Republicans living in neighborhoods dominated by Democrats experience worse mental health than those residing in heavily Republican areas. Democrats, on the other hand, report similar levels of anxiety, depression, and loneliness regardless of the political makeup of their communities. These findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Politics in the United States functions as a powerful social identity that extends beyond voting. Past research shows that a person’s neighborhood can influence who they interact with, what they buy, and even their physical health decisions. A team of political scientists and medical researchers wanted to see if the political alignment between a person and their neighbors might also be linked to psychological well-being.
The research was conducted by Ryan Baxter-King of the University of Nevada, Reno, alongside colleagues from Boston University, Harvard University, and the University of California, Los Angeles. They utilized a large survey of 165,000 adults conducted between May 2020 and December 2022. The researchers combined this survey data with national voter registration records to determine the exact proportion of Democrats and Republicans in each respondent’s Zip Code.
To measure mental health, the survey relied on established clinical questionnaires. Depression was evaluated using an eight-question scale that looks for standard symptoms of major depressive disorder. Anxiety was measured using a four-item scale developed for patient-reported outcomes, and loneliness was assessed with questions about social connection and perceived isolation. The responses were converted into scores ranging from zero to one, with lower scores representing better mental health.
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In their first analysis, the researchers compared individuals living in the same county but in different Zip Codes. They controlled for a variety of individual traits, including age, gender, household income, education, and physical health. They also accounted for neighborhood-level variables like population density, average household income, and the racial makeup of the community.
The team found that Democrats generally reported poorer mental health than Republicans overall. However, a Democrat’s mental health score did not change based on whether they lived in a heavily Democratic or heavily Republican Zip Code. Their reported rates of anxiety, depression, and loneliness remained relatively flat across different types of neighborhoods.
For Republicans, mental health improved as the share of Republicans in their neighborhood increased. In heavily Democratic areas, Republicans actually reported more anxiety, depression, and loneliness than the Democrats living right next to them. As neighborhoods approached an even split between the two parties, Republican mental health improved and then leveled out.
To narrow down the variables, the researchers then conducted a second analysis comparing Democrats and Republicans living in the exact same Zip Code. This approach filters out unmeasured neighborhood characteristics that might influence well-being. They found that as a Zip Code becomes more Republican, the mental health gap between Republicans and Democrats widens. Republicans show lower levels of depression, anxiety, and loneliness relative to their Democratic neighbors.
The researchers also investigated whether the strength of a person’s political identity played a role. They separated respondents based on whether they identified as strong partisans or weak partisans. The relationship between neighborhood politics and mental health was much larger for people who called themselves strong partisans, indicating that the effect is amplified for those who care most about politics.
To understand the social dynamics at play, the team looked at survey questions asking if people felt comfortable expressing their political views and if they liked where they lived. Both Democrats and Republicans felt more comfortable expressing themselves when surrounded by like-minded neighbors. Republicans in Republican areas also reported better access to enjoyable cultural activities than Republicans in Democratic areas.
The researchers compared the mental health impact of political mismatch to other types of neighborhood mismatch, like being a racial minority or living in an impoverished area. For Republicans, being a political minority in a neighborhood had a larger relationship with mental health than being a racial or educational minority. The association was also comparable in size to the toll that high neighborhood poverty takes on mental health.
Sociologists and public health experts document the heavy psychological burden of living in impoverished areas. The fact that political mismatch produces a comparable statistical effect highlights the prominent role that partisanship plays in daily life. For Democrats, however, neighborhood poverty was linked to increased loneliness, but local partisanship had no such effect.
The study observes patterns across geographic areas and does not test a direct biological or social mechanism. The researchers note that it is unknown exactly how this neighborhood dynamic operates in everyday life. It could be that individuals internalize stress when they feel out of step with local culture.
Alternatively, it might be that communities actively treat political outsiders poorly. The researchers point to prior research showing that Democrats are more likely than Republicans to exclude the political outgroup in social settings, and note that their findings are consistent with the possibility that Democrats treat political outsiders more poorly, which could explain why Republicans are uniquely affected by their political surroundings.
The study, “Local partisan context and mental health,” was authored by Ryan Baxter-King, Jacob R. Brown, Ryan D. Enos, Arash Naeim, and Lynn Vavreck.
