NamePolitics

Hilary

sits well left of most names

liberaltypical nameconservative
Score
−0.70
More liberal than
96% of names
Measured from
2,025 contributors
more liberalevery scored namemore conservative

That ranking compares Hilary 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.

How does Hilary 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, nationwide1,742 people
85% Democratic15% Republican

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

Registered voters, North Carolina390 people
55% Democratic45% Republican

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

Registered voters, Florida969 people
58% Democratic42% 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, Ohio226 people
67% Democratic33% 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, Hilary is 92% Democratic where that pool averages 71%, across 217 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 Hilary in North Carolina against other registrants of the same age, sex and race leaves +0.53 that the demographics do not explain. The name still carries a real signal of its own, leaning Democratic.

Related spellings

Where Hilary leans differently

StateDemocratic share of donorsAgainst that state’s own donors
CA92%+1.84
NY93%+1.70
TX67%+1.20
MA97%+2.07
FL66%+1.14
WA92%+1.88
PA75%+0.94
IL83%+1.12

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

Look up another name