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How Life Expectancy in Republican States Compares to Democratic Ones [1]

['James Bickerton', 'Todd Armstrong', 'Aron Solomon']

Date: 2023-07-07 05:00:02-04:00

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.

Residents in Democratic-voting states experience an average life expectancy of more than two years longer than their Republican counterparts, according to a Newsweek analysis of World Population Review data.

The data shows, on average, that people living in states in which former President Donald Trump won in 2020 had a life expectancy in 2023 of 75.5 years, versus 77.7 years for those in states that backed President Joe Biden.

Life expectancy in the U.S. fell in 2020 and 2021, eliciting concern across the health and political spectrum. Whilst other developed countries also saw their life expectancy decline in 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, most saw a recovery the following year. American life expectancy is now lower than that of dramatically poorer countries such as Cuba and Lebanon.

World Population Review data, analyzed by Newsweek, gave the U.S. as a whole a life expectancy of 76.6 in 2023. However, this varies significantly by state, from 80.7 years in Hawaii to 71.9 years in Mississippi.

In general, people living in states that voted Democratic in 2020 tend to live longer than those in their Republican-backing counterparts. Of the top 10 U.S. states by life expectancy, only one, Utah, backed Trump in 2020. The top 10 states, in order, are: Hawaii, Washington, Minnesota, California, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Oregon, Vermont, Utah and Connecticut.

Supporters of former President Donald Trump pass a giant flag before a campaign event on July 1, 2023, in Pickens, South Carolina. Residents of states that supported Trump in 2020 see an average life expectancy... Supporters of former President Donald Trump pass a giant flag before a campaign event on July 1, 2023, in Pickens, South Carolina. Residents of states that supported Trump in 2020 see an average life expectancy of more than two years shorter than their Democratic counterparts, according to figures analyzed by Newsweek. More Sean Rayford/Getty Images

By contrast, of the 10 states with the shortest life expectancy, only New Mexico voted for Biden in 2020. The other nine are: Mississippi, West Virginia, Louisiana, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma and South Carolina.

Figures released in 2022 by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed U.S. life expectancy had dropped a full year from 2020, and now trails the Chinese figure for the first time.

Within the U.S., there was a sharp disparity between race and gender, with the average American Asian woman expected to live for 85.6 years, versus just 66.7 years for a Black American man.

The results are consistent with a study headed by assistant professor Haider J. Warraich, which was published by the British Medical Journal in 2022. This found counties which voted for Democratic presidential candidates from 2000-2016 recorded larger falls in the death rate than their Republican backing counterparts.

The authors concluded: "Our finding that Democratic counties have experienced steeper declines in mortality than Republican counties over the past two decades builds upon previous evidence suggesting that more liberal policies, laws, and regulations may be associated with better health outcomes."

A separate investigation, published in October 2022 by health journal Plos One, found that between 1999 and 2019 "U.S. life expectancy has stagnated, largely because of higher mortality among adults 25–64 years of age."

The study also concluded state-level policy can have a significant impact on life expectancy. It said: "More conservative marijuana policies and more liberal policies on the environment, gun safety, labor, economic taxes, and tobacco taxes in a state were associated with lower mortality in that state."

Global life expectancy fell for the first time in 60 years in 2020, from 72.76 to 72.75, according to World Bank figures.

The U.S. has also recorded a dramatic increase in deaths from fentanyl, which more than tripled, from 5.7 deaths per 100,000 people in 2016 to 21.6 deaths per 100,000 in 2021, according to CDC figures. The federal agency concluded that 150 Americans die each day due to synthetic opioids, of which fentanyl is the deadliest.

CDC data from 2020 showed there were 45,222 deaths from firearms use across the U.S. that year, substantially up from the 10-year average of around 38,000.

Of the deaths, 24,292 were attributed to suicide, with 19,384 for homicides and smaller figures for "unintentional," "legal intervention" and "undetermined."

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[1] Url: https://www.newsweek.com/how-life-expectancy-republican-states-compares-democrat-ones-1811447

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