Your Political Parties, by Consumer Reports!

[elfs]

Yagil Hertzberg suggests we select a political party the way we select a car: Since 1960, each of the A Party administrations has delivered higher rates of jobs creation than any of the B Party administrations.

Since 1960, the deficit each of the A Party administrations has passed to its successor was lower than the one it inherited, while each of the B Party administrations was greater.

The gross state product of the 20 states that voted for the A Party candidate ("A States") at least 5 times out of the last 8 elections is 15 percent higher than those states that voted for the B Party candidate ("B States").

"A States" best "B States" in every category but one:

• The median household income: 16% higher.
• Population below the poverty line: 21% lower.
• Population without health insurance: 21% lower.
• Divorce rate: 19% lower.
• Teen birth rate: 38% lower.
• Unmarried birth rate: 7% lower.
• Infant mortality: 24% lower.
• Murder: 17% lower.
• Rape: 20% lower.
• Aggravated assault: 18% lower.
• Robbery: 10% higher (that one category)
• High school dropout rate: 16% lower
• College graduation rate: 16% higher

So, yeah, the "A" states are blue states, ones that have voted for the Democratic candidate for president in at least 5 out of the last 8 elections, and "B" states are red states, that voted for the Republicans.

If you were to pick a party the way you pick a car, the Republicans would be the Yugo of parties.

Comments

[davidlevine]

The problem with that analysis is that there's no causal connection between a state voting for a particular presidential candidate and the state's subsequent performance on economic and societal metrics. I'd be more interested in a comparison of states' performance with control of the state government by party A or B.

[omahas.livejournal.com]

Indeed. However, there is a direct relationship between the administration in power and the federal funding that goes to states, in that a president can both direct which kinds of federal funding he wants and which funding he will accept/reject if it passes through Congress.

It would be interesting to see an analysis between which party holds the White House and the amount of federal funding states receive in given years, as well as whether the party holding power in Congress made a difference.