November 20, 2009
Republicans Less Likely to be Unemployed
Data from Rasmussen Reports national telephone surveys shows that 15.0% of Democrats in the workforce are currently unemployed and looking for a job. Among adults not affiliated with either major party, that number is 15.6% while just 9.9% of Republicans are in the same situation....The percentage of unemployed Democrats has grown less than a point from 14.2% in February....Among those not affiliated with either major party, unemployment has grown by more than two percentage points from 13.3% in February to 15.6% now.Looking at this map and comparing it to what we know about the usual red/blue breakdown might add some clarification. I'm not sure, but interesting.As for Republicans, the percentage unemployed has also grown more than two points after starting at just 7.8% in February.
So you're saying that red-state workers who collect massive subsidies to produce food even when there's a glut of it in the market are still employed? Not surprising.
I'm curious if the 'employment gap' between Democrats and Republicans holds in non-subsidy collecting areas.
Posted by: mangeek at November 20, 2009 10:47 AMmangeek, I'm not "saying" anything. Quell the knee-jerkiness for a sec. In all sincerity, I'm really not sure what the explanation/correlation is. But surely farm subsidies (no fan here) can't be the only reason (and rural/agricultural regions in the east seem to be suffering...maybe they don't get the subsidization). I did note that it looks like the area of Northern Virginia (D.C. burbs) has lower unemployment than the rest of the east coast. Maybe a rise in government jobs? Then there's NH and a bit of VT...what peculiar circumstance insulates those areas?
Posted by: Marc at November 20, 2009 12:45 PM Maybe there are employers out there with political litmus tests.
Or people who lie about their political affiliations (if they're asked) to get into companies that are hiring. I can see people doing that in this job market.