Conservatives and Liberals Have Diverging Health Outcomes. Why? A new study using long-term data reveals a widening health gap between conservatives and liberals over the past decade, with conservatives experiencing significantly worse health outcomes and higher mortality rates. While factors like education and income explain some of this divergence, a substantial portion remains unexplained by observable characteristics. Researchers suggest a potential mechanism is lower trust among conservatives in their primary care physicians and a reduced willingness to follow medical advice, even on non-COVID-related health matters.

• A recent study analyzing data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent to Adult Health found a significant divergence in health outcomes between liberals and conservatives over the last decade.
• By 2016-2018, the most conservative individuals exhibited notably worse health results, as measured by biomarkers like BMI, cholesterol, blood pressure, blood glucose, and inflammation.
• Mortality data also showed a divide, with conservatives dying at higher rates than liberals by the 2020s, particularly from internal causes like heart disease and cancer, even after controlling for COVID-19 related deaths.
• While demographic factors like education, income, and race explain about half of the health gap, the remaining half is unexplained by observable characteristics.
• Researchers propose that a potential driver of this unexplained gap is lower trust among conservatives in their primary care physicians and a decreased adherence to medical advice.
• A separate survey indicated that conservatives, Republicans, and Trump voters reported significantly lower trust in their doctors and less willingness to follow their guidance compared to liberal respondents.