3% | 9 |
| Iowa | 9.3 | 50.3% | 39.9% | 10 |
| New Hampshire | 9.4 | 49.6% | 39.6% | 11 |
| Kansas | 9.6 | 36.1% | 54.3% | 12 |
| Vermont | 9.6 | 53.4% | 31.1% | 13 |
| Delaware | 10 | 51.8% | 36.6% | 14 |
| Minnesota | 10 | 51.1% | 35.0% | 15 |
| Maine | 10.2 | 51.6% | 30.8% | 16 |
| Massachusetts | 10.4 | 61.5% | 28.1% | 17 |
| Illinois | 10.6 | 54.3% | 36.8% | 18 |
| Michigan | 10.6 | 51.7% | 38.5% | 19 |
| Missouri | 10.8 | 47.5% | 41.2% | 20 |
| Nevada | 10.8 | 43.9% | 42.9% | 21 |
| Virginia | 10.8 | 45.1% | 47.1% | 22 |
| Nebraska | 11.1 | 35.0% | 53.7% | 23 |
| Ohio | 11.1 | 47.4% | 41.0% | 24 |
| Pennsylvania | 11.2 | 49.2% | 40.0% | 25 |
| Wyoming | 12.1 | 36.8% | 49.8% | 26 |
| Rhode Island | 12.2 | 59.7% | 26.8% | 27 |
| Hawaii | 12.4 | 56.9% | 31.6% | 28 |
| North Carolina | 12.7 | 44.0% | 48.7% | 29 |
| Oregon | 13.3 | 47.2% | 39.1% | 30 |
| South Carolina | 13.4 | 44.0% | 49.8% | 31 |
| Florida | 13.7 | 48.0% | 42.3% | 32 |
| South Dakota | 13.7 | 43.0% | 46.5% | 33 |
| Idaho | 13.8 | 33.6% | 52.2% | 34 |
| Oklahoma | 13.9 | 40.4% | 48.3% | 35 |
| Tennessee | 13.9 | 48.0% | 45.6% | 36 |
| Georgia | 14 | 45.8% | 47.0% | 37 |
| North Dakota | 14.4 | 40.1% | 46.9% | 38 |
| Kentucky | 14.7 | 45.8% | 44.9% | 39 |
| Alabama | 15.1 | 43.2% | 50.1% | 40 |
| Texas | 15.9 | 43.8% | 48.8% | 41 |
| California | 16 | 51.1% | 38.2% | 42 |
| Montana | 16.1 | 41.3% | 44.1% | 43 |
| New York | 16.6 | 58.3% | 30.0% | 44 |
| Arizona | 16.9 | 46.5% | 44.3% | 45 |
| Mississippi | 17.1 | 44.1% | 49.2% | 46 |
| West Virginia | 17.1 | 51.5% | 36.8% | 47 |
| Arkansas | 17.2 | 53.7% | 36.8% | 48 |
| Louisiana | 17.7 | 52.0% | 39.9% | 49 |
| New Mexico | 20.8 | 49.2% | 41.9% | 50 |
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