In this 2026 midterm election season, health care ranks third on voters’ minds. That’s no surprise: U.S. life expectancy persistently lags those in comparable countries despite substantially greater spending on health care. As health and health care become increasingly political, we asked whether the leading drivers of mortality looked different by political geography in the United States.
In 2024, the mortality rate, adjusted for differences in age composition, was 19.2% higher in states that voted for Donald Trump than in states that voted for Kamala Harris. As the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda continues to shape U.S. health policy, the causes for these differences deserve close attention.
