Economics
Republican Counties Saw Baby Boom in 2016 After Trump Election
- Fertility in Democratic-leaning counties fell, research shows
- Estimated 23,000 excess babies tied to election optimism
Donald Trump during a rally in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 2018.
Photographer: Luke Sharrett/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Mothers in Republican-leaning counties saw a baby boost over their Democratic counterparts after former President Donald Trump’s surprise 2016 victory.
In the year after Trump’s win, Republican-leaning counties saw an increase in fertility relative to Democratic-leaning ones, according to a paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research. This equaled a 1.1 percentage-point difference in annual births, or roughly 23,000 excess babies in GOP counties that the authors tie to optimism over the election’s results.