NamePolitics

Rick

sits right of most names

liberaltypical nameconservative
Score
+0.17
More liberal than
13% of names
Measured from
17,630 contributors
more liberalevery scored namemore conservative

That ranking compares Rick 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.

Rick versus Richard

People who go by Rick rather than Richard sit 0.08 to the right of the full name. It is the same name. The difference is what people choose to be called.

Rick
liberalconservative
Richard
liberalconservative

How does Rick 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, nationwide12,653 people
40% Democratic60% Republican

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

Registered voters, North Carolina340 people
28% Democratic72% Republican

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

Registered voters, Florida1,482 people
35% Democratic65% 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, Ohio1,175 people
22% Democratic78% 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, Rick is 68% Democratic where that pool averages 71%, across 1,067 people. Among Washington state and local donors, Rick is 39% Democratic where that pool averages 55%, across 875 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 Rick in North Carolina against other registrants of the same age, sex and race leaves −0.23 that the demographics do not explain. The name still carries a real signal of its own, leaning Republican.

Related spellings

Where Rick leans differently

StateDemocratic share of donorsAgainst that state’s own donors
CA55%−0.41
TX26%−0.54
FL30%−0.35
WA47%−0.75
OH31%−0.65
IL52%−0.38
AZ33%−0.49
NY68%−0.16

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

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