NamePolitics

Jessica

sits well left of most names

liberaltypical nameconservative
Score
−0.69
More liberal than
95% of names
Measured from
10,516 contributors
more liberalevery scored namemore conservative

That ranking compares Jessica 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.

How does Jessica 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, nationwide12,533 people
82% Democratic18% Republican

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

Registered voters, North Carolina18,104 people
49% Democratic51% Republican

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

Registered voters, Florida39,395 people
53% Democratic47% 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, Ohio6,690 people
52% Democratic48% Republican

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

Other donor records point the same way. Among donors to 527 organisations, Jessica is 96% Democratic where that pool averages 71%, across 1,618 people. Among Washington state and local donors, Jessica is 66% Democratic where that pool averages 55%, across 589 people.

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 Jessica in North Carolina against other registrants of the same age, sex and race leaves −0.06 that the demographics do not explain. For this name, almost nothing survives: the name is standing in for who happens to carry it.

Where Jessica leans differently

StateDemocratic share of donorsAgainst that state’s own donors
CA89%+1.48
NY91%+1.37
TX69%+1.33
MA92%+1.20
FL61%+0.94
WA90%+1.61
IL89%+1.64
PA84%+1.49

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

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