NamePolitics

David

sits right of most names

liberaltypical nameconservative
Score
−0.01
More liberal than
28% of names
Measured from
260,845 contributors
more liberalevery scored namemore conservative

That ranking compares David with other names. The typical name scores −0.22, because people who donate to campaigns lean left as a group, so a name can sit left of zero and still be middle of the pack. The party splits below use a different yardstick again: each one is measured against an even fifty-fifty.

DIME contributor ideal points, 1979-2014. Negative is liberal, positive conservative.

David versus Dave

People who go by Dave rather than David sit 0.11 to the right of the full name. It is the same name. The difference is what people choose to be called.

David
liberalconservative
Dave
liberalconservative

How does David compare with someone else's name?

Party, by population

Different groups of people, measured in different ways. They do not always agree, and the disagreement is usually the interesting part.

Campaign donors, nationwide185,148 people
49% Democratic51% Republican

Federal contributions, 2016 to 2026. Donors skew older and wealthier than the country.

Registered voters, North Carolina49,153 people
34% Democratic66% Republican

Actual party registration, which is a choice people make at the DMV rather than with a chequebook.

Registered voters, Florida119,043 people
36% Democratic64% Republican

Party registration again, in a state with a very different mix of people. Florida and North Carolina agree on which way a name leans 88% of the time.

Primary voters, Ohio39,291 people
31% Democratic69% Republican

Ohio has no party registration, so this is the last primary ballot each voter chose to pull.

Worth a flag: among donors to 527 organisations, David tilts the other way. It is 74% Democratic there, but that pool averages 71% overall, so David sits left of its centre while the federal records put it right of theirs.

Is it the name, or the people who have it?

Names carry age, sex and ethnicity, and those predict politics on their own. Comparing every David in North Carolina against other registrants of the same age, sex and race leaves −0.02 that the demographics do not explain. For this name, almost nothing survives: the name is standing in for who happens to carry it.

Related spellings

  • Dave
    liberalconservative

Where David leans differently

StateDemocratic share of donorsAgainst that state’s own donors
CA62%−0.12
TX32%−0.25
FL35%−0.12
NY72%+0.04
PA49%−0.21
WA61%−0.18
VA49%−0.21
OH40%−0.27

The right column compares David with other donors in the same state, so it is not just telling you which states are Democratic.

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