Political Ideology and Health Outcomes: Evidence From Metropolitan Regions in the United States

ABSTRACT Building on prior work that considers the relationship between ideology and public health outcomes, we test whether the ideology of elected representatives impacts individual health. We construct a novel metropolitan statistical area (MSA)‐level measure of political ideology based on the roll‐call votes of state legislators and examine its relationship to individual health using SMART BRFSS data. We hypothesize that individuals in more conservative MSAs will report worse health outcomes, due to greater skepticism of public health interventions and preference for individual liberty. Using OLS regressions with demographic and temporal controls, we find robust evidence that more conservative MSAs are associated with worse general, physical, and mental health. These findings suggest that political ideology may have a role in shaping health outcomes across the United States.