Last year, Verdant Labs issued interesting findings relating a person's occupation to their political ideology. Using Federal Election Commission contribution records, this group looked at each reported profession and tabulated the relative percentage of donations given to each of the two major political parties. The resultant numbers give a good gauge of the ideological leanings within each occupation.
Many of the findings match occupational stereotypes. For example, yoga instructors are Democratic by a wide margin (94%D; 6%R), as are musicians (88D; 12R). Ranchers lean pretty far Republican (21D; 79R), as do truck drivers (31D; 69R).
In the 2012 Presidential election, there was a huge gender gap. 54.7% of women voted for Obama, while the President garnered only 45.2% of male vote. We would expect to see this gender gap reflected in occupational political leanings. And to some extent, we do. For example, 97.7% of preschool teachers are women, and they lean heavily Democratic (74D; 26R). Overwhelmingly male logging workers (99.8% male) are just as strongly Republican (24D; 76R).
But profession gender differences don't tell the entire story. Dental hygienists (98.6% female) are somewhat Republican (41D; 59R). Power line workers (99.1% male) lean Democratic by (53D; 47R).
The GOP is notoriously anti-union. This is reflected in heavy Democratic support in occupations with large union representation, such as longshoremen (89D; 11R), pipefitters (74D; 26R), and teachers (79D; 21R). At (99D; 1R), union organizers understandably have the most overwhelming ideological bias of any occupation. On the other hand, management tilts to the GOP. Plant managers prefer Republicans by (33D; 67R). Company Presidents and CEO's lean slightly Republican (46D; 54R).
Few current issues divide Democrats and Republicans more than global warming. This is borne-out in strongly partisan occupational leanings. People working in the fossil fuel industry, such as miners and oil workers, are heavily Republican (11D; 89R). On the other side are heavily Democratic scientific experts, such as environmental scientists (84D; 14R) and ecologists (93D; 7R).
In fact, technologists of all stripes are heavily Democratic. In finding that workers in science and mathematics contribute to Democrats by a hefty (78D; 22R) margin, the Verdant study confirms a 2009 Pew Research poll that found scientists heavily identifying as Democrats. Scientists self-identifying as working in research are even more Democratic (86 D; 14R). Engineers are only slightly less Democratic than scientists (71D; 29R).
So what fields are the most overwhelmingly Republican? The strongest GOP support is found in the mostly rural occupations of fossil fuel extraction (11D; 89R) and farming & forestry (28D; 72R). This is reflected in the fact that President Obama received only 37.4% of rural vote in 2012.
Another group of heavily GOP donors is found among occupations that are dominated by small businesses. Surgery (31D; 69R) and dentistry (37D; 63R) are pretty Republican fields. So is insurance (34D; 66R) and construction (35D; 65R).
In what fields do Democratic donors predominate? Certainly, the largely empathic fields of social & environmental work (93D; 7R) and mental health (90D; 10R) are heavily Democratic. We already mentioned the large ratio of Democrats in the teaching profession (79D; 21R).
There is another very large class of occupations that is overwhelmingly Democratic. In his 2002 bestseller, The Rise of the Creative Class, Richard Florida defined a new economic group, the Creative Class. This group acts to generate novel ideas, new technology, and new creative content. Florida described how attracting these creative individuals leads to more vibrant cities.
Each and every component of Prof. Florida's Creative Class is heavily Democratic. This includes scientists and engineers (mentioned earlier), writers (88D; 12R), visual artists (84D; 16R), performing artists (87D; 13R), planners & architects (75D; 25R) , film & stage production (93D; 7R) and academics (90D; 10R). The fact that these creative professionals are largely located in urban areas contributed to Obama carrying cities of over 500,000 people by a whopping 69.4% in 2012.
In order to understand American voting patterns, it helps to look at the political leanings of various blocs of voters. The interesting data crunched and released by Verdant Labs allows us to better examine how what you do for a living affects your political outlook.
(first published by Paul Adair August 11, 2015 in Germantown NOW, Just Sayin' blog)
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