Study: Voting Republican Saves Lives
Brianna Lyman Visit on Twitter @briannalyman2
For years Americans have been assured that Democrat prosecutors are the compassionate choice, but a new study suggests that that compassion comes at a deadly cost.
According to research by Vanderbilt University economist Panka Bencsik and Wellesley College Professor Tyler Giles, counties that narrowly elect Republican prosecutors experience a significantly lower death rate among young men. In fact, when a Republican prosecutor narrowly beats a Democrat, the all-cause mortality among men aged 20 to 29 falls by 6.6 percent.
In other words, voting Republican can save lives.
The researchers set out to examine whether there’s any relationship between the politics of a prosecutor and the community-level mortality rate. As the study notes, prosecutors decide whether (and what) criminal charges should be filed against an individual. They get to decide whether crimes like domestic violence, assault, vandalism, or theft are charged as a misdemeanor or felony and give sentencing recommendations.
Republicans are typically characterized as “tough on crime,” while Democrats are more lenient.
The study used data from 2010 to 2019 and compared counties where a Republican prosecutor barely won and counties where a Republican barely lost.