US Mortality Rates
In 2024, the age-adjusted mortality rate in US states that voted for Donald Trump was 19.2 percent higher than in states that voted for Kamala Harris, news.at reported.
In 2001, counties where the majority voted for a Republican presidential candidate had age-adjusted death rates just two percent higher than Democratic-majority counties, according to the analysis reported by news.at.
Mortality Gaps Widened Between Republican and Democratic Counties
By 2019, that relative difference widened to 16.1 percent. The primary driver was a slower overall decline in mortality in Republican-majority counties, which saw a drop of 11.1 percent between 2001 and 2019 compared to a 21.9 percent decrease in Democratic regions, news.at reported.
When Donald Trump won a presidential election in 2016, the overall mortality gap between states that voted for him and those that voted for Kamala Harris stood at 17 percent, according to news.at.
“Im Jahr 2024 lag die Sterblichkeitsrate, bereinigt um Unterschiede in der Altersstruktur, in den Bundesstaaten, die für Donald Trump gestimmt hatten, um 19,2 Prozent höher als in den Bundesstaaten, die für Kamala Harris gestimmt hatten. Da die ‘Make America Healthy Again’-Agenda (MAHA) die US-Gesundheitspolitik weiterhin prägt, verdienen die Ursachen für diese Unterschiede besondere Beachtung”, Yan and co-authors wrote, as reported by news.at.
COVID-19 and Cancer Mortality Rates Differ by State Voting Patterns
COVID-19 heavily influenced death rates during the pandemic years. Experts cited by news.at noted that COVID-19 mortality peaked in 2020 at 86 deaths per 100,000 residents in states that voted for Harris, while climbing to 122 deaths per 100,000 residents by 2021 in states that voted for Trump.
Even without pandemic peaks, substantial gaps remained. Cancer mortality fell by 12.9 percent in states that voted for Harris, compared to a 9.1 percent drop in states that voted for Trump, news.at reported. The specialists stated that the persistence of these differences after the pandemic indicates that chronic diseases and not just Covid-19 drive the partisan mortality split, according to news.at.
Medicaid Expansion and Hospital Closures Affect Rural Communities
Ten US states had not expanded the state Medicaid health insurance program by 2024. Rural areas and traditional Republican-voting communities faced disproportionate disadvantages, including a high number of hospital closures and a thinning of local care networks, news.at reported. In recent Senate elections, Democrats successfully flipped half of those states, including Georgia, Kansas, South Carolina, Texas, and likely Mississippi, according to news.at.
Opioid overdoses presented an exception to the trend. Drug overdose death rates declined more slowly in Democratic-dominated states, leaving those regions with slightly higher overall drug mortality, news.at reported.
Addressing Health Disparities
Researchers emphasize that no single fix exists for these geographical health divides. Personal social and financial conditions largely dictate health status across the United States, according to news.at.
The experts wrote that addressing these challenges requires sustained investment in the foundational conditions of health, such as expanding access to affordable healthcare, closing educational gaps, strengthening rural and mental health infrastructure, and rebuilding trust in public health, as reported by news.at.
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