Voting Republican is bad for your health

 Literally. A study by Warraich HJ, Kumar P, Nasir K, Joynt Maddox KE, and Wadhera RK in BMJ finds this:

 

 

There has actually been lots of previous research on this general question. As the authors note, "Previous studies have shown that counties that elect Republican candidates tend to experience worse health outcomes, such as fewer gains in life expectancy and increased rates of opioid prescription.56789," so this is just further confirmation. As they summarize their fndings, "the mortality gap between white residents in Democratic versus Republican counties increased fourfold. Rural  Republican counties experienced the highest mortality rates and the least improvement."

The southern and Appalachian states, with Republican-dominated governments, have the lowest life expectancy among U.S. states, whereas Democratic-dominated states have had increasing life expectancies. These red state voters are literally voting to kill themselves. The biggest contributors to the gap are heart disease, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, injuries, and suicide, in that order. Smoking, alcohol and other drug misuse, and firearms probably have a lot to do with this. But as the authors go on to describe:

"Political influence on US mortality rates became overt during the covid-19 pandemic, when public health policies, controlled by states, were heavily influenced by party affiliation. Republican politicians, often seeking to appeal to President Trump and his supporters, challenged scientific evidence and opposed enforcement of vaccinations and safety measures such as masking. 17 A macabre natural experiment occurred in 2021, a year marked by the convergence of vaccine availability and contagious variants that threatened unvaccinated populations: states led by governors who promoted vaccination and mandated pandemic control measures experienced much lower death rates than the “control” group, consisting of conservative states with lax policies and large unvaccinated populations. 18 This behavior could explain why US mortality rates associated with covid-19 were so catastrophic, vastly exceeding losses in other high income countries."

'Nuff said.