NamePolitics

Steven

sits right of most names

liberaltypical nameconservative
Score
−0.05
More liberal than
32% of names
Measured from
65,825 contributors
more liberalevery scored namemore conservative

That ranking compares Steven 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.

Steven versus Stephen

People who go by Steven rather than Stephen sit 0.01 to the right of the full name. It is the same name. The difference is what people choose to be called.

Steven
liberalconservative
Stephen
liberalconservative

How does Steven 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, nationwide49,244 people
49% Democratic51% Republican

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

Registered voters, North Carolina16,760 people
31% Democratic69% Republican

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

Registered voters, Florida44,024 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, Ohio13,273 people
29% Democratic71% Republican

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

Another set of donor records points the same way. Among Washington state and local donors, Steven is 49% Democratic where that pool averages 55%, across 2,006 people. Worth a flag: among donors to 527 organisations, Steven tilts the other way. It is 77% Democratic there, but that pool averages 71% overall, so Steven 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 Steven in North Carolina against other registrants of the same age, sex and race leaves −0.09 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

Where Steven leans differently

StateDemocratic share of donorsAgainst that state’s own donors
CA63%−0.07
NY67%−0.21
FL38%−0.02
TX30%−0.34
IL54%−0.28
WA56%−0.38
PA51%−0.15
OH41%−0.24

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

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