There’s a lot of noise after an election—we’ll call it hot air. Because despite what political pundits might tell you, Americans only care about one thing—money. As such, there’s only one number that matters when it comes to US election analysis—nominal GDP per capita.
In the 2024 presidential election, of 51 states/territories, 20 voted for Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate.
It turns out that a whopping 14 of the 20 happen to be in the select group of 20 states/territories that have a nominal GDP per capita that exceeds the 2024 US average of $83,347.
Here they are:
Number 1: Washington, DC ($263,220)
Number 2: New York ($117,332)
Number 3: Massachusetts ($110,561)
Number 4: Washington ($108,468)
Number 5: California ($104,916)
Number 6: Connecticut ($100,235)
Number 7: Delaware ($98,055)
Number 11: Colorado ($93,026)
Number 12: Illinois ($90,449)
Number 14: New Jersey ($90,272)
Number 15: Maryland ($87,021)
Number 17: Virginia ($86,747)
Number 19: Minnesota ($86,371)
Number 20: New Hampshire ($85,518)
The outliers, by the way, are Hawaii (23), Oregon (29), Rhode Island (34), Vermont (39), Maine (41), and New Mexico (43).
So what’s the point?
- Liberal policies do not seem to ruin economies.
- In keeping with the above, the supposedly crumbling California accounts for 14% of national GDP. If it were its own country, it would have the fourth-largest GDP in the world behind the US, China, and Germany.
- Those in wealthy states are less affected by day-to-day economics and therefore less likely to vote based solely on inflation.
- Similarly, given that paying routine bills is less of a concern, residents of wealthy states have the luxury of caring about things like climate change and so on.
- In the same way, those in affluent states are more distant from the economic realities of illegal immigration. In fact, it might serve as a source of cheap labor.
- Given the strong correlation between education and income, those in prosperous states are less likely to question science in favor of invented stories.
- The major fault line in US society is class, not race, sex, religion, or any other nonsense people on TV talk about.
- In other words, as has been the case in every society ever, there are the haves and the have-nots. The haves are fine with the status quo. The have-nots are not.
And that’s US election analysis in a nutshell.
6 Responses
Very interesting when broken down like this!
Thank you! At the end of the day, it usually boils down to simple cash. 🙂
Very interesting analysis.
Thank you. Perhaps oversimplified, but there’s a lot of truth in it.
Interesting analysis. And I thought it was the caravans of immigrants pouring through the border.
It puzzles me that poorer states need more federal assistance, which conservative candidates generally claim they will cut, but they continue to vote red.
Thanks—hahaha. Yeah, that’s always a hard one to explain—I think mistrust of government runs VERY deep in parts of the US, partly from lack of information or understanding regarding the services that government actually provides.