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Why Republican governance sucks, part 2: Vote Democratic, live longer [1]
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Date: 2025-01-05
In my previous post in this series, I documented how blue states typically have lower infant mortality and lower maternal mortality than red states. The takeaway: Protect mothers and infants, vote Democratic.
Here, let’s extend that to life expectancy in general: the fact that people living in blue states live longer on average than those living in red states. Infant and maternal mortality, of course, contribute to life expectancy, which is simply the average expected lifespan for someone born or living in a particular place at a particular time. By encompassing the entire population, though, life expectancy can act as something of a proxy for all the dimensions of health and wellness. It is determined by a huge array of factors, including quality of healthcare, accessibility of healthcare providers and facilities, vaccination uptake, environmental exposures (air pollution, lead, asbestos, etc.), diet and nutrition, individual genetics, lifestyle choices (smoking, substance use, exercise), and more.
Nearly all of these influences can be impacted directly or indirectly by government. Policy choices such as expanding Medicaid, environmental regulations, free and reduced cost school lunch programs, laws regulating smoking and public health campaigns against smoking, and many more all make health and wellness more accessible and more widely distributed. You probably recognize right away that most of these things also distinguish between red and blue states; Democrats support them, Republicans oppose. Let’s take a look at how states compare in terms of the longevity of their citizens. First, here’s overall life expectancy from CDC data for 2021, the most recent available. Note that this was also the year with the most COVID deaths for the United States, so this reflects the impact of the pandemic (which had also shifted from the greatest number of deaths being concentrated in some key blue state areas, like the New York City metro area, to a fully nationwide pandemic).
States with highest life expectancy, 2021 Hawaii 79.9 Massachusetts 79.6 Connecticut 79.2 New York 79.0 New Jersey 79.0 Minnesota 78.8 New Hampshire 78.5 Rhode Island 78.5 Vermont 78.4 California 78.3
Hmm… 10 out of 10 are blue states. Ok, let’s take a look at those with the lowest life expectancy.
states with lowest life expectancy, 2021 Mississippi 70.9 West Virginia 71.0 Alabama 72.0 Louisiana 72.2 Kentucky 72.3 Tennessee 72.4 Arkansas 72.5 Oklahoma 72.7 New Mexico 73.0 South Carolina 73.5
9 out of 10 are red states. Comparing the two tables, we can see that a resident of Hawaii or Massachusetts can expect to live a full 8 to 9 years longer than a resident of Mississippi or West Virginia.
Now let’s go a step further and consider disparities between racial and ethnic groups. You are likely aware that on almost all dimensions of physical health and well-being (cancer, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, various types of substance use, etc.), there are disparities in the U.S. between different groups. These almost always favor whites. The concept of health equity describes the goal of everyone having equal opportunities to enjoy good health. In practice, we have achieved health equity when group affiliation or other demographic characteristics (such as income or urban/rural residence) no longer predict differences in health outcomes. Although theoretically possible, this is incredibly difficult to achieve, but many of the health policies we noted earlier (access to care, vaccination uptake, etc.) help move society towards this goal so long as they are implemented equitably across groups.
With this in mind, let’s take a look at life expectancy for Blacks by state. Because men and women have different life expectancies (women in the U.S., as in other developed nations, live longer) the source article provides separate data on men and women. Before we even start, which states do you think do best in this regard?
Highest life expectancies for Black men and women, by state:
State Men State Women Rhode Island 81.1 Rhode Island 87.1 Massachusetts 78 Massachusetts 83.9 Minnesota 77.7 Connecticut 82.9 Washington 77.1 Minnesota 82.7 Connecticut 76.8 New York 82.3 Oregon 76.3 Oregon 81.6 Arizona 76 New Mexico 80.9 New York 76 Arizona 80.7 New Mexico 75.9 Colorado 80.7 Colorado 75.2 Maryland 80.7
For both men and women, it’s 9 blue states and 1 swing state (AZ).
Next, lowest life expectancies for Black men and women, by state:
State Men State Women Missouri 68.9 Louisiana 76.6 Mississippi 69.2 West Virginia 76.6 Louisiana 69.4 Wisconsin 76.6 Tennessee 69.7 Mississippi 76.9 Alabama 69.9 Arkansas 77 Arkansas 70 Kansas 77.1 Michigan 70 Michigan 77.1 Indiana 70.4 Ohio 77.4 Ohio 70.4 Tennessee 77.5 South Carolina 70.4 (Tie) Alabama, Oklahoma 77.6
So for men, it’s 9 red states and 1 swing state (MI); for women, it’s 8 red states and 2 swing states (MI, WI). In fact, despite the overall disparity in life expectancy for whites and Blacks in the U.S., Black men and women in states like Connecticut and Minnesota routinely outlive their white counterparts in states like Alabama or Louisiana. Once again, though political alignments have shifted over time in many states, all the red states in these tables have had Republican-dominated governance for the last couple of decades (or longer); blue states, Democratic governance.
Our message: Vote Democratic, Live Longer.
Up next: education.
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