NamePolitics

Rachael

sits left of most names

liberaltypical nameconservative
Score
−0.51
More liberal than
84% of names
Measured from
1,162 contributors
more liberalevery scored namemore conservative

That ranking compares Rachael 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 Rachael 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, nationwide1,217 people
77% Democratic23% Republican

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

Registered voters, North Carolina1,089 people
51% Democratic49% Republican

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

Registered voters, Florida2,913 people
46% Democratic54% 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, Ohio731 people
54% Democratic46% 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, Rachael is 88% Democratic where that pool averages 71%, across 122 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 Rachael in North Carolina against other registrants of the same age, sex and race leaves +0.20 that the demographics do not explain. The name still carries a real signal of its own, leaning Democratic.

Related spellings

Where Rachael leans differently

StateDemocratic share of donorsAgainst that state’s own donors
CA92%+1.77
TX59%+0.85
NY93%+1.73
FL45%+0.28
WA78%+0.64
MA98%+2.60
PA90%+2.05
VA88%+1.81

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

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