What's in a Name? Maybe, Your Politics
by Bryan Schott
10/30/2012 | 338 views | 0 0 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend | print
A person's first name might predict their political leanings.

Yahoo's Chris Wilson combed through FEC databases and found some interesting correlations between a person's first name and which party they donate to.

Looking at names that occurred at least 1,000 times on the donor rolls, it is immediately evident that women give in much greater numbers to the Obama campaign, a fact that the site OpenSecrets.org has also observed. Within a gender, however, some names have much stronger correlations than others. While people with very common names—James, David, Michael—are roughly evenly split between the two parties, names like Brent, Tyler and Clayton are considerably skewed toward the Republicans.

Nicknames and diminutives also correlate to party preference. Christopher—just to pick a random name out of my hat—tilts slightly to Republicans, while "Chris" trends slightly Democratic (though that could be because there are some women nicknamed Chris out there). People named William have a 57 percent chance of supporting the Republicans, while Willies are the most Democratic name on the list at 93 percent.

Along the same lines, people named Liz are extremely Democratic, with only 11 percent donating to Republicans. But 26 percent of Elizabeths give to the GOP, and Betty is one of the most Republican women's names on the list, with 37 percent of women who share their name with Barney Rubble's wife ponying up cash on behalf of a candidate who wanted to replace President Obama.

Of all names that appear at least 25 times, the most Republican men's name on the list is Brent. (Willard is No. 4!) The most Republican women's name on the list is Ashley. But that could include some men, as could the next two women's names, Kelly and Courtney. So let's declare Patsy, the No. 4 contender, the most Republican women's name.



Check out what your name says about your politics below.

Comments
(0)
Comments-icon Post a Comment
No Comments Yet
today's headlines
Local Headlines
May 17, 2013 | 26456 views | 0 0 comments | 1 1 recommendations | email to a friend | print

Salt Lake Tribune

Op-ed: Swallow and the Legislature

Editorial: The right decision: Herbert should stick to his guns

Suit: Make EPA force Utah to cut winter pollution

Hatch wants IRS probe to expand, include Freedom Path

Green activists, neighbors blast new West Davis freeway plan

Hatch calls for investigation of Obamacare funding

Thousands of Utahns face Defense Department furloughs

Utah charter schools under new performance scrutiny

Midvale's streetlight project stalls over flawed bid process

Deseret News

Matthew Sanders: Imploding trust in America's institutions

Editorial: Habits die hard

Utah lawmakers look to regulate child access to e-cigarettes

Oil, gas wells to move closer to Duchesne County homes

Health care reform about to 'get real' for Utahns

New poll shows GOP caucus attendees support changes to nomination system

2 county attorneys investigating Swallow, Utah Attorney General's office

West Davis Corridor project unveiled amid criticism

Elder Oaks promotes strengthening the free exercise of religion

Other

Heidi Toth: Squandering the public trust (Daily Herald)

RedBlue: Can Barack Obama survive scandals? (Daily Herald)

Op-ed: The gigabit community (Standard-Examiner)

Editorial: Don't make AG an appointment (Standard-Examiner)

UDOT releases DEIS, recommendation for Legacy extension (Standard-Examiner)

Ogden School Board faces anger over cutbacks (Standard-Examiner)

Will Swallow make appearance at the state GOP convention? (Standard-Examiner)

Hatch pushes for expanded probe into IRS actions (Standard-Examiner)

Comments
(0)
Comments-icon Post a Comment
No Comments Yet
Comments
(0)
Comments-icon Post a Comment
No Comments Yet
Comments
(0)
Comments-icon Post a Comment
No Comments Yet
utah tweets
RSS Feeds
Utah policy stories feed
Policy buzz feed
Daily news highlights feed
Washington watch feed

With support from PinPointInternetMarketing.com