Overweight States
The Economist released this map showing obesity rates by state:
I compared this map to ones showing poverty, religious intensity, and many other factors of life, but could not find anything that matched well. One page found a very significant link between diabetes and poverty, but that seemed to indicate a more direct link between poverty and medical care than poverty and obesity.
Interestingly, this map from Five-thirty-eight constituted the best, if still imperfect, match:
It’s hardly a 100% correspondence, but the similarities are striking, are they not? The question is, does this mean anything? Does conservatism cause obesity? Does obesity cause conservatism? Or—in my opinion, more likely—are both conservatism and obesity symptoms of something else, like poor impulse control? Ask Rush Limbaugh, perhaps.
Walmart shopping was also highly correlated with who you voted for in 2004. . .
Weekly Bush 76% – Kerry 24%
This was right up there with being an Orthodox Jew and Fundamentalist (each at ~80%) for correlation.
I think this topic goes into ‘not all conservatives are stupid, but all stupid people are conservative’.
“Less than a third of conservative Republicans say there is solid evidence for global warming”
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2011/12/01/poll-republicans-coming-around-on-global-warming
Part of the hallmark of being stupid is having a faulty decision-making process. Conservatives are full of stupid ideas, so that’s the root of the correlation I guess.
I don’t like this sort of “culture war” story, which seems to pop up every 4 (if not 2) years. The message some people implicitly take from it is that obesity is immoral, socially unacceptable, or something to be ridiculed… or, as the commenter above said (and not so implicitly), “stupid”. Of course it’s not phsyically ideal, but we’re wading into perilous waters if we suggest that an above average BMI number is evidence of a character flaw.
Obesity is an epidemic all along the south, but there are several things going on there. There is a higher African American population in the southern states than elsewhere, and although they’re no less left-leaning than in the rest of the country, their obesity rates are just as high. Obesity doesn’t cause conservatism in those instances. Also, southerners have a higher caloric intake because their traditional cuisine is the most fattening. AFAIC, that’s just a coincidental correlation. There’s a much stronger relationship between obesity and class than with political orientation.
And anyway, I don’t think a snapshot of how states are voting in the 2012 presidential election as determined in the middle of August is a good indicator of whether a state is blue or red. Sure, California may be voting blue this year. But they were very much a red state throughout the 70s and 80s. Were they more obese back then than they are now? And they’ve had Republican governors for 23 of the last 30 years. Then there’s West Virginia, which – depending on what you read – is the most, second-most, or third-most obese state in the union. This year, they’re voting red and they’ve done so since 2000. Before that, they were more often a blue state, and they have a Democratic governor and 2 Democratic senators now. IOW, parameters change over time. What may be a correlation this year may not have been so in the past and may not be in the future.
It was possible to be an intelligent Republican prior to Nixon’s souther strategy, Reaganism, and the wholesale corruption of the GWB years. Hell, I consider myself a moderate Republican — before I understood how bad things were here I voted for Tom Campbell in 2000.
Anyway, intelligent conservatism no longer obtains.
http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2011-03/evangelicals-resist-obamas-childhood-obesity-push
“Similarly, a 2011 Northwestern University study tracking 3,433 men and women for 18 years found that young adults who attend church or a bible study once a week are 50% more likely to be obese. ”
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/06/03/obesity-epidemic-in-america-churches/
of course, attending church once a week is highly correlated with voting for Republicans.
2004 Bush vote by church attendance:
More Than Weekly (16%) 64%
Weekly (26%) 58%
Monthly (14%) 50%
A Few Times a Year (28%) 45%
Never (15%) 36%
I think it comes down to stupidity. We’ve got a lot of that in this country.
Umm, my BMI probably puts me close to “obese,” and I was much heavier before, definitely obese (though not grossly). Why? Because I indulged and did not think or care much about the future. Poor impulse control, lack of thought or caution.
In an individual? Of course not. In trends seen amongst millions of people? A very different story.
Are you suggesting that a dramatic shift in nationwide obesity rates not related to genetic factors has nothing at all to do with people’s characters?
Wow.
You state this as a fact. I’d love to see how that was established. Not that I’m saying it’s not, I would just love to see the study where they compared obesity to political orientation. Doesn’t sound like the kind of study which would be done, or the kind of data that would be announced–and if it is in fact not out there and/or you haven’t actually seen or heard of it, then you are guessing as much as I am, but without admitting that it’s a guess.
For the deeper colors, of course it is. For the swing states, they may go one way or the other, but even if they do, they “are” not blue or red, which is why we call them “swing” states.
You are assuming that what makes one conservative in the 70’s would make one conservative today. You are assuming wrongly. There is something deeply wrong with conservatives today, and a lot of it has to do with impulse, with craven desires, with absolutes, to an extent which could be called extraordinarily different between then and now. Reagan would be ostracized from the GOP were he alive today. Far too many of today’s conservatives buy into birtherism and other obvious lies, and they do it with gusto.
I am not talking about what may have been in the past or may be in the future. There’s your problem.
Luis,
I’m not sure if this relates to the discussion at hand, but this link has several maps indicating how education is distributed across the US.
http://www.edgetech-us.com/map/EduLvls.htm
Interesting to note the majority of Conservatives also live in less educated districts.
–kensensei
A quick google found this
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db50.htm