Red states and obesity?
Posted by Moonage on 24 Aug 2005 | Tagged as: Trends
OK, here’s the teaser. I read somewhere that fat states voted for Bush. In other words, red states were fatter than blue states. This fits right in with the bogus claim that blue states were smarter than red states. Etc.. So, I thought I’d take a closer look. From the Centers for Disease Control:
Here’s the Top 10 from the raw data that people are citing:
| Mississippi | 25.9 |
| West Virginia | 24.6 |
| Michigan | 24.4 |
| Kentucky | 24.2 |
| Indiana | 24 |
| Texas | 23.8 |
| Alabama | 23.4 |
| Louisiana | 23.3 |
| Tennessee | 22.6 |
Of course, by looking at that, obese people seem more likely to vote red. But, IMO, the true indication of a trend is whether they would have voted that way before. So, what I did was look at the trend in obesity in regards to how they voted this time. It looks a little different:
| State | 2001-2000 Change |
| Delaware | 3.8 |
| Oklahoma | 3.1 |
| Montana | 3 |
| Indiana | 2.7 |
| Michigan | 2.6 |
| Hawaii | 2.5 |
| Virginia | 2.5 |
| Wisconsin | 2.5 |
| New York | 2.5 |
| Minnesota | 2.4 |
Now, what that shows is that the faster a state is becoming obese, the more likely it is to vote blue. Think about it, six of the 20 states that voted blue are in the Top 10 quickest gaining obese states in the country.
You can draw your own conclusion as to why that is.
Numbers are such fun things. I can’t wait to see the 2004 figures.
4 Comments »
on 24 Aug 2005 at 8:46 pm 1.Bryan Kerwick
said …
I would venture a guess as to why this is. Most of the Red States in the first graph are heavily populated by Barbaque lovers. The second graph is probably the McDonalds factor. It also could be that Yankees like myself have finally discovered the difference between barbaque and grilling. Smokin pork is a thing of beauty. I often tell my wife when I die and go to hell, I’ll go there as a pig and the fires will be made of hickory.
on 11 Feb 2006 at 5:40 am 2.Andrew Spark said …
I think the number of overweight adolescents has tripled, making obesity the most common childhood medical problem.
on 03 Sep 2006 at 2:56 pm 3.tom said …
Funny, the new 2006 numbers show even more evidence that red = fat.
on 11 Oct 2006 at 3:20 pm 4.Jeff said …
Excellent downplay. Never let the facts alter your perception of the situation.