NamePolitics

Joseph

sits right of most names

liberaltypical nameconservative
Score
−0.01
More liberal than
28% of names
Measured from
116,955 contributors
more liberalevery scored namemore conservative

That ranking compares Joseph 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.

Joseph versus Joe

People who go by Joe rather than Joseph sit 0.20 to the right of the full name. It is the same name. The difference is what people choose to be called.

Joseph
liberalconservative
Joe
liberalconservative

How does Joseph 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, nationwide70,350 people
43% Democratic57% Republican

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

Registered voters, North Carolina26,834 people
35% Democratic65% Republican

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

Registered voters, Florida74,391 people
37% Democratic63% 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, Ohio18,244 people
35% Democratic65% Republican

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

Other donor records point the same way. Among donors to 527 organisations, Joseph is 65% Democratic where that pool averages 71%, across 6,389 people. Among Washington state and local donors, Joseph is 53% Democratic where that pool averages 55%, across 1,715 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 Joseph in North Carolina against other registrants of the same age, sex and race leaves −0.06 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

  • Joe
    liberalconservative
  • Joey
    liberalconservative
  • Josef
    liberalconservative
  • Joeseph
    liberalconservative

Where Joseph leans differently

StateDemocratic share of donorsAgainst that state’s own donors
CA55%−0.40
NY48%−0.99
FL30%−0.35
PA38%−0.65
TX32%−0.27
NJ39%−0.84
MA60%−0.83
IL49%−0.48

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

Look up another name