NamePolitics

Theresa

sits middle of the pack

liberaltypical nameconservative
Score
−0.31
More liberal than
61% of names
Measured from
13,509 contributors
more liberalevery scored namemore conservative

That ranking compares Theresa 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.

Theresa versus Teresa

People who go by Theresa rather than Teresa sit 0.05 to the left of the full name. It is the same name. The difference is what people choose to be called.

Theresa
liberalconservative
Teresa
liberalconservative

How does Theresa 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, nationwide9,631 people
55% Democratic45% Republican

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

Registered voters, North Carolina4,535 people
51% Democratic49% Republican

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

Registered voters, Florida14,708 people
45% Democratic55% 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, Ohio4,512 people
43% Democratic57% 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 donors to 527 organisations, Theresa is 74% Democratic where that pool averages 71%, across 820 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 Theresa in North Carolina against other registrants of the same age, sex and race leaves −0.01 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 Theresa leans differently

StateDemocratic share of donorsAgainst that state’s own donors
CA67%+0.08
NY59%−0.54
FL40%+0.10
TX44%+0.28
PA53%−0.07
NJ55%−0.20
MI54%+0.09
WA68%+0.14

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

Look up another name