The red-blue divide in American politics extends beyond culture and mask-wearing habits, but also to health. Indeed, residents of Democrat-leaning counties are seeing fewer premature deaths than in counties that vote consistently for Republicans.
That's according to new research from Brigham and Women's Hospital, which found specifically that, over the last two decades, a widening gap in mortality rates has been observed between red and blue American counties. While medical experts emphasize that across the board, mortality rates have continued to improve (despite a slight drop in life expectancy that began around 2014 and fell even further during the pandemic) counties that voted for Democrats in presidential elections from 2000 to 2016 saw a faster decline in premature deaths than their Republican-leaning counterparts.
