One of my projects is finally done. I have been tracking state unemployment since the summer of 2020 in the midst of the pandemic. What I have found is that GOP governors consistently outperformed their Democratic counterparts.
GOP governors averaged 3.2 percent versus 3.9 percent for Democratic governors.
I also found that states with GOP controlling all aspects of government outperformed their Democratic counterparts. States with mixed government finished in between both GOP and Democratic controlled states.
In the bigger states, Republican governors also outperformed their Democratic counter parts. Florida led the way among the bigger states with unemployment at 2.5 percent.
The one good news for many blue states is that they opened up their economy in 2022. They reduced the margin versus GOP states. In August of 2020, Blue states unemployment was 24% higher than Reds states but by December 2022, 18%.
90 percent of the states with lower unemployment had Republican governors and 70 percent of states at the national average or lower had Republican governors.
States that opened their economy sooner had lower unemployment during the pandemic and afterwards. GOP states were more likely to open their economy and had lower unemployment as a result. GOP states were more likely to be under the national average.
The Donelson Files 