Who is more charitable—Republicans or Democrats?
Based on stereotypes of each side’s world views, many people would think that liberal Democrats were more likely to give money to charity. But a new study by the Chronicle of Philanthropy has concluded that residents of red states gave a higher share of their income to charity than blue state residents.
Using the 2008 election results, the Chronicle concluded that the eight states with residents who gave the most to charity supported John McCain in 2008, while the seven states with residents who gave the least to charity voted for President Obama.
“The reasons for the discrepancies among states, cities, neighborhoods are rooted in part in each area’s political philosophy about the role of government versus charity,” said the study’s authors, who also noted that “religion has a big influence on giving patterns.”
“Regions of the country that are deeply religious are more generous than those that are not,”the study says. “Two of the top nine states—Utah and Idaho—have high numbers of Mormon residents, who have a tradition of tithing at least 10 percent of their income to the church. The remaining states in the top nine are all in the Bible Belt.”
According to the Chronicle, “to account for sharp differences in the cost of living across America” the study “compared generosity rates after residents paid taxes, housing, food, and other necessities.”
Only households with incomes at or above $50,000 were included.
