'Deaths of despair' in rural America helped Trump win presidency, study finds

CNBC Politics ^ | September 4, 2018 | Emma Newburger

[2ndDivisionVet]

Ever since Donald Trump's improbable political rise, many have attributed his appeal among the white, male voter base to economic anxiety. Faced with unemployment and wage stagnation, these voters elected a president who promised to fight for jobs.

A study published on Wednesday in the Journal of General Internal Medicine offers an additional explanation: declining health and rising death rates in rural Republican bastions helped tilt the presidential election toward Trump.

"Changes in life expectancy were an independent factor in voting choices. Reduced health prospects are an important marker of dissatisfaction, discouragement, hopelessness, and fear — sentiments that may have resonated with voters who sided with President Trump," said Dr. Lee Goldman, the study leader and chief executive of the Columbia University Medical Center.

Other studies have added more elements to the economic anxiety narrative too. A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that Trump voters were driven over a fear of losing their status. Last year, a Public Religion Research Institute survey of more than 3,000 people found that fears of cultural displacement pushed the white working class toward Trump.

White Americans from rural America, with less education and lower income levels, voted disproportionately for Trump, according to the Columbia study. This group is increasingly victim to "deaths of despair" related to alcohol, drugs and suicide, the researchers said....

[RegulatorCountry]

Democrats openly becoming the party of “Die Whitey” didn’t do much for their election prospects.

Go figure. Duh.

[100American]

Thanks for posting this, I took it and through my position on LinkedIn shared it there as well as to Twitter which feeds from my post there.

Looking forward to bringing this attitude into the light of day, I am connected directly on LI to over 15,000 people and more on Twitter

Let the games begin!

[GOPJ]

When Meghan McCain was talking about ‘America has always been Great’ she was talking about the elites of Washington DC, and elites living in New York... FOR THE CORRUPT ESTABLISHMENT IT'S BEEN GREAT FOR DECADES.

[Migraine]

Aha! So THAT’S why people lose their senses and vote for Trump. Deaths. So now, group counseling for the whole state seems in order, you know, to remedy this dire circumstance.

[GOPJ]

Democrats openly becoming the party of “Die Whitey” didn’t do much for their election prospects.

Good point.

[arrogantsob]

Rural areas have been shrinking proportionally for over a century.

That is a huge problem.

[arrogantsob]

Even your proctologist.

[Crucial]

And this is just mind-blowing. From the 1700s through most of the twentieth century whites dominated economically, technologically, culturally and nothing seemed impossible. Then whites were taught to hate themselves and everything almost completely collapsed. I think some awareness of the mistakes of whites was important to allow the economic and political development of minorities. But really the Left took it as a sign of unforgivable weakness and brought out the long knives.