Perhaps I spend too much time lurking around left-leaning blogs, but there are many myths taken as fact without any additional analysis.
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One of the most prominent? The notion that red states take the most aid from the government.
Mitt Romney sparked outrage during the 2012 election for his comments about the “47 percent” of Americans who are dependent on government. Romney was actually quoting the percentage of Americans who pay no federal income tax, not the percentage of people who receive government aid, which is a slightly larger 49 percent.
In an article published before Romney’s gaffe, liberal economist Paul Krugman blogged that “Aaron Carroll of Indiana University tells us that in 2010, residents of the 10 states Gallup ranks as ‘most conservative’ received 21.2 percent of their income in government transfers, while the number for the most liberal states was only 17.1 percent.”
Romney’s comments only seemed to give the left more reason to summon up statistics like these to “prove” who the real moochers are.
But as solid as the statistics Krugman provided might seem, we’re left with one glaring problem: States aren’t people. Could it be possible that liberals within conservative states are the ones taking the welfare dollars?
A survey by the Maxwell Poll on the political affiliation of those receiving government aid showed this to be the case.
| Type of Benefit Received | Percent Voting Democrat | Percent Voting Republican |
| Public Housing |
81% |
12% |
| Medicaid |
74% |
16% |
| Food Stamps |
67% |
20% |
| Unemployment Compensation |
66% |
21% |
| Disability (from Govt.) |
64% |
25% |
| Welfare/Public Assistance |
63% |
22% |
Attributing the problem to red states is false; the problem lies in the blue parts of the red states.
Related:
- Are red states actually poorer than blue states? Not so much
- Turns out red states aren’t actually the most violent
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