Viewing the US presidential electoral map through the lens of public health

Hamamsy, T. C.; Danziger, M.; Nagler, J.; Bonneau, R.

Health, disease, and mortality vary greatly at the county level, and there are strong geographical trends of disease. Healthcare is a top priority for voters in the United States, and it is important to examine the relationship between voting patterns at the county level and health, disease, and mortality. We perform a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between voting patterns and over 150 different public health and wellbeing variables, comparing counties in all states, including counties in 2016 battleground states, and counties in states that flipped from Democrat to Republican from 2012 to 2016. We also investigate county-level health trends over the last 30+ years and find statistically significant relationships between a number of health measures and the voting patterns of counties in presidential elections. Collectively, this data exhibits a strong pattern: counties that voted Republican in the 2016 election counties are "sicker" than those that voted Democrat.